What went wrong with the Democratic Party? Three big failures that led to the current debacle

[lancelyons]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by TreasonousBastard (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

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, he’s incredibly unpopular and the Republicans have broken norms around using any tools available to gum up the opposition party’s 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, it’s one that very few have clearly defined. Most autopsies have focused on Hillary Clinton’s 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 what’s coming next. Next week, I’ll discuss some principles for Democrats going into the future. But before Democrats can go forward, it’s worth understanding what’s been going wrong.

Mistake 1: Focusing on Perception, Not Power

Throughout Barack Obama’s time in office, Democrats have proved incapable of fighting back against Republican subterfuge because of their commitment to “respectability politics.” For example, James O’Keefe 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]

1. K&Fuckin'R

[Zoonart]

2. BI-partisanship

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]

4. as ever, Dems bring a knife to a fight where the other side has machine guns

[heaven05]

5. SO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

look at us now....so sad and utterly defeated with VERY IN FEW NUMBER IN THE HOUSE AND SENATE and very few legislative tools with which to resist the republiKKKan juggernaut. By this upcoming regime change....I am reminded of the tanks in Tiananmen Square running over the bodies of their own people and can't imagine the upcoming destruction of our society and the clash of cultures..... but...

[ewagner]

9. Agree...but...

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]

3. This excellent article is worth the full read.

[ananda]

6. Turning right towards the center ..

..and having no backbone when it really counted ..

I could go on.

[yallerdawg]

7. Sometimes - every 4 to 8 years like clockwork - we just get beat.

Democrats will not inevitably bounce back. Republicans have used their power to suppress votes, crush unions, redraw favorable districts, open the floodgates of money and deter organizing. The Republican advantage in statehouses will feed high-quality candidates into competitive races. They are better funded, and though Democrats won’t happily admit it, better organized. The goal of understanding these failures is not simply to relitigate old battles, but to understand how politics have evolved. The old paradigms that have driven Democratic politics for decades matter less than they once did.

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]

8. Oh, bullshit!!!

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.