But to take advantage of GOP mistakes, Democrats need to be a party offering better solutions for middle- and working-class families, the very group that Vice President Joe Biden, among others, believes made the difference in November. Identity politics, the organizing principle of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, assumed that minorities, the poor, women, gays and other disgruntled groups would turn out en masse to defeat Trump’s white male “deplorables.” That bet failed.
The Democrats also need to loosen ties to their primary funders, public employee unions, and gentry liberals. The control by public unions of the party’s agenda means that schools will continue to languish, particularly in big cities. Democrats also will find themselves forced to justify the enormous pensions, particularly here in California, that threaten to undermine public works and finances.
Economic royalism has long been the best way to assault Republicans, but rich liberals prefer identity politics, in part, because it doesn’t threaten their wealth; their status in the ephemeral economy also makes it easy for them to push radical climate change measures. These positions may titillate progressives in places like Manhattan, West Los Angeles and San Francisco, but not so much among working- and middle-class voters who live in places like the upper Midwest or Appalachia, as well as those in many of the nation’s suburbs.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member