2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: There's no good reason to anathematize Bernie and his supporters. [View all]ancianita
(36,328 posts)So this notion somehow that these irreversible tides have been unleashed, I think, surrenders our agency. Its easier than us saying, Huh, we missed that, we messed that up, weve got to do better in how we organize. We have to stop relying on a narrow targeting of our base turnout strategy if we want to govern. . . . Setting aside the results of this election, Democrats are well positioned to keep winning Presidential elections just by appealing to the base. And, each year, the demographic improves.
But well keep on getting gridlock just because of population distribution in this country. As long as California and Wyoming have the same number of senators, theres going to be a problemunless were able to have a broader conversation and move people who right now arent voting for progressive policies and candidates. . . . All of this requires vigilance in protecting gains weve made, but a sense, yes, of equanimity, a sense of purposeful calm and optimism, and a sense of humorsometimes gallows humor after results like the ones we just had. Thats how ultimately the race is won."
We've got to stop thinking about who/how we lost and think about how we WIN.
We've got much bigger issues ahead like rebuilding this party's power and influence.
As David Remnick (writer for The New Yorker) says, "...After Obama and Clinton, the Party bench is thin. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are hardly young. Obama insists that there were gifted Democratic politicians out there, but that many were new to the scene. He mentions Kamala Harris, the new senator from California; Pete Buttigieg, a gay Rhodes Scholar and Navy veteran who has twice been elected mayor of South Bend, Indiana; Tim Kaine; and Senator Michael Bennet, of Colorado..."