Angela Marx (www.dailykos.com/...) wrote an interesting post-election diagnosis diary this AM (www.dailykos.com/...) that got a lot of comments (including a lot of mine). I think her perspective is pretty common, and I see a lot of merit to it. In a nutshell, one can boil down the argument to: “if our people came out, and didn’t withhold their vote for our candidate we would have won.” She is very likely right about that. But I still think her diary misses the mark as a prescription for future winning. Let me give a few reasons WHY I think that is the case.
First, and most importantly, fails to recognize what I thought we all knew about our Democratic electorate: We are fragmented, and job one of a (D) candidate is to unite the coalition. We all know that we win when our people turn out, so why can’t we focus on the REASONS why our people do, don’t, didn’t turn out instead of blaming them for not doing so? In my opinion the only thing that approach can do for us is make us feel better for a few minutes, before we go back to having to live with the truly awful reality of President Trump. For better or worse, this is the electorate we as Democrats HAVE.
Second, why are we so afraid of enforcing a bit of accountability on our chosen candidates? Of course there were headwinds against HRC. Do any of us expect that to not be the case in some mythical future election? It is the way things are and we will have to deal with it. Best to figure out what we can do to get around that challenge, including focusing on what candidates could / should do differently in that environment.
Third, I think this line of argument distracts us from the fact that we are LOSING the game as it is currently being played. Do Republicans lie? All the time. Do they work to create an unfair competitive landscape? Absolutely. Do they abuse their powers to make it harder for Democrats to win? Without a doubt. But HRC knew ALL of these things, as did we all. We have to work to change all of these underlying dynamics, of course. But we also have to learn that until we do, we have to win within their constraints. We seem to be trying to win simply by pointing out all of these unfair aspects, and saying we are better. But that isn’t working. It hasn’t as long as I can remember. That is not how candidate Obama won.
Finally, does any one of us REALLY believe that blaming voters for not voting for our chosen candidate is going to make us successful the next time? If you truly believe that, then please help me understand. If not, what purpose does it serve to say this other than for you to vent?