NYT Op-Ed: Move Left, Democrats!

[ginnyinWI]

Dems need to go left and recover the progressives who voted third and fourth party rather than Hillary. Moving to the right to appeal to the white working class will only alienate more of them.

By Steve Phillips:

The Democratic National Committee will choose its next leader on Saturday, and when it does it
should choose a leader who will resist the pressure to pursue the wrong white people. Hundreds of articles have been written about the imperative of attracting more support from white working-class voters who supported Barack Obama in 2012 but then bolted to back Donald J. Trump.

The far more important — and largely untold — story of the election is that more Obama voters defected to third- and fourth-party candidates than the number who supported Mr. Trump. That is the white flight that should most concern the next D.N.C. chairman, because those voters make up a more promising way to reclaim the White House. The way to win them back is by being more progressive, not less.

To be clear, all white voters matter. But Democrats must make tough, data-driven decisions about how to prioritize their work. Right now, too many are using bad math and faulty logic to push the party to chase the wrong segment of white voters. For example, Guy Cecil, who spent nearly $200 million as head of the progressive “super PAC” Priorities USA, urged the party to rebuild trust with the “millions of white voters who voted for President Obama and Donald Trump.”

The math underlying that conclusion is incorrect (Mr. Trump picked up not “millions,” but only 784,000 white votes in the 10 battleground states he won by single digits). And it misses the bigger — and more fixable — problem of white Democratic defections to third- and fourth-party candidates.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/opinion/move-left-democrats.html

[dalton99a]

1. Forget the Trump cultists and rallygoers.

[LonePirate]

2. Sage advice! Moving rightward to the center is certainly not inspiring or forward thinking.

[lagomorph777]

3. Stop trying to be a 2nd GOP. One is more than enough!

The eagle cannot fly with two right wings.

Or I can put it more plainly. Stop helping the GOP transfer middle class money to the billionaires. Voters of every color can wee what you're doing!

[Squinch]

4. YES! This exactly!

[Cha]

51. I disagree, Squinch. Hillary had a very Progressive Platform.. those

who voted 3rd party chose to believe jill stein's lies.

There is no pleasing those who allow themselves to be brainwashed over the health of humanity.

[Squinch]

58. I read the article as saying don't go after that white male rural vote that we've been talking about

The math of going after that group doesn't work and we don't really want them anyway. It's saying that there's "still a new American majority made up of a meaningful minority of whites and an overwhelming majority of minorities" and that's what we should be shoring up and incrementally increasing.

I totally agree with that.

I think the solution to your point about the Stein voter comes down to the fact that Democrats have always been bad at messaging.

We will never get the Trump voter. But I think we lost many (certainly not all) of those stein voters because our messaging has been so bad for so long that Hillary couldn't get through to them when the time came, even though she was saying exactly what they wanted a candidate to be saying.

Even some of my very intelligent friends who did vote for her said they were doing it despite their dislike for her. When asked why the dislike, they spouted all the crazy old shit that you and I know is baseless old propaganda. We didn't, in the end, effectively counter that propaganda. Because Republicans have been working on it for years and years and we only fought it during the campaign.

Even now we're missing a huge opportunity to turn people away from Republicans. We should be all over the airways, on billboards, in local papers, telling all those red regions just what destruction the Republicans are planning for them specifically. You and I know the plans are being made. They are a matter of public record, but I guarantee that the average stein or trump voter doesn't know what's about to hit them.

[Cha]

60. Thank you.. I agree about the trump voters.

But, stein bald faced lied to her fans about Hillary.

They chose putin's stooge over common sense and the truth.

I do understand your point very well about the messaging.. Lakoff has some words of wisdom about that.

Linguist George Lakoff Explains How the Democrats Helped Elect Trump

Democrats played into Trump's hands, Lakoff says — and they won't win until they learn how to frame the debate.

snip//

A: When I started teaching framing the first thing I would tell the class is “Don’t think of an elephant,” and of course, they think of an elephant. I wrote a book on it because the point is, if you negate a frame, you have to activate the frame, because you have to know what you’re negating. If you use logic against something, you’re strengthening it. And that lesson was not understood. So if people think in terms of logic — it’s a mistake that’s made every day on MSNBC — you go on there and you’ll get people saying, “Well, you know, Trump said this, and some Republicans said that and Jeff Sessions said this and here are the facts that show they’re wrong.” You just keep repeating the things that you’re negating. And that just strengthens them.

More~ http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/dont-think-rampaging-elephant-linguist-george-lakoff-explains-how-democrats-helped

And, I wish Dems would be countering the lies all over the airwaves, etc. I don't even have a tv because of all the bullshit that permeates.

[guillaumeb]

76. Whoever frames the debate will win the debate.

We were taught that in class.

The GOP has the advantage of money, and skilled advertisers like Frank Luntz. A great example was framing the ACA as Obamacare because this allowed the GOP to focus on the black man in the White House and ignore the actual positives in the ACA.

And surveys that show far more support for the ACA than for Obamacare are proof that the tactic worked.

[Orsino]

72. And as far as we know, it was a winning platform. n/t

[world wide wally]

5. If Dems just say exactly what they mean, and not keep trying to get 100% of the vote all the time,

I am sure we will be pleasantly surprised on Election Day.

[ginnyinWI]

7. after all, it worked for #45--

And I don't think it's hurting Elizabeth Warren or any other Dems who are speaking out. And Keith Ellison, Al Franken, and Chuck Schumer, and the rest who are bold and speak truth to power.

[JudyM]

14. This is key.

[Orsino]

73. Citizens United stands in our way.

On the plus side, we have Sanders' proof-of-concept showing that crowdfunding is a possible path to victory. If a Dem has the guts to step up and similarly swear off the direct Big Money, at least, I'm sure we can elect a president with relatively few strings attached.

[annabanana]

6. If we go full-on progressive.. we will get those Obama/Trump voters back. . .

plus everyone who hasn't gone balls-out into the Trump cult.

Whenever they call Trump a "populist" I want to pull my hair out. The problems are obvious to "both sides". We tell the truth about the remedies. They don't.

[Jake Stern]

8. McGovern! Mondale!

Someone will be by shortly to tell us why moving to the left will be the death of our party and how only "centrist" (read: conservative leaning) Dems can save us.

[msanthrope]

9. Well.....I remember the glorious reign of President Mondale a bit differently than you. nt

[yallerdawg]

32. I remember, too.

[BarackTheVote]

36. My entire lifetime ago (n/t)

[yallerdawg]

42. "....doomed to repeat it."

When we "move left" against a corrupt, psycho Republican:

[BarackTheVote]

44. Cheese and crackers...

You're actually using maps from 32 and 44 years ago for evidence of how Democrats should run in the 2000s

[yallerdawg]

45. Just a reminder to all the "FDR Democrats" out there.

We have a history - no third term Democrat has won since FDR/Truman.

Our 'leftward' lurches against an incumbent Republican have always failed.

Our last three Democratic presidents - Carter, Clinton, Obama - knocked off liberal, progressive primary candidates and went on to victory as centrist Democrats.

[JI7]

63. McGovern and Mondale Would do Better today

[uponit7771]

10. +1, there are more votes to the left than the right

[Progressive dog]

11. Hillary got more votes than Trump

If I remember correctly, Bernie Sanders moved the Democrats to the left. That was a losing strategy, not a winning one.

[Goblinmonger]

12. We're still blaming this on Sanders?

Sweet Jesus.

[Progressive dog]

13. No, just presenting facts

to counter nonsensical claims about how making Democrats a leftist party can win elections.

[Goblinmonger]

16. Well, if we are talking nonsensical claims

are we going to argue that we should move to the middle when the running of a center left candidate this time around caused the Dems to lose to the worst candidate EVER? Because that didn't work so well.

[Progressive dog]

20. If Trump was the "worst candidate ever", he

obviously wouldn't have been elected.

[Goblinmonger]

24. One would think

but, yet, he was.

Go ahead. Name one candidate that was worse. Trump did things almost daily that would have been the end of any other candidate.

I'm not saying it was all Clinton's fault, but if she couldn't beat this jackass, then I don't know who she could beat.

And so we are still on point, running a center left candidate didn't put us in a position to beat the biggest dipshit in the history of presidential candidates. So don't make this about Sanders moving the party left. That/he was not the reason we lost.

[Progressive dog]

25. The thing is Trump was way way way to

the right of Clinton and everyone knew it. I am not claiming that Sanders was the reason we lost, but he sure didn't help.

[Goblinmonger]

26. I don't think we know who Trump is

Certainly he is pretty far to the right of Clinton in what he is doing, but during the campaign he was to the left of Clinton on some issues.

[Progressive dog]

28. He is a psychopath and he pandered to RW votes

They certainly recognized their own.

[TrekLuver]

52. I think you underestimate how much people hated Hillary...and it wasn't because she was

center left.

[Cha]

54. It was because they were fucking brainwashed,

[TrekLuver]

57. Oh yes they were...and I knew it when I asked my "mainstream" sister "come on you are going to

vote for HIllary right...you can't be voting for Trump" and she said Oh no I can't vote for that woman..and I said ..WHY? And she said Benghazi....

[Cha]

59. Exactly, TL. I had a couple of people say..

"Establishment" when I asked.

[LanternWaste]

75. I pretend observations are 'blame' as well...

I pretend mere observations are 'blame' as well... regardless of our high fructose deities.

We certainly need that narrative. Without it, we appear empty of substance and rational thought.

[BarackTheVote]

18. Disagree.

A lot of Democrats were convinced by their leaders, surrogates, and media that Sanders had no chance, and thus decided to vote "pragmatically." The contingent of the electorate that is independent and can be grabbed by Moderates has shrunk, especially in the Midwest, and especially among younger voters. Look at polls--progressive issues have never been embraced by more people than they are right now, but Moderates are unable to capitalize on that trend. The fact may be, as difficult as it is for people who are still shell-shocked by the progressive losses of the *last century,* this: the independent vote is actually more progressive than the present-day Democratic party.

Clinton beating Sanders was more a product of fear than anything else--fear that yet ANOTHER progressive would lose. Ironically, that is the new losing strategy.

[Progressive dog]

19. Sure, thats why Trump won, because

the voters are Progressive in the Midwest.

[BarackTheVote]

22. A lot of the people who voted for him in

Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan voted for Obama. They may not be as socially progressive (but let's face it, NO Democrat is even going to be considered for the Highest Office unless they support LGBTQ Rights, Women's Rights, and Minority Rights), but they have a deep and profound distrust of corporate and banking power, and that's where Clinton lost them. 45 was allowed to run to the LEFT of Clinton on these issues (we know he was lying through his teeth, but that part of his rhetoric resonated with these people is the POINT). Not to mention, the as yet untapped vote of the Millennials, *gasp hiss*-- the largest generation since the Baby Boom--who are way, way, WAY to the Left of Clinton, and distrusted her corporate and banking ties from the beginning. Obama ran as a progressive; Gore, Kerry, and Clinton ran as moderates--one of these people won, three of them lost (and lost to George Bush Jr. and Donald Drumf, two of the least qualified people to ever be backed by major parties to be president), I think that should be a strong indicator of the strategy that must be used in the future.

[Progressive dog]

23. Thats why their states have been voting more to the right

because the voters are more to the left. That makes a lot of sense somewhere, I guess.

[BarackTheVote]

31. 45* ran to the LEFT of Clinton

on corporations and banks. A lot of these voters didn't view Drumf as a Republican, they viewed him as an eccentric outsider who would take on banks and corporations (he's probably already lost those people, by the by, as reflected in his plummeting approval rating). But if you want to keep willfully misinterpreting and misrepresenting my points, that's fine, too.

Cozying up to corporations and banks is THE losing strategy of the new Millennium.

[Progressive dog]

34. Bullcrap, he attacked banks, he

didn't attack corporations. He attacked corporate regulation, including on banks. . He pledged to help corporations with high tariffs, to restrict competition. Trump ran so far right that you couldn't see him from the center.

[BarackTheVote]

35. He also said he would

penalize corporations that moved jobs to other countries.

[Progressive dog]

37. Yup, by putting a regressive tax on imports.

You can't believe that tariffs are progressive or Left.

[BarackTheVote]

41. The people we're talking about are not

geniuses with regards to the finer points of economics or governance. What they heard was that he would talk tough to corporations for exporting jobs, that he would take on lobbyists, and wouldn't be beholden to corporate donors. But, fine, let's say you're right. Let's say the entire midwest has moved to the Right. What then? You've just lost every election for the next generation. If the voters in these states are really unreachable to this extent, then you even more desperately need that huge faction of non-voters, and they haven't gone for the carrot of Moderate candidates, either.

[Progressive dog]

43. So the solution isn't that we couldn't beat an

extreme RW nut, it's that the voters don't understand the finer points of governance or maybe there is nothing Democrats can do, so we might as well move left.
I'm confused as to how you came to those conclusions.

[ginnyinWI]

46. since I am living in Wisconsin--

I can tell you that I personally know Bernie fans who refused to vote for Hillary. They are living in Madison, the liberal hotbed of the state, and they weren't the only ones. We're more Progressive out here than you might think.

The second problem with Wisconsin was that black voters weren't motivated enough and their turnout was down compared to 2008.

And third, Gov. Walker's voter suppression made it harder for anyone to vote if they didn't already have a Driver's License or other official I.D.

[Cha]

61. Yeah, and Feingold lost and in New York so did Zephyr Teachout..

That's on them that we have a Climate Change Denier in the WH.. their ignorance bought them a big chunk of trump.

And, the Planet lost

[Progressive dog]

67. Zephyr Teachout had millions to spend

in my NY district. Most of her money came from outside this district.
Teachout had run against Andrew Cuomo for the WFP slot and in the Democratic primary for governor in 2012. During the primary, she made her opposition to the recent 2% property tax cap clear-on video. Then, two years later she moved north and ran for Congress. She easily won the Democratic primary against an unknown opponent.

The what I call her "you sold out to Wall Street, John" ad was filmed with Teachout rowing a boat on the Hudson. That was a bad ad, but her response ad, denying her opposition to the property tax cap was worse. She called Republican claims that she wanted to repeal the property tax cap, "crazy." They had her on video.

Teachout repeatedly called Hillary corrupt.

New York 19th District candidate Zephyr Teachout doubled down on her corruption critique against Hillary Clinton in an interview on “Capital Tonight.” Simultaneously, she reiterated her support for Clinton, apparently blind to the hypocrisy of it all, laughably saying, “Nobody’s perfect.”

I held my nose as I voted for Teachout.

http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2016/10/ny-19-house-gop-super-pac-knocks-teachout-again-on-tax-cap/

[Cha]

68. That doesn't

surprise me at all.

Thanks for that, Progressive dog

[BarackTheVote]

15. The OP is correct--

Moving to the Left is the only way to go. The American electorate has become one of extreme contrast: you have the fascists on one side, and a burgeoning socialist movement on the other. Moderates are going to be more and more marginalized as time goes on. Pragmatism is no longer an option: we need radical change now, change on the order of the New Deal, and we need candidates who are not afraid to articulate this sort of vision. Democrats! You're using a handbook that's almost forty years old! The landscape has changed dramatically from what it was in the late 70s!

[workinclasszero]

17. I agree

When BLOTUS 45 and his Goldman Sach's govt screws over his working class voters, the Democratic party needs to be the crystal clear difference.

We need to move into FDR socialism and not be afraid about it either. The screwed generation is already there. Take them and us to victory!

[BarackTheVote]

33. Hear! Hear!

[Cha]

53. Hillary had a very Progressive Platform.. those who voted for stein

chose to believe her lies about Hilary.. and didn't give a shite about our Planet.

There's no pleasing anyone who allows themselves to be brainwashed and help vote in a Climate Change Denier in charge.

They own a gd chunk of trump.

[leftstreet]

21. DURec

[unblock]

27. a lesson republicans learned years ago -- it's more cost-effective to get partisans to vote than

to woo the undecided.

[otohara]

29. ColoradoCare Failed 80/20 n/t

[Progressive dog]

38. It did

Throughout the campaign, the measure had polled better with Democrats than Republicans. But even in left-leaning Denver, the amendment was losing 2-to-1, according to early returns.

[link:http://www.denverpost.com/2016/11/08/coloradocare-amendment-69-election-results/|

[hollowdweller]

30. Democrats are already to the left, just not on the correct issues.

We talk a good game on helping working people but we have not done enough to help them.

[mvd]

47. We can be left on both social and economic issues

Really, they are intertwined. But our globalization (trade) and austerity stances have really come back to haunt us. Populism - being against Wall Street, banks, significant inequality - needs to be one of our main themes again. When we talk about helping the working class, we give platitudes way too often - ones like "make the economy work for everyone." We do have things that help the working class, but they don't get communicated well. It's like we are always holding back.

As for the past, we were fighting both a strong economy and the Vietnam War drawing down in 1972. Mondale faced the inexplicably popular Reagan. Dukakis was a bad candidate and really not that liberal. Clinton ran as a populist but did not govern as one. Obama was a special candidate with charisma and class. Eventually going to the right has really hurt us.

So, we need to find the right candidate and I am ok if he/she is not a perfect one. Even Sanders does not have a stellar record on guns.

[hollowdweller]

77. gun issue is #1 reason dems lose in my area.

Abortion is at record low.

Homicide record lows also.

I think we need to focus on economics. Sanders stances on guns helped him with a lot of voters who are economically progressive but rural.

[mvd]

78. I'm for gun control, but I feel we do need to be careful

We need to emphasize we aren't out to take guns from law abiding citizens. Being pro choice and being for gay and trans rights are also important. The problem is that we have given up too much ground on economic issues, and economy and jobs are always on people's minds.

[putitinD]

39. MOVE LEFT, its where the people are!

[Cha]

50. No he wasn't.

[fun n serious]

55. No he was not. Bernie is actually to the right of Hillary socially.

[Blue_true]

48. Democrats don't need to recover purists that have

let the nation down twice at a critical juncture and help usher in events that have killed many thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans.

Bush was vague in 2000 with his "compassionate conservative" bullshit, but Trump was a red hot clear and present danger that any true progressive should have noticed in one second and fought against at the ballot box.

We are better off without Stein voters and Bernie writeins. It is one thing to face someone coming at you with a knife (most Trump voters), it is another to end up being stabbed by someone who claimed to be on your side and stabbed you because that was in your best interests.

[Cha]

49. Bull. Hillary had a very Progressive Platform.. those voters chose

to believe the LIES of the putin stooge, jill stein.

There's no pleasing someone who helped to vote in trump and get the Climate Change denier in charge.

And,who's ahead of the EPA now.. some oil asshole.

Good job stein suckas.

[Alice11111]

64. !!!

[jalan48]

56. Populism is back-look at what's going on at town hall meetings across the country.

I agree that a move left, if it means more populism is a good thing. Voters have grown tired at what they perceive to be politics as usual with entrenched politicians. It may not be fair to some good people but it's the mood of the country these days.

[BainsBane]

66. That's called political engagement

Not populism. Populism is when a charismatic figure uses that political energy for his own purposes.

[Jakes Progress]

62. Sure. Why not give trump a full eight years?

The crux of this argument is that leftists helped trump into the white house because they didn't get their pony. That they were too stupid to realize how government and politics work.

If there are leftists so stupid that they threw away a chance to keep a horror like trump out of office, then they will just keep being stupid and being duped.

I'm a long time socialist who wanted everything that Bernie talked about. But I'm also intelligent. He blew it when he wouldn't become a part of the party and support Hillary. Then he was too self-absorbed to see that his actions could lead to the trump disaster. He thought he could play the rebel without consequence. He was wrong, and he lead those "white Democratic defections" to help put trump in the white house. He spoke of union support, but acted as if he had no idea what solidarity means.

Yes. I wanted what Bernie said he wanted. Neither of us got it. But I voted for the candidate that would have given us a shot. Those who didn't were just stupid.

[BainsBane]

65. What I hate about these declarations

Is they don't bother to say what they mean by "move left." Some have insisted catering to the white male middle-class involves moving left. I don't suppose it would be possible for these political geniuses to talk about actual policies or issues rather than making vague statements about "moving left"? And as usual, there is zero mention of voter disenfranchisement, which is being ignored to a criminal degree by the so-called "left."

Then there is the fact the point of the Op Ed is to endorse Ellison, all while arguing against the very message that has undergird his nomination to the position by Sanders.

[Demsrule86]

69. The GOP has all but 18 governorships. They have 2/3 of state legislatures.

They have Congress and the White House. There is no evidence that going left will help us...we are center left in my opinion...and if we run too far left, we will lose. I say this sadly as I long for a progressive agenda...but sometimes you have to keep what you have... not allow things to erode...God knows that will be hard enough. And I might add that those who were so progressive that they voted for Trump, voted for a third party candidate or didn't vote at all have blood on their hands. Screw them...I hope Trump's administration makes then suffer more than the rest of us. Judging from the autos which are always first to show recession, we are entering a recession. This will be the first such downturn many in this crowd have faced as adults.

[alarimer]

70. This is actually evidence that being middle of the road does NOT work.

Democrats (until 2016) never even tried to move left. They only did it this time because of Sanders. I believe Sanders would have beaten Trump. But Trump actually espoused (insincerely) positions to the left of Clinton on NAFTA, the TTP and corporations. Enough people believed him.

[Demsrule86]

74. It is evidence that we are a center left or center right country.

Sanders would not have beaten Trump...he could not win even among Democrats. We had Feingold in Wisconsin ...so consider that... a person who was interested in moving left would have voted for him. If we go to far left, we lose in my opinion. I wish we were a leftist country but I don't think we are.

[alarimer]

71. This. I am so tired of the Third Way bullshit

That losing Democrats always seem to default to.

Hopefully the activism on display will help them find a spine. Defend Medicare, SS and the ACA. A full-throated defense of rich people paying their fair share of taxes and point out just how cruel the Ryan budget actually is. Sincerely defend the EPA by reminding people of what dirty air and water really is like. Etc.