One of the most persistent, pernicious myths in politics is the idea that parties out of power have leaders anymore.

We’ve recently seen how a party with the White House can have nearly autocratic rule by a president or how a weak president can be done in by an insurrection. But a party without the presidency, especially with no majorities in Congress, is a rudderless ship.

That’s not to say that Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer don’t have power in their respective chambers, just that it doesn’t go beyond that.

When analysts and politicos talk about “Democrats say” or “the direction Democrats are taking,” it is at best an effort to read the zeitgeist of some 70 million Americans who think of themselves as members of the party. It’s about as meaningful as saying “Yankees fans” or “daschund owners.” Yes, we can make some broad inferences based on behaviors and public opinion research, but there’s nobody in charge.

There is a Democratic Party, proper, though. The 452 members of the Democratic National Committee and its chairman, Ken Martin, are indeed there plugging away, trying to figure out how to get out of the wilderness.

But, since the rolling disaster of McCain-Feingold, the Citizens United decision and the rise of the small-dollar online donor, the parties themselves have been hollowed out pretty substantially. Without warchests of their own, the parties have been overshadowed by influencer politicians and super PACs that don’t have to........

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