Jonathan Chait: Obama's America Rises Again

[MBS]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/01/obamas-america-rises-again.html

Long-term pessimism about the liberal project has come roaring back in style since the election. Barack Obama’s pet line, “the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” has been hauled out for a great deal of public mockery on all sides. The liberal coastal elite has wallowed in self-flagellation about their failure to understand the great country, a sentiment Donald Trump’s henchmen have exploited to cast the news media as an alien appendage from the real America and its deep, mystical bond with the new president. (“They don’t understand this country,” claims Steve Bannon, “They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”)
But the events of the last two weeks, both of which have seen massive nationwide protests against the new presidency, suggest a different conclusion. It is Trump who does not understand this country. And it is Obama’s vision of the country that will ultimately win out.
. . .
Why have the successes of blue America proven more durable than those of red America? One reason is that liberal politics has a better record of producing successful policies. For all the rage conservatives have generated against Obamacare, it is fulfilling its goals and providing access to medical care to people who are too poor or sick to afford it. When Republicans gathered Friday to strategize on health care, a secret recording revealed that they haven’t the faintest idea how to proceed. Trump’s immigration crackdown was drafted and executed in an absurd fashion. It looks “like what an intern came up with over a lunch hour,” one lawyer told Ben Wittes. “My take is that it is so poorly written that it’s hard to tell the impact.”

Demographic change is another source of liberal confidence that has sustained a lot of post-election mockery. Yet the fact remains that Republicans remain heavily dependent on running up large margins among the oldest voters. The youngest cohort has remained about as staunchly Democrat today as it was in 2008. Americans under the age of 30 are far more racially diverse than their parents and grandparents, and young whites are far less likely to vote Republican. The Trump coalition can win an election, but its margin for error is shrinking.

The blue coalition has weaknesses of its own. Liberal voters have a congenital tendency to sulk when Democrats hold the presidency. And the younger voters Democrats have come to rely on turn out less reliably than the Republican base. But the Women’s March last weekend, and the immigration protests this weekend, have drawn on powerful American ideals: inclusion, social mobility, and optimism. Obamaism may have lost control of the levers of government, but it has never lost the country.

[FrankfurtCat]

1. This is so well articulated, and written in a matter-of-fact tone.

Very share-worthy. Thank You!

[MBS]

2. You're welcome!

[Fresh_Start]

3. favorite line

The blue coalition has weaknesses of its own. Liberal voters have a congenital tendency to sulk when Democrats hold the presidency.

[MBS]

4. Yes, that one stood out for me, too.

Especially relevant to this board.