Dear Democrats: Here's How Not to Blow It - RAHM EMANUEL

[question everything]

This week’s elections confirmed two things.

One: Democrats are on a winning streak. We flipped Kentucky’s gubernatorial seat and won control of the Virginia state Legislature—this on top of the gains from 2018, when Democrats retook the U.S. House of Representatives, flipped six state houses and picked up seven gubernatorial seats. Two: The playbook Democrats have used to such success in swing states over the past year is being utterly ignored by our party’s presidential candidates.

(snip)

During both cycles, we won swing districts and battleground states by using the same playbook: sticking to an agenda that meets voters where and how they live their lives. In tone, tenor and talent, those winning candidates spoke to issues that middle-class voters face every day. Which raises the question: Why aren’t our leading presidential candidates looking to replicate that success? There’s a gaping disconnect between that successful playbook and the strategic choices on display during the ongoing presidential primary debates. Inexplicably, the men and women who want to be our party’s standard-bearer seem to be ignoring the unambiguous message voters are sending—and that should concern anyone who wants to defeat Trump in 2020.

(snip)

As the 2018 and 2019 elections proved beyond any doubt, if we’re going to prevail in battleground states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, we both need to get our base to the polls and we need to persuade voters that they can safely vote for our candidates, knowing that they are the right choice for the country. Candidates like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Kentucky Governor-elect Andy Beshear and a host of first-term members of the House of Representatives and a bevy of state legislators around the country have made absolutely plain how to win in battleground states and districts. They established a durable playbook for building coalitions between urban and suburban voters—an alliance that I term the “Metropolitan Majority.”

(snip)

The dissonance is remarkable. Compare what the candidates who won last year and this year’s elections have done to what the presidential candidates are offering ahead of 2020. On health care, successful Democrats didn’t mention "Medicare for All;" they explained how they would control prescription drug costs and preserve protections for preexisting conditions. They didn’t offer free college; they spoke about equity and fairness across the educational spectrum, from early childhood to higher ed. They didn’t talk about the Green New Deal so much as they proposed to expand renewable energy and invest in the jobs and growth that come with it. They didn’t offer to guarantee anyone’s income so much as explained how they would attract good jobs that would provide for a middle-class life. They didn’t talk about confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens; they promised to support the background checks that prevent criminals from getting access to weapons.

These distinctions matter. The substance of our ideas provides a window into what we care about, whose interests we’ll pursue and how we intend to govern. That’s why, as a political matter, the Democratic Party’s agenda needs to be practical, prudent and progressive. In his column yesterday, John Harris argued that it’s not always the “safe” Democrats who make history. Maybe so, but that’s putting the cart before the horse: You can’t make history if you don’t hold the White House, and that has to be the overwhelming priority this year.

More..

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/11/08/democrats-2020-advice-rahm-emanuel-229909

[tiredtoo]

1. Only memory i have of Rahm Emanuel

Is when he said "Fuck the Unions."

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

10. Forgot that one!! Or, was it just the UAW?! Not sure.

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Ninga]

54. And the biggie.."fuck the internet's"and the millions of young people following President Obama.

[Me.]

58. How About THe Way He Destroyed Howard Dean With PBO

and they were so rude and dismissive of him because of that.

[evertonfc]

2. valid argument

My God I remember the absolute excitement of Bill Clinton and Obama. We don't have that this time but we should still be able to be an impeached President. Surely

[ritapria]

3. Thanks for the Advice Rahm

Let's Become the Party of " No We Can't " or Perhaps " (Little) Hope and ( Pocket) Change" .. That will rally the Base ….. Full throated Economic Populism will carry the day in the crucial Rust Belt States we need to defeat Trump ……….Trump won those states on a message of Faux Populism ..…….He won't be able to defeat the real deal

[Cha]

6. Rahm's history of what we Won and how we Did

it is dead on.

[ritapria]

8. Rahm Pushed Through NAFTA

[Cha]

9. Rahm is right in the OP.

[Eliot Rosewater]

53. I wish people wouldnt be so quick to be willing to risk losing the election

so they can get M4All.

I dont know if it is a losing issue nationally, for the election, if it is then we cant go there, yet.

if it isnt all the better as I am a big supporter.

What I see are fans of a certain nominee who will ONLY support candidates who support M4All, that is so sad.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

11. True that!! One of several bad policies.

Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Hoyt]

14. Yeah, and Sanders and Warren were bashing Obama and Clinton over trade, similar to

trump, right up to 2016 election. They were all wrong on NAFTA, TPP, European trade deal. America First is junk and will cost us long-term.

[ritapria]

17. Advocacy of TPP was a Political Disaster

That is why Hillary Clinton abandoned TPP during the campaign ...Our manufacturing base has nearly vanished … Automation will finish off that remnant ...

[Hoyt]

21. It was "political disaster" because Sanders and Warren misinterpreted the agreements

and importance of the agreements to the world economy.

They supported the America First junk that considers foreign workers as scabs and fails to understand much of what is good for America is good for our foreign friends.

[Cha]

22. Yes they were.. and

no thanks for that, btw.

Mahalo for the reminder, Hoyt!

[LanternWaste]

50. Moving the goalposts again, eh?

Your sentiment is irrelevant to both the OP and the topic and hand.

But I get it... if it's not a puff piece for BS, you're forced to dismiss is and change the subject.

[Thekaspervote]

13. So true...like him or hate him. He's a savvy politician that knows how to win

[Demsrule86]

15. We are going to be the party that loses if we are not careful. I have heard some here saying the 18

midterms and the recent elections show a progressive candidate can win...no they didn't. Moderates won back the house running on the ACA mostly in 18; and moderates took GOP seats in red and purple states most recently...progressives played musical chairs with safe Democratic seats in 18. The country is center left, we go too far left and we lose to Trump...and God help us if they get another job...we can't risk four more years of Trump. And a candidate perceived to be too far to the left could cost us the house as well...think about four more years of Trump with Congress...gives me nightmares.

[TeamPooka]

24. Funny how the right wing never worries about being too right wing, to the point of fascism.

But as soon as the Democrats step one foot past the center to the left everyone starts to get the vapors.

[Demsrule86]

39. Because they have won over voters ...we have not done this...we need to get out and win the folks

over to our side...but you can't just say...time for a candidate who is really left...it is our turn when the country is center left...you will go down in flames. We won the House in 20 and elections this year with moderate candidates...I have heard on this board how 18 shows how a progressive can win, but it doesn't. It shows that when we have a big tent with progressives and moderates we win...without this,we lose.

Given Warren's policy proposals, she will lose a general IMHO...sure I will vote for her and you will vote for her, but We need more than Democrats...and this mean appealing to the center. And Republicans are faithful party people-us not so much...we act so superior about this but who has the judges, who has gotten their policy through>

The Greens should change their name ...they have damaged climate change policy and the environment so much. We need to vote for whoever wins the Democratic nomination and along the way consider electability as the single most important 'issue' there is...because you don't get to do anything unless you win in 20 and beyond...and by win, I mean an Electoral College win.

[question everything]

59. Well said. Thank you

[Demsrule86]

61. It is a good question...I also think in the past the GOP has had strong support in their party...but

the last couple of elections show that may be cracking. We can hope.

[myohmy2]

23. I think you've nailed it...

" Let's Become the Party of " No We Can't " or Perhaps " (Little) Hope and ( Pocket) Change" "

...'more of the same' will only yield us 'more of the same'...not good

...'more of the same' won't work...

[stopdiggin]

28. And yet, the arguments presented in the OP

worked to win us elections, majorities, and places at the table in both 18 and 19. But, hey .. if that's not working for you, then by all means ...

[Amishman]

48. Yup, the the general public is more moderate than many want to admit

This is why Biden and Mayor Pete poll better head to head with Trump than Warren and Sanders.

[Demsrule86]

40. Lets become the party of 'I win' and move the ball down the field...won't make our progressive

dreams a reality right away but we can begin the process...if we take an all our nothing approach, we lose and then we get nothing. Americans need us to save the ACA and stop the Trump fascist coup that is in the works....the all or nothing approach won't work. Vote blue not matter who and we might be amazed at what is possible...also people could we please have the president's back in the God Damn midterms? All of them please.

And blue state progressives and everyone else to for that matter could we go down to red and purple states, districts etc...and being at the grass roots level to win hearts and minds...taking already held Democratic seat is a wast of money and time in terms of taking back this country. We need a Senate and while folks are all in for the presidential elections...without Congress nothing gets done. The Senate makes you weep if you look at our chances to win a majority; how about we consider which candidate will help in taking the Senate back too. We get no judges unless we have the Senate...Let's turn this thing around and win.

[George II]

36. Rahm Emmanuel was instrumental in electing Barack Obama.

[question everything]

43. Or, let's become the party that picks and choose "pro-choice" only when convenient

Yes about abortion; no about private health insurance.

As he concludes: we have to get the power to make changes.

We flipped the House with moderates not with “revolutionary reps.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I believe he is absolutely right.

We have to stop arguing among ourselves about details and understand what real voters are looking for.

[Cha]

5. He's right.. I don't care what else he said..

he's dead on here.

[Blue_true]

19. Exactly Cha.

People need to pull their heads out of their butts and realize that the big gains in 2018 Special Elections, the 2018 General, the 2019 General were all contested seats where moderate-left candidates took out republicans. People like The Squad won in safe blue districts that would have sent almost ANY democrat to Washington.

[Kahuna7]

33. Yep. All that "revolution" talk will turn the majority of voters off...

trump was revolution enough. People want to dial back the crazy.

[LanternWaste]

51. I'll take evolution over revolution any day.

[PhoenixDem]

7. Rahm is absolutely correct. n/t

[oldsoftie]

12. He's got great advice. So he will be castigated by many here. Dont forget the goal;

DEFEAT TRUMP

everything else is meaningless if you cant do that FIRST

[DCofVA]

16. The candidates who insist on attacking MFA and the Green New Deal, really need to stop.

It’s like taking a saw to one leg supporting the Democratic Party. It’s gonna be really hard to win the big race on just one leg.

[ritapria]

18. We can get 10 million new Voters

by running on a bold, unapologetic progressive agenda …..The so called moderate Republicans voted for Trump .. Trump owns the Republican Party ….The Country Club set will vote for him again so long as their stock portfolios continue to rise ……...We need working class voters to rally to our standard …

[stopdiggin]

30. working class voters are NOT terribly progressive

I'm not sure where you get the idea that they are going to rally to an agenda that is skewed progressive. Good luck. But that's one hell of a sales job you got in front of you!

[DCofVA]

55. I'm not asking for all the candidates to grow a spine and put their full support behind MFA...

and the Green New Deal.
I'm only saying, it would be very helpful if they would stop eating their own. Stop the attacks on MFA and the Green New Deal.

[dgauss]

65. I agree

Emanuel described MFA this way (emphasis below is mine) on This Week with Stephanopoulos:

STEPHANOPOULOS: That -- that's separate from the question, though, is, are those ideas that she's putting out there, are they taking the Democrats out of the center?

CHRISTIE: Oh, they are. I mean, there's no -- listen, there's no question about that. They are taking the Democrats out of the center. And that's going to be the bigger problem. That is going to be why it's ultimately, in my view, going to come down to Biden and Warren. And it's going to be electability vs. purity. And that happens on the Republican side all the time too, George, when we're in the situation...
....

EMANUEL: The risk you said, and which is appropriate, and it measures up as, health care is the single issue that Democrats have a 35-point advantage on. President Trump's trying to do everything he can to narrow that down. We have taken a position so far, and the candidates have, through the process -- a few have not -- about -- on basically Medicare for all, which is , we're going to eliminate 150 million people's health care, and we're going to provide health care for people that have just come over the border.

So step one, spread around ideas like MFA would "eliminate 150 million people's health care"

Step two, convince democrats that some people just aren't sure about MFA, so we should forget about it.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-19-secretary-state-mike-pompeo-dnc/story?id=65464007

[LanternWaste]

52. You can provide the data to support that claim? Or just another banal t-shirt slogan?

[BlueMTexpat]

26. This.

Unfortunately, there are still too many Dems like Rahm.

[Demsrule86]

47. If that is what is supporting the Democratic Party than we are fucked....because the country is not

with us yet...hard work ahead to move the country left.

[PatrickforO]

20. I like the fourth paragraph. Kitchen table issues.

I don't mind Klobuchar either. I could surely support her, though I like Warren better.

As to Rahm Emanuel, well...not my favorite. Glad he's not running.

[BlueMTexpat]

25. I am NOT a fan

of Emanuel, even if he may occasionally be correct in the "stopped-clock" sense.

He dissed Howard Dean and prevented him from being Prez O's HHS Secretary, which is likely a major reason why the ACA was never as strong as it could have been.

Yes, I know, "Republicans" and all that. But Dean was actually quite persuasive with Republicans, which too many Dems of the Rahm ilk were very quick to forget or deliberately ignored. Some still are and do.

[democrank]

27. Some very true words, BlueMTexpat

I honestly believe Emanuel is one reason there are now more Independents than Democrats in this country. He did a lot of damage.

[elleng]

29. Ditto, and among other reasons,

when I asked him whether the Dems should use the '50 state solution' those many years ago (when he was in DC promoting a book at Politics and Prose,) he refused to answer my question.

[BeyondGeography]

35. Dems didn't get the most out of the agile and articulate Howard

A lot seem to have a problem with truth and sass.

[demmiblue]

37. We wouldn't even have the ACA if it had been up to Rahm. n/t

[BlueMTexpat]

64. Absolutely! eom

[question everything]

45. Killing the messenger, again

Why not look at the contents of the comment and debate it?

[pecosbob]

31. Rahm Emmanuel is a slime mold and represents most of what is wrong in American politics

A synopsis of the slime's comments...vote for moderate candidates or scary Trump will destroy us all.

[Kurt V.]

32. dems are gaining bc an irritated electorate backlash to an immoral and vulgar trump, being led by

mostly suburban women.

[Demsrule86]

41. That is going to take you only so far...and the candidates suburban women are voting for are

moderates mostly. This is a center left country...we have to change that before we run on progressive policy such as M4A.

[murielm99]

34. I love Rahm,

and Madigan, too. They are ruthless Illinois Democrats. We need one hundred more just like them, here in Illinois and nationally.

They get things done.

[Demsrule86]

42. You are correct...I was born at Great Lakes. Dad grew up in Chicago...lived their a good part of my

childhood...(back and forth) as parents were in the Navy. They tell it like they see it and understand that winning isn't just 'good'...it is all that matters in the end.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

38. Apples to Oranges?

My question is were the strategies to OP touted used in primaries or the general election. I believe they were used I the generals against republican opponents. Why is he comparing that to the strategies in use in primaries by candidates vying against other democrats for the nomination?

I have always heard “run left in the primaries and center in the general” as a truism for democratic presidential candidates. While glib, I think there is some truth to this. Right now I see a strong push among many of the primary candidates to highlight their progressive virtues. I do not know that the winning candidate, whoever it turns out to be, will do the same in the general election against trump. That seems to be where the strategies Emanuel is suggesting would be more effective.

Comparing primaries to generals seems flawed.

[Demsrule86]

44. The point is the primary is supposed to field a candidate that can win the Electoral College...

He doesn't and neither do I believe a candidate can win running on what moderates will see as far left...like MFA, and free college etc. Yesterday, I saw a post where Warren had said she wants to stop deportations, decriminalize border crossings and give undocumented folks MFA...it was at a church thing and posted on DU...there is probably a video too..I couldn't believe it. If we run like this, we will lose and it doesn't have to happen. Howard Dean ran candidate tailored to districts and states...and we had a 60 vote majority in the Senate at the end and a Democratic president.

[Demsrule86]

46. Also about running left...if you run too far left when you attempt to move to the center...you can't

do it credibly. And I don't think Sen. Warren will move to the center anyway.

[loyalsister]

49. Exactly

There's also a huge difference between state and local elections vs presidential. Electoral politics being what they are, I know individual states matter, but if we had decided we should go as far right as the most conservative state, George Wallace might have been acceptable to some strategists. The Democrats made the smart and ethical decision to let the Dixiecrats go and do their thing rather than enable them.
We are at a similar point with climate change. The situation is urgent and I don't think we have time to waste on ineffective, incremental policies.
Rahm had his time. I have no further interest in his brand of right wing enabling.

[Blue_Tires]

56. Who fucking asked Rahm?

He can go piss up a rope for all I care...

[question everything]

62. Then cover your ears

But attacking the messenger shows that you are unable to debate and respond. OK in your private life but not for those of us who think that the elections are too important for such an attitude.

But then, when Warren claims that the ones with opposing views should not be on the debate stage, and are running in the "wrong primaries" I can see why many here agree.

[Blue_Tires]

66. "unable"? Keep telling yourself that, bro...

I don't know why the advice of some dude who was universally unloved on DU and had to flee an office ridden in scandal is taken for the gospel all of a sudden...

[Demsrule86]

63. He is right and is very savvy politically.

[Blue_Tires]

67. So are John Edwards and Marc Rich... You want to take advice from them, too??

[Me.]

57. Yes Because The Poor Stupid Dems Don't Know What The Heck They're Doing

Jesus wept with all these armchair quarterbacks. They all need to shut up, especially McCaskill on MSNBC this morning. As far as I'm concerned, listening to the hgearing this morning...THEY've Got This.

[tonedevil]

60. Doesn't he have some police misconduct...

to cover up?