An Open Letter To AL Dem Chair Nancy Worley
Alabama Democrats have said it for five long years and in a thousand different direct and indirect ways, but you really don’t seem to understand that you’re creating more intractable political damage than you can possibly imagine. You’re latest cringe-worthy comments on Alabama Public Television’s show Capitol Journal are simply overflowing with clear examples of your epic failure to represent the policies and philosophies of the Alabama Democratic Party. During your painfully long interview, you did nothing but show that you haven’t the most obscure clue on how to use the media to advance the party platform or support Democratic candidates in Alabama.
The Alabama Republican Party couldn’t create, in a fictional laboratory, a more gullible, laughable, or tone-deaf opponent than you. When they feel the need to lampoon our party, you’re the gift that keeps on giving. Whether it’s an unforced error like a party letter replete with your bathroom adventures or blatant incompetence like your failure to do the most basic things like keeping the party website active, you are their go-to for comic relief, revulsion, and embarrassing sound bites. That’s why Yellowhammer News’ water-boy and WVNN talk show host Jeff Poor immediately wrote an article about your insipid comments as fast as he could type. Did it not occur to you that you were playing into their hands? C’mon, Ms. Worley, whose side are you really on?
As if your ineffectual tenure in Montgomery wasn’t enough, you still stubbornly insist on keeping a seat on the Madison County Democratic Executive Committee even though everyone, yes everyone, knows you don’t reside in Madison County. Please, for the love of the party, just stop!
Look, this isn’t personal. It’s just that you’ve done absolutely nothing to advance the Democratic platform or its’ candidates. Instead, you’ve almost exclusively talked about race and gender and carried Joe Reed’s water. It may surprise you, but people, regardless of their ethnicity, sexuality, or cultural background, care about the Democratic platform and its’ policy positions. I know it may sound patronizing, but are you unfamiliar with the most basic political maneuver called “the pivot”? Don’t you think you could have tried it during the Capitol Journal interview so that you could have talked about things that mattered to voters, like the Democratic party’s position on issues facing Alabama?
Instead, you fell into their ridiculously obvious trap. You painted the party as focused on race, instead of a party that has viable solutions for the myriad of problems facing the state.
Of course, racial and gender issues are extremely important. We, indeed, should be talking about them. But, there’s a way to talk about them that sincerely resonates with, and unites, people instead of dividing them, but you haven’t figure that out, yet.
It’s time for you to step down. It’s time for you to let someone else lead the party. Under your tenure, no one knows the party message, candidates aren’t supported or recruited, and you’ve left nothing but a trail of embarrassing media gaffes.
Alabama needs the Democratic Party and you’ve done nothing but diminish and critically injure it. You’re killing it. You’ve made it a laughingstock. Ms. Worley, this is not about you, it’s about reality. You’ve got to see the writing on the wall.
Your recent fight with the DNC has shown us that you’re obsessed with self-interest at the expense of the party. Sadly, your legacy of incompetence and failure has done huge damage across the state. There’s no excuse for your political malpractice and negligence. Please step down, so we can begin to clean up the mess you’ve made.
Clete Wetli is former Chair of the Madison County Democrats and a liberal political activist.
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