Are we "in the early stages of the birth of a new Democratic Party"? [View all]

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https://newrepublic.com/article/144811/centrist-democrats-even-stand-for

What Do Centrist Democrats Even Stand For?

As Bernie Sanders and the progressive wing pull the party leftward, moderates are hoping to convince voters that they have big ideas, too.

Democrats across the ideological spectrum seem to agree that their party lacks a clear message in the Trump era—one that can appeal to working-class Americans of all races. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley, when pressed on the subject in July, hesitated before saying, “That message is being worked on. We’re doing everything we can to simplify it, but at the same time provide the meat behind it as well. So that’s coming together now.” The public apparently agrees: A poll that same month found that 37 percent of Americans believe the party stands for something, versus 52 percent who said it just stands against Trump. And the release in late July of A Better Deal, the Democrats’ new agenda, hasn’t quelled this concern....

For now, the disagreements between the Democratic Party’s left and centrist wings aren’t playing out in big, public ways (except, of course, online). Strategist Simon Rosenberg noted that Sanders faced no notable Democratic criticism for his single-payer rollout. He said the party is “in evolution” and less clearly divided into two obvious wings. “What I see is a party that’s leaving one era of what it means to be a Democrat,” he said. “I’m not sure that people know exactly what the best way to move forward is.” But Rosenberg argues that many of the party’s rising stars—senators Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Chris Murphy, Representative Seth Moulton, California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom—defy easy categorization on the ideological spectrum. “I think this is going to be a period of experimentation,” he said, “in the early stages of the birth of a new Democratic Party.”