As much as we may want to, let's not tear ourselves apart too much and over-analyze this election

[Fast Walker 52]

First of all, it was just a bad cycle for Dems. It's historically hard to hold onto the WH after 8 years for the same party. The sad realization I had last night was how for so many people-- maybe you could call them low information partisan voters-- the only really important thing in this recent election was that their "team" won after they had to put up with the other "team" for eight years.

Second of all, clearly it was a weird year, with Trump. Despite his horrible behavior, he played the media like a fiddle and we definitely under-estimated how much voters would be turned off by him. And he was clearly helped by the media and a lot of unfortunate hacking that was out of our control.

Third, while I strongly think Hillary was massively and unfairly smeared in this campaign, she was just not the best candidate for various historical reasons. We under-estimated how much the email scandal hurt her.

Fourth, there is a lot of chance in elections, and you can't plan everything out. Sometimes you get lucky with a candidate, such as Obama, and sometimes you get totally screwed, such as with Hillary and Al Gore.

Fifth, we are still a very closely divided country politically, between liberal and conservative.

Sixth, this was a close election, mainly decided by a few percentage points in rust-belt states.

Seventh, overall the Democratic candidate did very well in getting votes but lost in the electoral college-- this was not some major repudiation of the Democratic party or "neoliberalism".

Eighth, from other races that occurred this cycle, there's no sign America is ready to shift to socialism (single payer lost HUGELY in CO) or even that this was such a big "change" election (most incumbents voted back in). Americans are perpetually upset by DC and want change, there was nothing new in that, except after 8 years of one president, this was felt more acutely by the right.

The bigger issue right now, I think is, what is the best way for Dems to deal with the incipient fascism from a Trump presidency. I'm not sure working with him is the best idea.

[wisteria]

1. Yes, move on.

She was a little bit wrong, but he was a lot, and the scum won anyway.

[Fast Walker 52]

2. let's move on with the right lessons. There are a lot of things out of our control in these big

elections, as horrible as it ended up this cycle. We do need to find an effective way to confront the Trump horror show.

[Dream Girl]

3. Especially given that it was stolen nt

[Fast Walker 52]

4. yes... it does suck to be a Dem in this regard. Always the kid getting beat up by the bully GOP

in elections and not fighting back like we should. How much can we keep taking the high road???

[Fast Walker 52]

5. also consider-- "On Rural America: Understanding Isnt The Problem"

http://forsetti.tumblr.com/post/153181757500/on-rural-america-understanding-isnt-the-problem