Sigh… I agree with much of this, and disagree with some. And I basically worship both Brown and Warren. But geez, we’re talking presidential politics now? When most Dems and progressive activists seem finally, finally to be internalizing the reality that we need desperately to focus more on the federal, state and local elections that take place in non-presidential years? Sigh…
Of course we need a national message; but there are examples other than Israel’s that can be equally instructive. In Italy, for example, the opposition finally realized that the way to beat Berlusconi wasn’t through his character and personal behavior, but simply on his policies. We’ll have plenty to work with there; we do already. (The fact that he’s so unpopular starting out will give an opening on the ethical morass as well, but IMO only as it directly relates to governing.)
A more direct example – one that’s been in front of our noses for decades but inexplicably ignored by most Dems and progressives – is that of modern “movement conservatism,” the folks who now run the Republican party. After Goldwater lost, they didn’t immediately start looking for their next presidential candidate; they realized they needed a way to turn a critical mass of Americans against what was then basically a national consensus about government post-FDR. So they started building up, on the one hand, the network of “think tanks” tasked with crafting serious-sounding “analyses” designed to sell their unpopular vision and agenda, and on the other, an army of grassroots supporters, through churches and other conservative-leaning organizations, whom they proceeded to mobilize for action against “liberals,” with the media at the top of the liberal list. They used mailing lists not only to exhort their followers to write angry letters and make angry calls to representatives and newsrooms, but to vote in every election for every office, and even to run for office at every level of government, starting with school boards.
By the time conservatives got behind Reagan, it wasn’t because he was the leader showing them the way out of the wilderness; it was because he was the guy they chose to put at the top of an already solid political edifice. They’ve never stopped using that playbook; and I’ve never understood why the left hasn’t followed their example. Especially when we don’t even have to invent bs cover for our policies, since they already command majority support.
But now, finally, Dems seem to be taking the lesson: both major candidates for DNC chair emphasize the importance of year-round involvement in every district in the country, and activists everywhere are learning from the tea partiers (thanks in great part to the Dem ex-staffers behind the “Indivisible” instruction manual) and focusing their efforts locally, including most prominently on their reps’ and senators’ local offices. Hallelujah, finally.
So now you want to yank the conversation back to the presidential level, on which Dems have for so long focused obsessively as the party has been hollowed out at every level below the presidency? Please. Just. Stop.
[Eek, a little long…]