During an interview with MS NOW’s “The Weekend” panelist Eugene Daniels, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) acknowledged shortcomings in the Democratic Party’s approach to addressing the concerns of black voters.
The longtime South Carolina Democrat called on his party to “get back to some basics.”
“What’s your honest assessment about how if you zoom out, right, not just South Carolina, not just black voters, but how does the party actually change the way that folks view the successes, the failures, and the future that the Democratic Party is promising?” Daniels asked.
Clyburn replied, “I think that we have to get back to some basics. I think that the party got too far. There’s a song that I hear a lot now that emanates from South Carolina, by the way — ‘Boots on the Ground.’ We’ve got to listen to those people who wear those boots that they’re trying to put on the ground. I don’t believe we listen.”
“I have said this, and I really do believe with all my heart: We pay too much attention to the consulting class, and not enough attention to those people, the constituents,” he continued. “Our constituents know what they feel, and we have to pay attention to people’s feelings, like what is said about their conditions. People respond emotionally, and my experiences tell me we do not spend enough time, energy and resources with our ground operations that we need to. I don’t know why we got away from that but I think a lot has to do with these consultants who will get their percentages out of ground operations.”
Follow Jeff Poor on X @jeff_poor