Dave Leonhardt writes in his NYTimes Column, San Francisco ousters Why are liberal candidates losing in liberal cities? how liberal candidates are being beaten by centrist Democrats or Republicans.
Though I wouldn't call them liberal, I'll tell you why they're losing-- because of stupid, even batshit crazy policies, some of which don't even exist but that the GOP has created as memes and false messaging.
Let's start with "defund the police." I don't think this is a real thing. People, including me, may want to shift some funds from police to social workers to deal with problems like family altercations, but any real efforts to totally defund the police are just plain stupid. There are serious problems with police, including the blue wall of silence that protects bad cops, and the use of swat teams, which some cities are now cancelling for some categories. But this is a message that Democrats need to make clear that they don't want now and never did.
Closing schools because of Covid. This has been a very challenging situation that has been continuously evolving over the last two years. It's been very hard on parents who have had to either stay home with their kids or work out coverage, which can be very expensive. And even when parents can stay home, supervising on-line learning can be very difficult. It's time for Democrats to get ahead of this issue. Kids are going back to school. They are no longer having classes cancelled if one kid tests positive. It is time to move on and smart politicians will get ahead of this trend.
Ridiculous political correctness. Leonhardt points out how one of the reasons three San Francisco school board members were recalled was their effort to rename schools:
"the school board had attempted to rename 44 schools, so that they no longer honored
anybody deemed reactionary. Among the apparent reactionaries were Paul Revere, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Senator Dianne Feinstein and John Muir, the environmentalist. "
WTF? Are they insane. The Democratic party should shun these reactionary, extremists attempting to re-name the schools, because who have no judgement. OTH, Sen. Dianne Feinstein doesn't need to have a school named after her. She deserves having, maybe a bat cave.
One challenge Democrats face is that many Blacks and Latinos are wanting politicians to be tough on crime. Crime has always been an issue that Democrats are usually portrayed or seen as weaker on when facing Republicans. Democrats must show they can be tough on crime and also tough on bad cops and tough on bad prosecutors.
In Philly, we have a DA, Larry Krasner, who the police fervently hate, because he has called out bad cops and reviewed trials where cops and prosecutors were corrupt and dishonest, putting innocent people in jail. He's having a hard time with some communities because the police are at times successfully labeling him soft on crime. But that's because he's not soft on police crime. He needs to show he can play hardball with real crime and that his policies, like telling police not to waste time on Marijuana arrests frees them to go after more dangerous criminals. Democrats CAN be tough on crime and cops so they make black and Latino communities happy. But they have to stand up to the right wing lies.
Beating Ukraine war drums is another stupid Democratic message. There's a lot of talk that Biden is a figurehead who fronts for real policy makers who pulls his strings. This is a perfect example of why a lot of people are buying this and why recent polls are showing that 25% of DEMOCRATS are unhappy with the Democratic party-- and it's a lot worse when you look at Independents' attitude towards Democrats.
Biden should start keeping some of the promises he made-- at least the ones he can do with executive orders. He should forgive student debt, pardon all marijuana possession prisoners and de-criminalize marijuana use and possession, and re-categorize marijuana from a schedule one to a schedule three substance.
Also here's the advice Michael Moore has for Joe Biden. Biden, who is looking more and more like a abject failure one term president (and he's too old to run for. second term) should implement these posthaste, though, sadly, his neoliberal corporatist handlers won't allow it.
From Michael Moore's article, which advises Biden, How to Win Big This November
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
3
3
