Is the DNC staffed with the BEST or just the well connected?

[jackstraw45]

I noticed the DNC hasn't listed a job on their website in years.

Perhaps it explains why we at DU get so angry when we see poor political execution like this weekend with the new Bush ad and NO clear and strong Dem response on the Sunday talk shows.

The Democratic National Party appears to be filled with insiders whose sole qualification is that they knew enough people to get their job.

Is that the highest qualification we want in our party? Just as government is filled with "veterans" who have no accountability, is it the same for our party?

Do you agree? disagree?

[John_H]

1. If You're looking for a job at the DNC forget it

unless you have significant contacts--it is 100 percent inside baseball, and 99 percent of the jobs are filled before anyone outside of the DNC hears about them.

No shocker there. What is surprising in that, thanks to the low pay, you have very inexperienced people doing jobs with pretty significant responsibilities. Generally, these are smart kids who learn pretty fast, but once in a while somebody makes the kind of mistake that nobody older than, say, 30 would make and somebody's campaign or piece of legislation suffers. Ageist? Maybe. But let's face it, we all made mistakes at 22 that we'd never make today in a million years.

My advice--start on the Hill. Entry level Hill jobs are pretty easy to get, especially if you have a friend or two up there. Do a good job. Schmooze your ass off.

[wyethwire]

2. or state level stuff

If you are willing to start outside of Washington, there are a lot of good opportunities

[jackstraw45]

3. You COMPLETELY missed my point..I'm not LOOKING for a job

but rather criticizing the system you're trying to explain to me (which I already know about).

Many who get internships on the Hill aren't necessarily the best and brightest of our party.

The well connected, as we see with Bush*, are not always the best and the brightest.

But these appear to be the only people the DNC seems to employ as staff.

And we wonder why there are daily screw-ups?

[Radical Activist]

4. Its an insider game but

there is some logic behind that as well. Politics is not something you can learn in school or learn in other jobs that aren't political. The only way to know that someone is competent in campaigns is to see them do it. So, it makes sense to hire people that have good recommendations from people who have seen them in action.

Sometimes its cronyism, but sometimes its a matter of hiring someone that a person you trust can vouch for as an effective worker. Having a Masters degree and ten years of experience in another field is useless in politics, so there is some sense to that. But I think you're right in that they could stand to open it up a little more.

[jackstraw45]

5. I've heard that in certain wings of the DNC, there's more drinking than

sleeping by night and disarray during the day.

Not going to be too speecific for my tech friend who works there but it sounds like the "insider game" has created more of a frat house than a well-oiled, thinking, political machine.

Just food for thought....

[Radical Activist]

6. a bunch of young people drinking at night a lot (Gasp)

(expressions of shock and alarm) :wow:
Young people in high stress jobs tend to do that. It's kind of part of the campaign culture.
Campaigns do suffer from a lack of experienced people who are willing quit their regular comfortable job and come work for low pay in a temporary campaign job. I'm not sure there's a lot that can be done about that.