Only by running against former National of Islam member Keith Ellison could Tom Perez, who defeated Ellison on the second ballot to become the new chair of the Democratic National Committee, by any stretch of the imagination be deemed "a moderate."

Despite the portrayal of former Obama labor secretary Perez's victory as a win for moderates within the Democratic Party, (please, where be these critters?), John Fund correctly characterizes Perez and Ellison as peas in a pod:

In reality, both candidates are hard-core progressives committed to the party’s scorched-earth opposition to the Trump administration. As Jeff Stein of Vox noted:

The purpose of this fight can appear somewhat mystifying. Perez was one of the most left-leaning members of Obama’s Cabinet, muting the contest’s ideological stakes by making it hard to understand what precise ideological division the party’s two factions are fighting over.

Jim Geraghty sounds the same theme in this morning's Morning Jolt:

"Lradical than Keith Ellison” is an awfully low bar to clear. Relax, fans of the Nation of Islam, Perez says he wants to make Ellison “the face of the Democratic Party,” and I am sure many Republicans are ready and willing to help him out in that task.

But consider the possibility that Perez is no less radical than Ellison, and merely focuses his energies in a different area. Last year, when there was some buzz about Perez being Hillary Clinton’s running mate, I took a long look at the Labor Secretary’s relatively unexamined career:

Perez’s liberal credentials are as impeccable as they come. Mother Jones called him “one of the administration’s most stalwart progressives.” Conservative policy experts who have followed his work in the Justice and Labor Departments consider him perhaps the Obama administration’s most radical and relentless ideologue.

Iain Murray, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s vice president of strategy, calls Perez “possibly the most dangerous person in the administration right now.” “His rewriting of U.S. labor law is probably the most fundamental attack on the free-enterprise system going on at present,” Murray says.

Nevertheless, being described as a moderate will be enormously helpful to Perez.

Remember that President Obama first attracted notice for his famous no-red America-no blue America speech at the 2004 Democratic convention. It sounded moderate and disarming.

But the Wall Street Journal warns Republicans that it would be foolish to gloat. If President Trump, who enjoys a historically low approval rating for a new president, fails to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with something better and if the economy doesn't improve, the "moderate" Perez may be able to lead his party to victory in the 2018 midterms.

Then we'll be well on the road to the kind of Obama moderation that stalled the economy and led the nation into shrill battles over frivolous issues (transgender restrooms, anybody?) once again.