I am reading several diaries a day here that are making various arguments about why we lost and what we need to do about it. Some question whether Secretary Clinton ran a good comparing. Some question whether she should have been our candidate at all. Some claim they can be sure that some other candidate could have won in her place. My view is that all of these questions skirt around some more fundamental questions at the root of the electoral failures we have suffered in recent cycles.
Yes, I said failures in recent cycles. I know we were all thrilled with President Obama’s two wins in the Presidential contests of ’08 and ’12. Aside from those, which many attribute largely to the skills of the individual candidate, how happy are each of you with the results of elections from 2000 onward? As I look at my state map (NH), the maps of other states nation-wide, and the control of the Federal gov’t, I have to say I am not very happy with the results we have achieved as a party. Draw your own conclusions, but mine is we are not as good as the GOP at politics, much of the problem starts at the top, but the party has to improve at all levels to change this dynamic.
There are myriad examples that support this claim. I will name only one. I cannot remember a single coherent, consistent piece of messaging emanating from the national party leadership that would form an affirmative appeal to the voters that used to form our voting bloc. In presidential years we have followed the lead of candidate and then President Obama. In mid-terms our messaging is “not them.” I have nothing inherently against this messaging…except that it doesn’t appear to be working.
This set if circumstance makes me ask myself: What are we doing wrong? I am a system, structural thinker. I tend to look for solutions in the foundation of things, because it is hard to build a good house if your foundation is broken. I have found myself asking 2 fundamental questions about my party in the days since our most recent (but not only) electoral drubbing…and make no mistakes, we got drubbed.
First, is our party making so many incorrect assumptions about the electorate, and the way to successfully convince them to favor us with their vote, that we are doomed to continued failure? Some examples of candidates for such flawed assumptions:
- Victory can only be had by appealing to “moderate” voters:
- This country will not abide real liberal or progressive policies.
- Moneyed interests will be a necessary part of our coalition in a post Citizen’s United world.
I believe some of these assumptions are wrong, but are deeply ingrained in our party, and not just at the top.
Second, do we have the capacity to honestly evaluate what has gone horribly badly (and I say that as objectively as possible…look at the map of our country in terms of who hold the levers of power) for so many cycles? This question is of obvious importance, because we cannot improve if we cannot recognize the problems we have created for ourselves. But I am concerned that in the past we have consciously chosen to NOT look for true root causes, but have been content (at all levels of the party) to find simpler scapegoating answers for our challenges. We mock the GOP for their failure to respond to their 2012 autopsy, yet I find u doing much the same. How much have we really changed after our last 2 mid-term embarrassments?
I am deeply concerned about some recurring themes I am reading that make me think that many believe we don’t need to change. I call on this community, which proudly claims to be a reality-based one, to take a good hard look at our entrenched beliefs, and start to unpack them. We will all find flawed assumptions (the dead moose on the table) for ourselves, and hopefully for our party. We can fix this mess, but only if we are honest with ourselves.
I will leave you with this though: If your analysis about your own assumptions and those of the party doesn’t feel deeply uncomfortable to you, then you probably aren’t delving deeply enough.