Anti-semitism, the 800lb gorilla in the room that nobody seems to want to talk about

[Warren DeMontague]

300. I, too, am tired of the fighting. I expected it, I mean I remember '04 and '08, but it gets old.

I do think that we are in sort of an "all bets are off" situation in regards to what used to be commonly accepted conventional political wisdom, so to me that causes a bit of frustration with what I see as running a playbook that is outdated for this decade, and century, and the demographics of who we need to get to the polls. I think there are some relatively painless political positions HRC could take which would get a lot more Millennials involved- real marijuana law reform at the federal level, for one, given that it is an issue likely to play out in a large number of states this November (not to mention, the numbers of us who have already legalized) ... but I suspect that with some notable exceptions out here on the west coast (Newsom, Merkeley) legalization is running about 5-10 years behind marriage equality in terms of the beltway brahmins feeling comfortable enough to come out openly in favor of it, despite the American people polling in favor.

I would love it if ANY of the candidates would figure out what they're talking about before opining on something like encryption and Apple's battle with the FBI. It's fairly clear to me that both Sanders and Hillary (and before them, O'Malley) were a bit lost when trying to talk about the subject. These guys have enough friends in Silicon Valley, someone should take the time to explain to them, and they should take the time to learn, exactly what the situation is. Technology is only going to be more and more important in this century, and there are really good reasons why people want secure devices that don't have an asterisk after "secure".

Similarly I suspect she could get traction if she were to go higher on the minimum wage. I think a case has been made more forcefully and articulately this cycle for the moral imperatives behind a living wage, and that one move alone would do a great deal to change the facts on the ground for millions struggling on 2-3 jobs to make ends meet.

I do think the argument some Sanders people have been making is that the way to draw more people to our side, nationally, is to make a clearer distinction on economic policy with the GOP. That if we did that, clearly and effectively, we wouldn't be as outnumbered as it seems. Hillary supporters often bring up 1972, but I think 2004 is educational, in that it was a situation where we as a party nominated the supposedly stronger, 'more electable' candidate and lost, in part because many voters didn't feel there was a clear distinction from the GOP on crucial issues, the most pressing being the Iraq War.

but like I said, it's a sort of all bets are off situation, and either side can claim- without any objective basis to back it up- to have the smarter strategy.