I’m sure there will be a great deal of analysis around the question of what went wrong. Errors will be discussed. This or that group will be questioned. Villains will be identified. The staggering sums of money spent on negative ads in the Philadelphia media market will be traced back to the “Citizens United” decision. There will be, in short, a lot of forensics.
For me, it comes down to Democrats not having a clear sense of who we are as a party, and why voters should vote for us. We’ve fallen into identifying ourselves, not as what we are, but as what we aren’t. Democrats aren’t racists. We aren’t homophobes. We aren’t religious bigots or xenophobic. We aren’t… good at politics.
I’m old enough to remember when it was widely known and accepted that being a Democrat meant being on the side of the little guy. We’ve lost that brand identity. This election we ceded that ground to a wealthy charlatan. A one-dimensional cartoon version of a rich guy. I suppose the silver lining is that we can’t fall lower than this.
After the forensics will come the rebuilding. Eventually, I’ll listen to the acceptance speeches of John Carney, and the other Delaware Democrats who won last night. I’ll be searching to find some foundation for the rebuilding. Some acknowledgment that being a Democrat means being on the side of the little guy.
