Corporate journalists are typing furiously to try to convince people that a majority of the country wants centrism and unity. Bullshit.
Damon Linker at The Week goes after this notion with a sledgehammer, claiming the time for political pablum is over. “If Democrats want to unify the country,” he writes, “they should stop talking about wanting to unify the country.”
What once might have sounded uplifting and public spirited now sounds banal and naïve. Democrats need to propose a distinctive account of the country’s past and present and an alternative vision of its future — one that contrasts sharply with the one emanating daily from the White House and the president’s Twitter account. Positioning themselves above it all, as ready and eager to work and compromise with the party of Donald Trump, can’t help but make them sound weak and defensive. It certainly won’t defeat the president and win back the Senate from the GOP in 2020.
What explains the fondness of Democratic presidential candidates, even now, for high-minded beyondism? Why is Joe Biden promising to say nice words about Republicans, and even campaigning for them? Today’s Democrats are motivated by skittishness about their capacity to prevail in a fair fight against their ideological opponents.
That’s about as much as fair use will allow, so I recommend you follow the link and read the whole thing.