It appears that although our President’s approval rating is falling like Newton’s apple, there seems to be no cream rising to the top in the Democratic Party. The quest for identity as a potential candidate in 2020 inside the Democratic Party is a fight between patriarchs with 74 year old Joe Biden getting 31%, 75 year old Bernie Sanders with 24%, and 16% for 67 year old Elizabeth Warren leading the way. Add two years to each of them before the election and another four, the average age of the current democratic candidates when they finished their first term would be 79 years old, two years older than Ronald Reagan (the oldest president in history) was after two terms and we know what he was like at the end of his administration.
So, where does that leave the Democratic Party? Is there anyone strong enough to challenge the current President? Some of the names surfacing are Cory Booker, Chris Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand, Sherrod Brown, Julian Castro, Eric Garcetti and Andrew Cuomo, but none of them seem to be getting traction, with polls ranging from 1% to 4%. Then, there are the wildcards in the party. Dan Malloy, John Hickenlooper, Jay Inslee, Chris Murphy, Amy Klobuchar, and Terry McAuliffe, but most Americans couldn’t pick them out of a lineup. Not a very encouraging prognosis if you’re a Democrat right now. Where are the John Kennedys, the Jimmy Carters, the Bill Clintons, and the Barack Obamas, leaders that inspired change through hope, rather than fear and anger that exist in Washington today. Leaders that brought fresh ideas to solve the new problems we face, and present a vision for a better country, rather than the rhetoric that we can return to a time that no longer exists. Where are the new leaders and why doesn’t the party allow them to step forward?
Party Over Country….
The two party system, although purposely left out of the constitution, has been an integral part of the politics since our founding fathers. Hamilton, a Federalist, represented the banking and commercial interests and the creditors, while Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, spoke for the farmers and the workers. The battles between the two sides could be vicious and in one case deadly, but as vicious as it got, it was about representing a tiny percentage of the population. If you were a women, a minority, slave, or in many states, a non-landowner white man, your voice was ignored by the politicians of the time. There were no factories, no Wall Street, no formal health care system and no global economy. We were a tiny insignificant nation whose only concern was to remain a nation for one more day.
Today, the range of issues is as vast as the issues of the world. Our economy, security and nation have grown beyond any vision of our founding fathers, and the old answers no longer apply. The dominos are skewed all over the table and it seemed to be no one that can find a way to put them in order.
The people had all but given up, when along came a new sheriff to town. He wasn’t a conservative, or a liberal. He was a businessman, a salesman and although he didn’t touch the hearts of the majority of Americans, he did touch a nerve with the most inflicted voters looking for help. He used fear and anger to divide and directed it at the most vulnerable telling the working class that all their problems were at the feet of these people. Illegals were taking their jobs, Muslims wanted to kill them, and Obama is an evil foreigner. Through, at best, exaggeration and arguably false claims, he was successful at convincing them that they have been abandoned by the other party and that he was there to make the middle class safe and strong again. And, despite the numbers that prove that wrong, they swarmed his rallies and proudly wore red caps that read “Make America Great Again.”
So, why did this happen? One would think that although the majority of Americans now like Obama, Obamacare, believe in background checks for guns, pro gay marriage, pro abortion, and recent polls showing that two-thirds of Americans now believe that climate change is caused by humans, that the direction of America would move to the left, but that’s not the case. Since September of last year, the Democrats have lost seven percent of the American electorate, while the Republicans have gained one. Even though 90% of Republicans remained faithful to their party, that would not have been enough to win. He needed more. He found those votes in states that historically voted Democrat. Millions of voters than put their X alongside Obama, opted to either not vote or cross over the line. Why did this happen. Since the election, the Democratic Party has searched every corner to figure out the answer to that question. But, like the Purloined Letter, the answer was sitting in plain site.
Me The Person….
Franklin Roosevelt once said: “The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.” Despite the views on all the issues above, in the end, the American voters want to know what the candidate would do for them. It wasn’t about that gay couple hundreds of miles away, or even a person with a pre-existing condition at the end of the block, it was about the food on their table, their home, their family, and the future for their children. There was a time when the Democrat’s cared about the middle class and the problems they faced, but now they have opted to focus on fringe issues. The party became the voice of minorities and the vulnerable. That’s not to say those issue aren’t important, but the cost was losing the majority. Eight million people that voted for Obama, voted for the Republican candidate in 2016. And, even though it was obvious that the party had taken the wrong path, they continued to go in that direction calling the president’s supporters, stupid, greedy and deplorable. And, when they did address the issues at the core of the country, their solutions were convoluted and almost impossible for the average man on the street to understand.
Meanwhile, our Republican President sticks with his simple catch phrases and memes. Tax cuts create jobs, Mexico and China are taking your jobs away, Sharia law will taking over, and Christians are under attack. And his message changed sometimes several times in a week to suit the needs of those he was addressing. Of course, common sense and a little research would tell you none of his statements were true, but he was successful in creating fear and anger within those who think the Democrats had forgotten them and when people feel they are put up against a wall, they fight back But the greatest example of “Me the Person,” is that although the Democrats have lost voters and the Republicans have gained a few, the largest group is now the Independent. While 24% are Republicans and 31% are Democrats, a vast majority of American voters, 42%, are now registered independents. But, how many of them are really independent. In a gallop poll a year ago, less than a third were truly independent, while the rest were equally divided leaning toward the GOP or the Democrats. That means there are millions of voters that the Democrats could tap into. More than enough to win.
And then we have the ostrich. The 51 million people eligible but not registered to vote and the 42 million that stayed home. What would bring them to the table? They suffer from an extreme case of apathy or disgruntlement. They don’t bother because they don’t see it mattering or they’re just too lazy. That gives them over a hundred million to sway to the progressive side.
The question is, how do you attract those people to vote and to vote for you?
Country First….
No matter who comes out from the shadows to represent the Democratic Party, they will not only have to be smart, but they will have to be inspiring. Speak to the people like their problems are the most important, because after all, to them, they are. Albert Einstein said: “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” Bernie Sander’s success in 2016 was not as much about his policies as his ability to speak simply and show people there is an answer to their problem. He understood, the people rarely care how you do it, they just want it done. Give them answers and don’t fall into the fear and anger that is so prevalent in todays politics. It can be done by showing them new, creative solutions instead of the same ol’ answers that have failed them, because if you fail to present new ideas, you will fail to grab the disenfranchised and the apathetics and it will just sound like more of the same.
But, most important, offer the voters the opportunity to be a part of the solution. John Kennedy’s challenge in his inauguration speech could arguably be the greatest single phrase in the last half century. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Kennedy understood that if the people felt they were a part of this great experiment, they would rally together to fix it. There is an African proverb that best speaks to this idea. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
A Randumb Thawt
It may be way too early to begin the process of finding a new presidential candidate, but it’s not too early to change the narrative. If the Democrats continue to attack and equate like they have done since the election, they risk the voters thinking they are no better and it is just more of the same. They need to introduce fresh ideas, fresh faces and invite the people to join in on this new movement. Don’t expect everyone to follow. You have to appeal to those voters that are not caught up in the dogma. Explain to them, in the simplest terms, why what’s good for one group is good for all groups, because we are in this together. Don’t tell them “When they go low, we go high” and then go low just like them. Show them how we can all go higher. Whether you’re white, black, brown, yellow, man or woman, rich, poor or main street, west coast, east coast or those in the middle, this will work for everyone. There’s no need to be afraid of anyone, or get angry, or be envious or jealous because we’re the land of plenty and there’s plenty for all. Make sure you let them know that you can’t promise they will get everything they want, but make sure they get everything they need. And, most important, explain clearly that they should never look back, because there’s nothing back there. Always look forward and together, we will see a world of opportunity for everyone.
#togetherwecanmakeamericagreaterthanever