General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Hillary Throws Shade at Bernie: 'Fundamentally Wrong' About Democratic Party [View all]ismnotwasm
(41,967 posts)So if we are to expand our base, it goes back to the question of who we reach our to? I hope the idea of "reaching out" to Trump voters has been laid to rest--I don't care who voted for Obama--that bird has flown far, far away. Bernie or busters don't WANT to be reached out to, they have their own ideas and they are welcome to them.
So we have left the politically ambivalent, the disinfranchised, the underserved and the underrepresented. While I agree we can reach out to say, unions--we already have unions, even if some individual members, usually male and white--voted for Trump. I do think "Trump Regret" is a thing, and people will justify not voting or voting for him by attempting to further demonize Hillary Clinton. The question is should we allow this to happen without pushing back? Well first of all, even if I thought that was a good idea, there are millions who don't. We will push back, and we will defend her.
There is a type of smug political pundit, AND voter, who implies a lot of "I told you so"--when addressing Hillary's electability and Trumps election, implies Bernie would have been a better candidate against Trump, implies, in fact that anybody would have been better, uses Hillary's history and words as a foil for this..attitude..That this attitude is based on institutional sexism when analysed without emotion i.e. While career male politicians up to and including Bernie Sanders skate though historical political decisions , Hillary was subject to intense and unprecedented scrutiny and criticism. This is part of what we MUST address.
The DACA debacle is one that could have been predicted by anyone paying attention. So could have the Muslim ban or militarizing police. Not one white person should be surprised at this. We post distressed OP's about our spouses and brother-in-laws and parents who are bigots or support Trump. We know. We KNOW. They ARE us.
So this brings me to my final point; our base is changing and our base is comprised, not of just "blue collar" men, and the educated, but more importantly the people of color and women. While this reflects a changing society, it's what we have to work with. And PoC especially, will NOT be satisfied with platitudes and/or be taken for granted each election cycle. They are some of the Democratic party's best activists, and many in congress are our best hope.
In Seattle right now, the sky is hazy with ash. The sun is a round orange ball. A dark day. But I have as much hope as I can, because I believe in our party.