I'd argue that was mostly just inertia from Obama. His politics are debatable but it's a fact that he is one of the most talented orators of a generation. He was able to inspire a huge midterm turnout because he gave people real hope that the Dems could change things. Unfortunately neither he nor any of the other Dems were willing or able to take on the republicans. By his second term the party had lost a lot of the momentum it built up during his first campaign. It had nothing to do with leadership, it was just one guy who was able to inspire hope but no ability to bring any of it to fruition.
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quantumcrop @ quantumcrop @lemmy.today Posts 0Comments 6Joined 2 mo. ago
quantumcrop @ quantumcrop @lemmy.today
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I didn't think I had to spell it out this simply but here we go...
A) Of course they get some stuff done, most of it is even good. However it's not the stuff their constituents really want or the stuff that would be the most beneficial for them. At a certain point it just starts to feels like controlled opposition.
B) They don't do a damn thing to publicize the stuff they actually do get done. My Dad is the libbiest of the NPR listening, newspaper reading, college educated, WASP libs to ever liberal, and I had to explain to him all the stuff Joe Biden accomplished. He is significantly more informed than the average voter and even he forgot most of what Biden did because those things were covered for maybe a day and completely overshadowed by the constant despair inducing antics of the republicans.
C) Their complete lack of ability to counter the republicans who abandoned any pretense of working in good faith during Obamas first term. We've lost gay marriage and abortion, now they're working on getting rid of womens right to vote. Not to mention the fact they've created their own secret police. I'm sure Chuck Schumer's next strongly worded letter will make them reconsider their positions and back down.
Also, I understand that the problems they face extend from the fact that the Dem voter base has actual expectations other than just performative cruelty and pageantry like republicans voters. This asymmetry has been a problem for left leaning groups since the dawn of politics. One group needs to have thoughtful and effective policies and be able to argue their case convincingly while the other side just has to post racist memes.
Using the lack of a majority as an excuse for not doing anything useful doesn't work when you're the ones responsible for achieving that majority. Obama was a rare example of a single politician who was able to get that majority, and it was squandered because the Dems acted like a dog that caught it's own tail. They didn't expect to have to make good on any of their promises and when push came to shove they let republicans water down and delay those promises in the name of bipartisanship that they should have known wouldn't be reciprocated.
They should have taken the likes of Joe Manchin and strung him up by his heels until he cried and fell in line. But they won't, because they are weak cowards who don't want to rock the boat or actually change anything. It was easier to just manufacture conflicts they felt could justify their inaction. Unfortunately it didn't work and instead they came off as disingenuous and lazy. People got disillusioned and now they're just the party of "not republicans" instead of having any actual convictions or standing on any real positions.
People don't have faith in the DNC because it has proven itself to be unreliable at best and malicious at worst. Please stop calling people illiterate for being upset with the Dem party, people like you are the real reason so many have lost faith in democracy as a whole, not just democratic party.