Four resolutions for Democrats
By Jennifer Rubin December 29 at 9:30 AM
Democrats, look on the bright side. The Affordable Care Act, no matter what President Trump says, remains on the books. A large majority of Americans disapprove of the president, Republicans in Congress, the tax bill and deporting those who benefited under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. A large majority (66 percent) believe “sexual harassment allegations primarily reflect widespread societal problems.” Americans support gay marriage, understand that man-made climate change is happening and do not want to slash programs for the poor. (“In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in April, 57 percent of all Americans agreed that government should do more to meet people’s needs, outpacing the 39 percent who said government is doing too much,” CNBC reported. “That represented the strongest support for more government action in the two decades that the NBC/WSJ poll has asked that question. Two-thirds of college-educated white women and 59 percent of both independents and non-college white women favored more government action.”) In short, Democrats are winning the argument on a large number of critical issues. But success is far from assured in 2018. Let me offer four New Year’s resolutions that might help Democrats rack up electoral wins:
First, Howard Dean is right. “I think my generation needs to get the hell out of politics. Start coaching and start moving up this next generation who are more … fiscally sane,” Dean is quoted as saying. “Neither Republicans or Democrats can claim they are fiscally responsible anymore. This young generation is going to pay for that if we don’t get the hell out of the way .” No matter how smart or experienced Jerry Brown might be, no matter how much you respect former vice president Joe Biden for his personal decency and courage in the face of unimaginable tragedy, do not be tempted to run a 70-year-old in 2020 against the likely incumbent, who will then be 74 years old. Look to the future, not to the past. (As a corollary, stop talking about Hillary Clinton and rising to the bait when Trump uses her to stir his information-addled base.)
Second, become the party that defends law enforcement (the FBI, for example), the intelligence community and the rule of law. Defend local police against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who wants to yank funding from jurisdictions that won’t spend time helping the feds deport otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants. The GOP has forfeited the claim to be the party of law and order. When Congress returns, offer up a resolution applauding the work of the FBI and praising its impartiality and professionalism. Let the GOP vote against it. While the Democrats are at it, they can praise New York City law enforcement, which resisted Trump’s call to aid the feds in mass deportation of suspected illegal immigrants and instead brought the crime rate down to 1950s levels.
Third, make clear that Trump is doing what he accused former president Barack Obama of doing — ceding the United States’ influence, letting autocrats push us around, annoying our allies and betraying our deepest-held values. Richard Haass writes:
United States is no longer taking the lead in maintaining alliances, or in building regional and global institutions that set the rules for how international relations are conducted. It is abdication from what has been a position of leadership in developing the rules and arrangements at the heart of any world order. …
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/12/29/four-resolutions-for-democrats/?utm_term=.86c8f72ff99d
= new reply since forum marked as read
