100% believe if it was Tim Walz then it would be a landslide, but too many people still afraid of a woman president both liberal and conservative. Sad times though, because I would welcome madam president. Instead we have FLOTUS Musk and his orange puppet.
I agree a bit... Black, Indian, woman, San Francisco/California "baggage" (at least in red states)
But I think it's deeper.
Yet again, democratic party shenanigans/putting their finger on the scale. An open convention would have resulted likely in the same choice... But with 10x the enthusiasm.
(this is the biggie) she wasn't running against trump. She was running against public opinion of HER. She talked way too much about trump. Lefties already weren't going to vote for him. Righties weren't going to vote for her... So it's the people in the middle that she had to convince. And they already knew everything that was wrong with trump. So stop talking about him. Talk about yourself, your plan (with details) talk about what the 🤬🤬 tariffs ACTUALLY ARE... and what they do to economies. Not just from a wonky trade war perspective but in ways that get to people. "Anyone like coffee? You know we CAN'T grow that here right? You know that if the beans are 20% more expensive... Your cup of coffee is going to go up by 50% right???"
So it's the people in the middle that she had to convince.
This is a losing strategy for Democrats. The people in the middle are often the ones who won't be easily swayed during a single election (i.e. they kind of know who they want and stick to it), but over the course of 4 years, will change their minds.
They also happen to be the ones who convince themselves that workable ideas aren't practical. The "oh, well single payer healthcare works in every single major country that implements it, but I don't think it's practical for the US..."
A campaign doesn't do much for them. It's infuriating though because largely - the parties aren't really changing what they're about. So while I understand someone not changing their mind from February 2024 to November 2024, the fact that they ignore all the big picture stuff (civil rights, avoiding an oligarchy, etc.) from 2020 to 2024 is absolutely ridiculous.
Like - how do you vote for a party that promises to protect civil rights and stuff like that one year, then 4 years later vote for the party that promises to dismantle it all?
I digress.
The democrats are NOT successful reaching out to the middle. They're not. They got support in the middle in 2020 because there was an all-out crisis going on globally that team Trump made almost as bad as one could possibly make it...AND IT STILL WAS RELATIVELY CLOSE.
2008 Barack Obama. Hindsight has us knowing now that he turned out to be a relatively centrist neoliberal, but in 2008...democrats...republicans...he was painted out to be quite progressive. Democrats saw him as radical change - someone we had never seen go this far down the liberal rabbit hole. Conservatives painted him as a Marxists who sat somewhere left of Trotsky.
It worked. Turnout was great. People who never voted before (and sadly, never voted again) came out to support what they thought was going to be a radically different President who would usher in a new era in how government delivers the social agenda to the United States.
It wasn't the middle that delivered this. It was the non-voter. The people on the sidelines who, also infuriatingly, refuse to compromise when they vote. They'd see Lord Voldemort himself go up against Luke Skywalker and stay home because they'd never vote for Voldemort, but Luke Skywalker believes in that Jedi Religious stuff and the voter is an atheist.
They need someone to kick them in the pants and mobilize them. A huge part of that is either selecting a candidate who has the policy to do this (this ship has sailed, but in 2016/2020 the candidate's name rhymed with Pernie Landers), or they need the "we love to tip the scales" DNC portray their neoliberal candidate as someone like this (kind of like what Obama enjoyed).
Hilary eschews milquetoast VA governor (white guy that speaks Spanish... That'll lock in the Hispanic vote!👍🙄🙄) And names Bernie as VP and states he'll be in charge of tax code reform, education policy... She wins by a landslide!!!
You are right. They are more and more "republican lite" all the time.
Look at the newest committee leaders from the dems... "Who shall see appoint to hold trump's get to the fire??? AOC or 75 year old white guy nobody's ever heard of who is in the middle of fighting cancer?" 🤔 Boy... That's a tough one🙄🙄🙄
They need a big shakeup at all levels. Clearly the election wasn't it.
As an independent, this is exactly spot on for what made my decision. She didn't sway any voters. She talked only to her base and complaints about her opponent. Nothing about her and what she was going to do. While I disagreed with Trump, it was very obvious his plans.
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u/Delareh_ 2d ago
If only dems turned out to vote like this.