One indication of just what a shambles the Democratic Party was in after the disastrous November elections was that the party returned virtually all of its leadership at the national and state level. That suggests a party that just doesn’t care enough about winning.
So in the future, when we look back on Assembly Democrats deposing their longtime leader Peter Barca of Kenosha, we may see the first step in their comeback.
Let me stop here and acknowledge that Barca is a good man with a long and respected record of public service. His spirited opposition to Republican moves to break long-standing rules in order to push forward a vote to destroy public employee unions in 2011 is the best part of his legacy. It’s worth watching the video of Barca’s performance at the time to remember just how good he could be and what we owe him for his passion and courage:
But Barca, like the rest of Democratic leadership, should have fallen on his sword after November. Whether or not he was personally responsible, his party lost a seat in the Assembly when they should have picked up at least one. Under his watch, they now find themselves in the deepest minority since 1957.
And if he didn’t resign as leader then he should have done it when he felt he needed to vote for the horrible Foxconn deal that promises to put a factory in his own district. It turned out that Barca’s wavering on that — in the end, he was one of only three Democrats to vote for the deal — was what finally did him in.
What’s more encouraging than just the fact of new leadership is that the coup came from the younger members of the caucus. There are some bright lights in that group, and now maybe they’ll get a chance to show what they can do. It’s important to note that the Democrats emerged from what was apparently an emotionally draining, four-hour caucus meeting without announcing a new leader, and Barca’s resignation doesn’t take effect until the end of the month.
That suggests that there might be a fight brewing over who replaces him. That’s good. It’s a sign of health when more than one person wants to lead a group. In fact, Barca was reelected even after a disastrous performance in the last elections because no one even bothered to challenge him.
But when they come out of that fight, let’s hope that they elect one of their younger, more dynamic members — someone like Evan Goyke of Milwaukee — to lead them. The Democrats have a very, very long road back. But the journey of a million miles begins with one step. It looks like they just took it.
