Jon Ossoff’s loss in the special election in GA-06 is causing all kinds of handwringing among Democrats. Instead of recognizing that the district was extremely difficult for any Democrat, some people are calling for Nancy Pelosi to step down. They reason that the House Minority Leader is so toxic that she’s turning people against Democrats.
That’s wrong. The people who hate Pelosi, or know enough to even have extreme feelings about her, are never going to vote for a Democrat anyway. I imagine the $25 million or so in Democratic spending did more to wake up and motivate conservative voters than the adds against Pelosi. In South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District the same night, progressives showed up to vote while conservatives didn’t. The lack of a spotlight let disgruntled Republicans sleep, making the unheralded race closer than the one everybody was watching.
Instead of focusing on the wrong targets like Pelosi or Russian interference, Democrats need to find a message that appeals to both the base and persuadable voters who supported Obama but also voted for Trump. That message needs to create hope for the future and alleviate the fears of uncertainty. It should be about opportunity and security.
In 2016 Clinton lost a substantial number of “change” voters who were not motivated by racism or xenophobia but want to see reform in our government to make it more responsive to the needs of middle-class and lower middle-class families. In North Carolina, Clinton also saw a dramatic decrease in the number of African-American men who showed up at the polls. They are change voters, too. They just couldn’t vote for Donald Trump.
Democrats need to give these voters something to vote for. They need to develop an overall of message of economic opportunity that addresses the concerns of people unsure of their future or that of their children. Too many parents are watching their children working two or three jobs with little security and few benefits to pay off staggering college debt. And too many young people, especially African-Americans, from poorer communities end up in the criminal justice system with records that hurt their earning potential for the rest of their lives. And too many people of all persuasions use drugs to alleviate the pain associated with a bleak future and dwindling opportunities.
The mistake Democrats made in the Georgia special elections was putting too much emphasis on a race that was likely to go Republican. Nancy Pelosi didn’t cost Ossoff the election and she won’t play a dominant role in 2018. Presidents and their successes or failures might dominate elections, but legislative leaders rarely do. Pelosi might need to go but that should happen when we have a new Congress, not now.
Instead, Democrats need to figure out who they are and offer voters a choice. While bashing Trump and a heartless GOP agenda, they need to put together an economic agenda based on opportunity that contrasts sharply of the Republican’s continued commitment to policies that disproportionally benefit the wealthiest Americans. We need a dose of populism to go along with a program that spurs economic growth. They aren’t mutually exclusive. The benefits of our society should go to all who build it, not just those who invest financially.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
I like a fighter and there seems to be not much fight in the party now, instead of following the republican trolls and keeping a division amongst the party we need to unite and fight them and stand together ,when the ones were running for office when PRESIDENT OBAMA was in office some ran away from him and didn’t win as long as they can keep us infighting they have you beat. Be like the republicans and support your own and the people will follow.
I am not sure is Pelosi cost Ossoff the election. Having said that I thought she should have stepped down after the 2014 elections. No one since Sam Rayburn has lead the house Democrats for more than a decade. There was only one Sam Rayburn period. Nancy Pelosi needs to understand its time for her to gracefully step down but she won’t. She can maybe hold onto to her position but at what cost. I think she is doing more harm than good to the party.
Ossoff was down two strikes before he ever stepped up to the plate. Foolishly, party officials thought after his stellar showing in the primary going down to the run-off that he could pull it off. I was reading the other day someone quoting Tip O’Neil and his “all politics are local wisdom.” I can’t remember if it was here on another thread or not; quite possibly it was, but my point here is this; he wasn’t even in the 6th District. It was a Republican stronghold district and had been for the last thirty years. To think that Ossoff could just waltz in and claim the prize on the sole basis of being anti-Trump was folly from the start.
Yes, hamstrung as he was he came within 4 percentage points of doing the impossible. However 4 points, 2 points, or half a point; they all produce the same outcome…he lost.
Being anti-Trump isn’t enough. If the committees that many find so enchantingly fascinating were serious about getting to the truth, they’d issue subpoenas for their witnesses and compel them to testify or face contempt charges. It wouldn’t surprise me if this isn’t a ruse to keep attention focused elsewhere while they perpetuate their agenda in Congress. Nothing will be done about Donald Trump until he has outlived his usefulness to the Republican Party or Democrats sweep the mid-terms and take back control of Congress.
I’m quite in favor of the latter. The question is, how? Maybe the wisdom of Tip O’Neil is still relevant today. Perhaps it’s time that party heads stepped back and look down at local diversity rather than a rigid ideology based in a utopic notion of Nirvana. I’m not saying that is entirely wrong, I am saying that to even entertain that notion and perhaps even take steps toward that vision, you have to hold the power to pull it off.
Starting local sounds like a great first step for Democrats to start to get back the those people that were so disillusioned and disgusted they voted for Donald Trump. We already know what won’t work.
I want to say something else regarding Nancy Pelosi and that Georgia 06 congressional race. I agree she is not the reason Jon Ossoff lost. But she never helped. And she will not help any other congressional candidates in the American South and elsewhere next year. Her brand has become toxic and she represents still one more hurdle Democrats must scale to be successful.
As I have posted here recently, Mr. Ossoff was doomed to lose his race. Democrats foolishly believed he would win after he nearly won outright in the April election. And yes, the millions of dollars pumped into the race awakened the GOP base.
Going forward, I suspect that Leader Pelosi will remain in her congressional leadership role. But I here to tell you that if Democrats come up short in the 2018 midterms, I will not be the only person calling for a fresh face to represent the party. She will be gone. Unfortunately, the Democrats will still be out of power.
I do believe that the timebombs on ticking on Mr. Trump. Those in his party who support and enable him not only do a disservice to their country, but they are going to look pretty bad in history. He needs to go, too, and I suspect the clock is ticking on that to happen, though few would agree with me at this point. Let’s check on it in, say, a few months.
People need to stop blaming, appreciate the gains in these deeply Republican districts. The Georgia and the much quieter South Carolina races both showed Democrats coming within 3-4 points in districts that had previously won by 20. I agree with Thomas Mills that people need to adjust their response to Ossoff losing in Georgia, and also SC. As Mills wrote, people need to “recognize that the district was extremely difficult for any Democrat,” and appreciate how close he came. Also, Ossoff was a newcomer who didn’t live in the district he was hoping to represent.
Consider also the a quieter election in South Carolina that the Republicans barely won, but which didn’t include the massive national input and interference. The Fifth District was redrawn to heavily favor Republicans after the 2010 elections. “Mr. Mulvaney won his three re-election campaigns. But Parnell still came within about 3 percentage points of beating Norman in a district that Mulvaney won by 20 percentage points in November over Democrat Fran Person, a former aide to Vice President Joe Biden.” (Source – http://www.postandcourier.com/news/republican-ralph-norman-wins-south-carolina-th-congressional-district-special/article_db0f0bee-55b9-11e7-980b-2bb0a1077c21.html)
I’ll say it again. In both the elections, the Democratic candidates got within 3-4 points in races that under normal conditions (and with a normal president and administration) would have been won by 20. People need to stop blaming, appreciate the gains, and work harder!
I’ve been studying economics & finance. We need to get rid of the Fed. We need to get rid of all those Finance Bankers who took your home. We need to take Finance out of GDP. We need Utility Banking. Banking needs to be regulated as a Utility. We need to create both a national & international institution with the power to force the write down or write off of debts that are impossible to be paid. We need to tax Capital Gains. We need to tax land and end the ridiculous breaks on taxes for “depreciation”. We need essentially to stop the flow of our money to the One Percent. They are parasites on our industry which they tear apart and sell off as done to Timpkin Gears.
We need to stop the privatization agenda.
It was a reality that Clinton was a protector and in league with Wall Street Finance Banking. Finance Banking is your enemy. We need to make it clear that our government is all that stands in the way of our enslavement by bankers consumed by greed.
What Democrat will stand up and laud the achievements of the greatest president of our times, FDR. I don’t know why Sanders didn’t claim to be a New Deal Democrat.
If you take a one time read even of the case in 1899, Cass case, railroads, it is clear fast that Personhood for Corporations is a Big Lie.
The Bank of North Dakota is the way for all the states to create an elastic money supply. You have private banks creating too much money as debt all of it pushing and pushing up nothing but real estate. The US Treasury ought be where money is created. For a state your treasury may just have to do what the Fed won’t. The Fed just gives our money to parasites. We need to get rid of the Fed. We need to start to say it is time to end the Electoral College. The US democratic mob is wiser. Clinton at least knew what side to be on. Clinton was at least not insane.
In our state working or not 25 percent of the people are ignorant & poor. We can at least fix poor. We can raise the minimum wage.
The Democratic Party needs to say here are our enemies. Steve Minuchin is our enemy. Betsy DeVos is our enemy. Trump has appointed a bunch of incompetents & opportunists. If you voted for him you were voting for what he cribbed from Bernie Sanders. He was lying. He is a liar.
We have the language. Debt is not wealth. Education is for freeing one, not enslaving one. The GI Bill won for the survivors of combat & the war ought have been won for all of us.
What do you think? Do you think USPO Service Banking would end predatory lending in Fayetteville, and that would be a good thing, or do you want to keep it all fixed so everyday when the banks keep loaning to raise the prices of a house on a lot or raising the rent so when they sleep they get enriched through feasting on your body and destroying your hopes, or do you want to make us all smarter and stronger.