A policy director at Bluelabs publicly posted this on LinkedIn, he asks key questions about the future of the dems: "It hurts.
The outcome of our election Tuesday is as devastating as it is disappointing.
There are so many feelings, so many thoughts that I have, and we still need all of the data to be able to draw specific conclusions, but here’s where I’m personally at in this moment in terms of what happened big picture:
The simplest explanation is so often the correct one — this was a change election. Rightly or wrongly, the American people were by-and-large unhappy and unsatisfied with the current administration and its performance over the past four years, particularly when it comes to the economy. Whether or not the facts and figures demonstrate that the economy is doing better than it was four years ago, it doesn’t matter - the voters flat out did not believe it. They don’t feel it in their lives, and they wanted a change. And once again, as in 2016, Donald Trump represented change. Whether voters liked Donald Trump or not, and of course many of those who voted for Trump don’t like him, for whatever reason, they believe he is going to be better for the economy as a whole and better for their own personal bottom line.
“It’s the economy, stupid.” - that’s what this election was ultimately about, in my view.
Yes, absolutely - there is racism. Yes, absolutely - there is misogyny. But the outcome yesterday was so clear and so decisive, to blame it on these forces and these forces alone is folly.
What I also know is that the correct response to this is absolutely NOT to blame the voters. The correct response is to look inward — as candidates, campaigns, parties, organizations, practitioners, etc. — and try to find the solutions.
There are so many questions that need answering, but for me personally, there are four glaring questions in particular that I’m going to be thinking about and that collectively we need to find answers to and find them quickly:
- Why are Democratic/progressive policies consistently popular with the electorate but our candidates are not?
- What actually matters and what actually works in campaigns anymore?
- How do we credibly and effectively communicate facts, information, and our messages to voters in this age where media and information ecosystem is so diverse and so fragmented and trust in our news media and our institutions is at an all time low?
- How do we consistently and effectively reach out beyond our base of urban/suburban, educated, and affluent voters to build a sustainable electoral majority and governing coalition so that stakes of our elections every 2-4 years aren’t quite so dramatic?
Just a few simple questions, huh…
As President Kennedy once said:
“We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.”
What are your thoughts? Let’s try and figure this out.
I certainly do not know what the future holds, but let’s all be good to one another and take care of each other."
A policy director at Bluelabs publicly posted this on LinkedIn, he asks key questions about the future of the dems: "It hurts.
The outcome of our election Tuesday is as devastating as it is disappointing.
There are so many feelings, so many thoughts that I have, and we still need all of the data to be able to draw specific conclusions, but here’s where I’m personally at in this moment in terms of what happened big picture:
The simplest explanation is so often the correct one — this was a change election. Rightly or wrongly, the American people were by-and-large unhappy and unsatisfied with the current administration and its performance over the past four years, particularly when it comes to the economy. Whether or not the facts and figures demonstrate that the economy is doing better than it was four years ago, it doesn’t matter - the voters flat out did not believe it. They don’t feel it in their lives, and they wanted a change. And once again, as in 2016, Donald Trump represented change. Whether voters liked Donald Trump or not, and of course many of those who voted for Trump don’t like him, for whatever reason, they believe he is going to be better for the economy as a whole and better for their own personal bottom line.
“It’s the economy, stupid.” - that’s what this election was ultimately about, in my view.
Yes, absolutely - there is racism. Yes, absolutely - there is misogyny. But the outcome yesterday was so clear and so decisive, to blame it on these forces and these forces alone is folly.
What I also know is that the correct response to this is absolutely NOT to blame the voters. The correct response is to look inward — as candidates, campaigns, parties, organizations, practitioners, etc. — and try to find the solutions.
There are so many questions that need answering, but for me personally, there are four glaring questions in particular that I’m going to be thinking about and that collectively we need to find answers to and find them quickly:
- Why are Democratic/progressive policies consistently popular with the electorate but our candidates are not?
- What actually matters and what actually works in campaigns anymore?
- How do we credibly and effectively communicate facts, information, and our messages to voters in this age where media and information ecosystem is so diverse and so fragmented and trust in our news media and our institutions is at an all time low?
- How do we consistently and effectively reach out beyond our base of urban/suburban, educated, and affluent voters to build a sustainable electoral majority and governing coalition so that stakes of our elections every 2-4 years aren’t quite so dramatic?
Just a few simple questions, huh…
As President Kennedy once said:
“We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.”
What are your thoughts? Let’s try and figure this out.
I certainly do not know what the future holds, but let’s all be good to one another and take care of each other."