What went wrong with the Democratic Party? Three big failures that led to the current debacle
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Source: www.salon.com
To an extent that is rarely true of an opposition party, Democrats can claim a mandate of resistance. Donald Trump lost the popular vote by a large margin, hes incredibly unpopular and the Republicans have broken norms around using any tools available to gum up the opposition partys agenda. In a welcome development, Democrats have largely avoided their classic debate about whether they should throw women or people of color under the bus in order to remain electorally competitive (though some pieces in this genre have slipped through).
But while resistance is a welcome posture for Democrats, its one that very few have clearly defined. Most autopsies have focused on Hillary Clintons campaign failures and messaging, but these are ancillary to the more structural failures of the Democratic Party over the last few years and offer only limited help to understand whats coming next. Next week, Ill discuss some principles for Democrats going into the future. But before Democrats can go forward, its worth understanding whats been going wrong.
Mistake 1: Focusing on Perception, Not Power
Throughout Barack Obamas time in office, Democrats have proved incapable of fighting back against Republican subterfuge because of their commitment to respectability politics. For example, James OKeefe released a selectively edited video which he claimed showed that ACORN (a nonprofit organization that organized, mobilized and advocated for low-income communities) had advised him on how to buy a house and use it as a brothel. Rather than rallying in defense of ACORN, an overwhelming majority of Democrats voted with Republicans to cut off funding for an organization that had been instrumental in campaigns for living-wage ordinances, increasing the minimum wage and ending predatory lending.
Read more: http://www.salon.com/2017/01/08/what-went-wrong-with-the-democratic-party-three-big-failures-that-led-to-the-current-debacle/
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,746 posts)Zoonart
(12,663 posts)The underlying compact of "go along to get along" that defines the "Collegial" experience of serving in the Congress lulled the Democrats into a false sense os security within the body and within the greater party at large that assured them they would be dealt with in an essentially honest way. FAIL!
Fat, dumb. and happy... they were led down the garden path to the slaughter.
We have to start over. The rules have changed.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)ewagner
(18,967 posts)You must ask the next question...
Is it in the political DNA of the Democratic Party to be as brutal as the Republican Party?
I recall a speech Newt Gingrich gave to the national Young Republicans during the Clinton Presidency. He told them that the failure of the "grownup" Republicans was that "...we haven't taught you to be mean enough". Gingrich, by word and example has been the absolute icon of Republican "meanness"....actually treachery and evil...but nevertheless, the entire Republican Party is based on an unethical approach to
POWER
We're all about POLICY but we have to be about both: POWER AND POLICY...and perhaps make one lead to the other.
yardwork
(63,728 posts)ananda
(30,393 posts)..and having no backbone when it really counted ..
I could go on.
yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)The new paradigm is when you win, but still lose.
Less than 1% of real went-to-poll-voters - 40,000 - in just those 3 Rust Belt states determined this election.
"For want of a nail..."
Percy Cholmondeley
(74 posts)Look into Kris Kobach, the vote suppression queen & Kansas Attorney General. Republican dirty tricks are the elephant in the living room, or whatever the metaphor is nowadays, and everybody knows it, but tiptoes around it. Makes me wonder if the Democrats don't want to open that can of worms due to them being even guiltier. Or, maybe they don't want to get Wellstoned/Carnahaned/Connelled. Read Greg Palast.