Democrats are incensed about the “Russia Thing,” whatever that might be, but it takes away from valuable conversations that need to take place.
The investigation of Trump and his orbit, and how those individuals interacted with Russian characters abroad, is fascinating. It’s truly riveting stuff, but I don’t see how it helps Democrats to win unless that tree bears fruit. Let those investigations play out. As things stand now, the president has approval ratings not remarkably lower than when he was elected.
The individuals who matter in upcoming elections are not those folks who voted for Romney and Bush twice each – it’s the people who flipped from Obama to Trump. If you want to lambast those people as racist or ignorant, that’s your prerogative, but I don’t see how it helps anything. The goal should be to win back disillusioned voters, not denigrate them.
And that’s why the focus should be on policy goals, not cultural wars or identity issues. The economy improved dramatically after Obama inherited a disaster in 2009. The current economy is a testament to that: for most Americans, the economy has returned to pre-crisis levels, and for others, things are less rosy. For those with a high school diploma or less, unemployment rates sit at almost twice the rate of college grads.
The voters who pushed the blue states into the Republican fold are largely of the latter cohort: education became a much more salient factor in this election. Whereas income or race might have been more predictive before, that split between educational attainment mattered measurably more.
While suspending for one second the more untoward aspects of the Donald Trump campaign that ginned up fringe elements of the nation, this focus on the educational divide should inform Democrats heading into the future. Instead of excoriating the working-class votes that tended toward Trump for certain promises he may have made, to this point unfulfilled, Democrats should focus on winning them back.
So, it matters less whether or not President Trump is impeached. If that happens, we get President Mike Pence. If he goes, Paul Ryan, and after him, Orrin Hatch. Are any of those guys really preferable, policy-wise? Not for the left. We should focus more on running candidates that can offer policy solutions that appeal to wide swaths of voters, not just those of us in more urban areas.
If Democrats are to succeed, they mustn’t, as Saint Reagan might say, let perfect be the enemy of good enough. Republicans have this problem in their own fractured coalition: their moderates are too moderate and their conservatives are too conservative, making it impossible to whip together majorities.
The left is a splintered group right now, but that need not last forever. As Democrats (hopefully) win in elections leading up to 2020, the party should coalesce behind a powerful figure that transcends ideological chasms. A big tent is hard to maintain, but now is the perfect time to patch any holes leading up to the midterms and beyond.
