While I probably agree with this assessment, can we all pause for a minute and take a second to realize the thing that Americans care most about, that Americans are really politically motivated on, that Americans are becoming outraged about... is the banning of Tiktok. Not school shootings and gun violence, not inflation, not housing pri…
While I probably agree with this assessment, can we all pause for a minute and take a second to realize the thing that Americans care most about, that Americans are really politically motivated on, that Americans are becoming outraged about... is the banning of Tiktok. Not school shootings and gun violence, not inflation, not housing prices, not lack of health insurance, not abortion, not fires in LA or climate change's havoc, not a tyrannical president... I mean I can go on and on and on. I mean I'm sure there are merits to arguments in favor and against banning Tiktok...but is this really the issue of our time?
I haven't really shared my thoughts on 2024 yet, but I think one of the most salient points I have learned is how disconnected American politics are from actual policy (...and how disconnected we (the elite lol) are from what most Americans care about). It is now a fully formed reality TV show, devoid of substance and intelligence, full of petty Real Housewives-esque arguments, Survivor-based political strategy, and fake conflict. The issues that matter are now buying Denmark, which the NYT tries to legitimize as some rational national security concern, instead of slapping it down as the pathetic cry of a desperate narcissistic baby.
I mean I'm at a loss for how Democrats who, for the most part, are a serious political party compete with Republicans and an electorate that is largely unserious. Do we just need to nominate a buffoon who jumps to claim victory on made-up controversies? I'm so exasperated.
This is kind of my thought process, too. All the policy arguments in the world, even on hot button issues like immigration where our policy stances do provide a weakness or abortion where we have an advantage, seem to be utterly divorced from what and why people follow politics for
The double edged sword is that we have to both have to be a serious political party because governance - we are actually expected to be adults - but at the same time we can't be serious because people want entertainment. It's a major reason why until his scandal I wanted Al Franken for President in 2020. He was popular with both Clinton AND Sanders types and he actually had experience governing. Plus he was and is an entertainer. I felt then - and to an extent I still feel now - if the American people want an entertainer for President, at least give them one who cares about governing and knows how to govern.
Hear, hear! Republican power players enjoyed a lot of celebratory drinks and cigars when over-hurried Democrats forced Al Franken to resign. Huge political mistake that we did them the favor of crucifying one of our most effective senators!
I think the optics helped us a lot at the time, and there's a real chance that Doug Jones would have lost the Alabama special election.
Franken announced he would resign on Dec 7, 2017. The special election was held Dec 12, 2017. Jones won by ~1.5 points.
If democrats were not able to separate themselves out as having higher standards on sexual misconduct than republicans, I do not believe we would have succeeded in making Moore's crimes stick to him in the mind of the electorate.
We can have effective presidential candidates without giving up our standards on basic human decency.
Plus, I will maintain my first post-election argument: 2024 was not an election decided by policy. Tying that into this conversation, I think it was equally not an election about our candidate. Considering Harris' performance in battleground states versus elsewhere, I will maintain that she ran a good campaign. It was an election enormously tilted against us due to the political environment and in particular the media environment. I don't see any one candidate out there that could have turned this around for us.
Media environment will remain our biggest obstacle and it's something we need to figure out how to solve, or at least work around.
In some ways I think we're also looking at a problem like republicans were in ~2012ish. Where their base was too fractured and couldn't truly agree on anything, leading to large portions of their base being perpetually displeased. We've struggled with that in the post-Obama era.
Yep. The USA is hardly the only country where the incumbent party was voted out. Expect the trend to continue this year. And Democratic voters and politicians need to accept that life is NOT a damn Disney movie and thus we shouldn't automatically expect things to work out.
While I probably agree with this assessment, can we all pause for a minute and take a second to realize the thing that Americans care most about, that Americans are really politically motivated on, that Americans are becoming outraged about... is the banning of Tiktok. Not school shootings and gun violence, not inflation, not housing prices, not lack of health insurance, not abortion, not fires in LA or climate change's havoc, not a tyrannical president... I mean I can go on and on and on. I mean I'm sure there are merits to arguments in favor and against banning Tiktok...but is this really the issue of our time?
I haven't really shared my thoughts on 2024 yet, but I think one of the most salient points I have learned is how disconnected American politics are from actual policy (...and how disconnected we (the elite lol) are from what most Americans care about). It is now a fully formed reality TV show, devoid of substance and intelligence, full of petty Real Housewives-esque arguments, Survivor-based political strategy, and fake conflict. The issues that matter are now buying Denmark, which the NYT tries to legitimize as some rational national security concern, instead of slapping it down as the pathetic cry of a desperate narcissistic baby.
I mean I'm at a loss for how Democrats who, for the most part, are a serious political party compete with Republicans and an electorate that is largely unserious. Do we just need to nominate a buffoon who jumps to claim victory on made-up controversies? I'm so exasperated.
This is kind of my thought process, too. All the policy arguments in the world, even on hot button issues like immigration where our policy stances do provide a weakness or abortion where we have an advantage, seem to be utterly divorced from what and why people follow politics for
The American people have NEVER voted strictly on policy. If they did, Walter Mondale would have won the 1984 Presidential Election.
The double edged sword is that we have to both have to be a serious political party because governance - we are actually expected to be adults - but at the same time we can't be serious because people want entertainment. It's a major reason why until his scandal I wanted Al Franken for President in 2020. He was popular with both Clinton AND Sanders types and he actually had experience governing. Plus he was and is an entertainer. I felt then - and to an extent I still feel now - if the American people want an entertainer for President, at least give them one who cares about governing and knows how to govern.
Hear, hear! Republican power players enjoyed a lot of celebratory drinks and cigars when over-hurried Democrats forced Al Franken to resign. Huge political mistake that we did them the favor of crucifying one of our most effective senators!
I think the optics helped us a lot at the time, and there's a real chance that Doug Jones would have lost the Alabama special election.
Franken announced he would resign on Dec 7, 2017. The special election was held Dec 12, 2017. Jones won by ~1.5 points.
If democrats were not able to separate themselves out as having higher standards on sexual misconduct than republicans, I do not believe we would have succeeded in making Moore's crimes stick to him in the mind of the electorate.
We can have effective presidential candidates without giving up our standards on basic human decency.
Plus, I will maintain my first post-election argument: 2024 was not an election decided by policy. Tying that into this conversation, I think it was equally not an election about our candidate. Considering Harris' performance in battleground states versus elsewhere, I will maintain that she ran a good campaign. It was an election enormously tilted against us due to the political environment and in particular the media environment. I don't see any one candidate out there that could have turned this around for us.
Media environment will remain our biggest obstacle and it's something we need to figure out how to solve, or at least work around.
In some ways I think we're also looking at a problem like republicans were in ~2012ish. Where their base was too fractured and couldn't truly agree on anything, leading to large portions of their base being perpetually displeased. We've struggled with that in the post-Obama era.
Yep. The USA is hardly the only country where the incumbent party was voted out. Expect the trend to continue this year. And Democratic voters and politicians need to accept that life is NOT a damn Disney movie and thus we shouldn't automatically expect things to work out.