I woke up November 5 thinking we’d move in a different direction. I. Was. Wrong.
The Democrats made big mistakes. Huge. President Biden should have said after the 2022 midterms he would bridge to a new generation of leaders and not run in 2024. A crop of youngers would have emerged from the primaries ready to take on He Who Shall Not be Named.
Kamala Harris was an alternative to Biden. She had energy and enthusiasm. She wasn’t 115 years old. Yet, our initial excitement masked the fact the nation didn’t know her, and she failed to show how she’d be different.
Strategically, Republicans showed Democrats didn’t understand “kitchen table” issues that impact so many Americans.
Tactically, the Republicans were nasty and effective.
They framed our open border as an invasion of crime, drugs and chaos.
They said Kamala is for they/them and we are for you.
They painted a picture of a nation in the grip of a crime wave and quietly implied Democrats would take away everyone’s guns.
They yelled “Drill, baby, drill.” Unrealistic in a country now a net exporter of oil, but effective with those struggling to fill their tanks.
They cast Democrats as the party of identity politics, seeing racism everywhere and stifling meritocracy. Nasty. Effective.
As a veteran strategist of Democratic campaigns, I’ve maintained we can be right and lose, or we can be pragmatic and win.
Now, progressives can fortify their positions, fail to recognize America is center-right and continue to lose.
Or we can move to the center, gain new voters AND win elections. It worked for President Clinton. It worked for President Obama. It can work again.
I’m Wester Wuori, reporting live from the center, and that’s my Perspective.
