re: #136 LastYearsMan

Personally, I think the problem is that Democrats get off on administrative competence porn. Whenever they go there (Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, Hillary), the electorate just doesn’t respond.

I mean, I get it. “Competence” sounds like it should be the bare minimum for governing, so when the GOP demonstrates they aren’t, it’s really tempting to hammer on this issue. But voters want big picture stuff too. Barack and Bill were great at that — plus they had competence. Hillary tried, but Trump’s sheer awfulness was so overwhelming (and media saturating) that it was hard to go for the high ground.

Clinton won the popular vote and lost in the electoral college by razor-thin margins in three states. Against Trump.

This should not have been a remotely close election, and a large fraction of the blame really does fall on the electorate. As you say, Trump’s awfulness was overwhelming, and yet this was a non-issue for way too many voters.