“We’re not Trump!”
This persuasive mantra apparently carried Democrats to a handful of victories in the recent off-year elections, where they picked up the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey and made a few impressive state-house gains. This is supposedly a repudiation of President Donald Trump, and a forewarning that Republicans who control Congress could lose the House next year and in a more dramatic scenario, the Senate.
Except there’s one problem: Democrats still don’t have a coherent message, aside from “we’re not Trump.” That’s especially true on the economy, following a presidential election in which the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, completely failed to connect with working-class voters who feel abandoned by corporate, technology and political elites.
What do Democrats stand for?
Over the summer, Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, acknowledged that “we didn’t tell people what we stood for.” Then he released a plan, called “A Better Deal,” to remind voters what his party does stand for: a $15 minimum wage that would hammer many businesses, a $1 trillion infrastructure plan for which no funding exists, Trumpian-style protectionism, and a bunch of policy ideas from President Barack Obama’s playbook that never came close to passing.
If you haven’t heard of the “Better Deal” plan, that’s because it’s a dull and inauthentic effort to make Democrats seem like they get it. Much of the political establishment panned it immediately. The main spokespeople for this plan are Schumer, who’s 66, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who’s 77. There’s talk that the main contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 will be Joe Biden, who will be 77, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who will be 80. If Sen. Elizabeth Warren runs, she’ll be 71. Real leaders recruit and groom their successors, and know new blood can be just as important as experience. If there’s any new blood in the Democratic Party, it’s still interning for Schumer and Pelosi.
Sanders obviously hit a nerve last year with his calls for universal health care, free college and higher taxes on the wealthy. So, it’s no surprise the Democratic message is moving left, in Sanders’ direction. But this is a failing strategy, for one simple reason: It relies on government solutions, and Americans deeply distrust the government. There aren’t enough leftists in America to win on a strategy that says the solution to Trump’s abrasiveness is more federal intervention.
Democrats have a chance at fixing health care
The Dems do have one giant opening: health care. Republicans flubbed that issue so badly this year, with three failed and humiliating attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, that they have basically admitted to having no ideas on health care. Yet it remains a giant problem. Soaring costs are a burden for just about everybody, especially people who have to buy their own insurance and don’t qualify for subsidies under the ACA. Obamacare, as the ACA, is known, extended coverage to more people, but it did virtually nothing to get medical costs under control. Somebody needs to address that, and the Republicans have basically said, not us.