To win back support, the Democratic candidate must offer a positive and coherent vision centered on care and progressive policies, rather than relying solely on anti-Trump rhetoric.
As a leftist, it absolutely boggles my mind how utterly naive and stupid other leftists and Democrats can be. No, you don’t need more great policies - policies are not going to win you the election. We already have great policies.
Republicans don’t give a flying fuck about policy. You know what they are really good at though? Fucking voting!
As much as I know you will hate to hear this, the only thing that is going to prevent you from Republican fascism next year is to spread the word and vote against these idiots who are poised to win in 2024. Do whatever it takes to get the apathetic voters out of their goddamn chairs and vote blue in November.
That is intentionally misrepresenting what he said entirely. His point was that policies don’t win elections. If they did, Republicans would basically not exist now.
Public image wins elections. Obama was only able to overcome American voters’ racial biases and win 2008 because of his public speaking abilities and building his character over the course of the years beforehand. He also actually did pretty well as a president, at least significantly better than the presidents since Reagan imo, which definitely secured him the re-election regardless of his incredible charisma, but no amount of good policies in his previous campaigns could’ve made up for charisma.
Since Biden just dropped out, it’s Kamala’s job now to secure the election by improving her public image. She’s already gotten on that to some extent by recently starting to emphasize how much she contributed to many of the key good policies throughout her Vice Presidency – it tells voters about what kinds of policies she supports, yes, but it’s mainly a way to tell voters “hey, I’ve been here this entire time, I’ve implemented all this amazing stuff despite it never breaking the news, I’m competent and fit for the job”; the image of efficiency & competence is more important than the actual policies themselves.
A “leftie” Project 2025 counterpart would just make most voters immediately think dems (and Harris) as more divisive and even petty/retaliatory. It’s stupid to think like that, yes, but voters are pretty irrational. This includes like at least 1/10 of the democrats’ voterbase (and I’d wager probably a lot more in important swing states with a high suburban&rural population like Michigan) which is basically slightly conservative middle-class centrists who would prefer progressive policies (excluding some of the socially progressive ““identity politics”” as they call it) but are easily pushed into “collaborator” territory if they feel like dems start being too “radical”, too “divisive”, too “virtue signaling”, etc. Such problems are inevitable when you brand yourself as “the party of compromise”.
I disagree. One thing I think Democrats have been missing has been a vision for the future. The closest we got was Obama’s “Hope & Change” which didn’t have any real meat to it. Having a clear set of policy goals that people can get excited about will drive voter turnout, thus beating the Republicans.
I see tons of people complaining that the Democrats don’t have any policies except “We’re not Republicans.” That on its face should be good enough, but since it’s not maybe doing something else would help. And don’t just make it for 2025, but a permanent change. Like how the Republicans worked for decades to overturn Roe v. Wade.
I think that not having or discussing policies is a feature not a bug.
It started with the GOP and the DNC pick up on it. The idea being that if you don’t talk about a policy then your opponent can’t attack you for it. Instead every election cycle politicians talk in big generalities and no real substance because it’s a safer strategy.
As much as I know you will hate to hear this, the only thing that is going to prevent you from Republican fascism next year is to spread the word and vote against these idiots who are poised to win in 2024. Do whatever it takes to get the apathetic voters out of their goddamn chairs and vote blue in November.
And never miss any election again - especially LOCAL elections, where your vote is likely a much larger fraction, and where the impacts are more likely to be clearly felt on your daily life. I actually get reasonably progressive democrats on the ballot here, and you probably do too. Go vote for them.
