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Boehner Doesn't Give a Fck: Repealing Obamacare Is Just "Happy Talk"

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Ubiq2/23/2017 1:05:54 pm PST

re: #156 retired cynic

I heard a group of them on NPR this morning. Made me want to throw rocks. The whole Democratic party needs to move strongly to the left, they agreed. That’s where the votes were. I guess they forgot they lost the primary by millions of votes, and that Hillary won the popular vote total by millions of votes, and that the election was *()^@&ed every which way from Sunday. Said Bernie was the future of the party of young people. Gag.

I say this as someone whose politics probably line up exactly right where Sanders’ politics are: what a bunch of horseshit. The points I really should cut and paste because I make them so frequently.

* America isn’t liberal. I’m sorry it’s not, but only 25% of Americans consider themselves liberal. 36% consider themselves conservatives. The rest don’t give a shit, or are moderates. Which means, if you want to win elections, you have to reach out to a lot of centrists. Which means — gasp — sometimes you have to accept not perfect solutions.
* Clinton probably lost not because she didn’t run far enough to the left — she had the single most left-leaning platform since Dukakis — but rather because she didn’t lean towards the center. By embracing Bernie’s platform, she probably lost a lot of support from Conservatives who can’t stand Trump but can’t in good conscience vote for a massive expansion of liberal influence.
* As a general rule, our presidency changes party hands every 8 years. 1988 is the exception. The Republicans couldn’t keep it after a very successful Eisenhower presidency. The Democrats couldn’t keep it after Clinton retired with sky high approvals. What happens is that the incumbent party gets complacent and starts feeling they are ENTITLED to the White House (and dissolve into petty infighting - sound familiary) while the outside party gets hungry. Looked in that light, Clinton came admirably close to bucking historical trends.
* The electorate was in a conservative mood. The idea that a more liberal candidate would have won is undone by the fact that, across the board, progressives did worse than Clinton did across the country. Zephyr Teachout underperformed Clinton in New York. Ted Strickland underperformed Clinton in Ohio. Russ Feingold underperformed Clinton in Wisconsin. And Single Payer Health Insurance lost 80%-20% in Colorado - a state Clinton won handily.

In short, the Bernie wing needs to stop acting like they are owed the keys to the car. They have not yet won the war of ideas even inside the party, and they certainly do not yet have broad appeal with the American public. And I want to stress — I *like* most of these ideas. But if you ask me if I would rather keep getting my ass kicked in the polls or accept a president, congresscritter or DNC chair who gets me 90% of what I want, and it’s not even a difficult choice.