Seems to me that having Harris run was a big change. A huge one. Not to mention, she was significantly younger.
I don’t think there was anything the Democrats could have done this time. People worldwide decided to replace whoever was in charge with someone different, and the US was part of that. It was stupid but people are stupid and make stupid decisions when they’re upset. And people are upset about inflation even if their country’s leaders can’t actually do anything real to fix it, they gotta blame somebody.
So now we have to suffer for at least a little while. Hopefully sanity returns at some point.
Sure…but it came at the 11th hour and she (no one) had time to change the previous 3.75 years of Biden admin policies. Even if they were good they didn’t feel good. I think Harris did well, really well. I could nitpick some bits but I doubt she could have done much better than anyone could have in that position.
But here’s the thing…make changes now and not three months before an election.
You do remember, I suppose, and reading back through the quoted posts, that I was responding only to @Smapti 's screed against old people. This was not a general political conversation nor about the recent election.
What the people want is change. Not the same old, business as usual in government. Trump absolutely represents change. He is old, and the change is likely awful. But it is change.
I don’t care about pundits. I care about the democratic party which has now lost twice to the most awful candidate in history (and came close to losing a third time) and who has seen an important part of their base start to defect to the other side.
What will it take for the dems to learn that doing what they have done for the last 25 years is not a winning strategy? Why would they possibly think if they just keep the status quo it’ll all work out for them?
Considering that Schumer put out a press release today about how bipartisan they were being and how many norms they were abiding by, and then IMMEDIATELY got rolled when Trump and Musk told the Republicans to kill their own CR and shut down the government, the answer is apparently “not today”.
These are not the leaders we need for this fight and they insist on clinging to power because they’d rather preserve their own petty fiefdoms than serve their constituents.
Without change, you have stagnation. Stagnation is death. Chaos is ultimate change. Therefore, chaos is Ultimate Good. So in this, the best of all possible worlds, Trump is The Best President.
Republicans: Transgenderism is an abomination that must be scourged from the face of the Earth by any means necessary
Democrats: If we just punish the children does that count as bipartisanship?
TBF this time even the Republicans got rolled. T&T now don’t want the bill that was agreed on and Troothed that someone so stupid as to vote for a “clean CR” will be primaried. That “everything” has to be negotiated and in place before Jan 20 and any debt limit or shutdown crisis MUST happen in the Biden administration. So then he can pretend to have fixed it on day one when he takes over.
What people want is fantasy change. They want change that harks back to a golden age that never existed. They want change that affects other people negatively but not them. They want to implement Mencken solutions. I could go on.
The real problem is that Trump is prepared to (a) lie through his teeth in telling people he will change things he can’t or won’t (b) effect change that negatively affects minorities because he DGAF and (c) implement Mencken solutions because he DGAF if that achieves nothing or makes things worse.
The problem the Dems have is that they are seen to be “same ol’ same ol” because when they try to effect real change, people discover that change is hard and that they don’t like it, so they vote (in the aggregate) to stymie Dems efforts. Then complain because there is no change.
IME many people commit the fallacy of thinking that a political party could pick up votes if they did a certain thing without considering whether doing that thing would also lose votes.
Sure, the Dems could - to choose a random example - not put forward an establishment old fart and could instead put forward say AOC. And this would undoubtedly attract many votes from the young and progressive… while losing many votes from the old and conservative.
Your views are plausible seeming but ultimately glib.
When have the Dems really worked for change? ACA? Cancelling student debt?
We have decades of young people being unable to afford housing. Certainly buying a home is beyond most of their reach. The cost of university has skyrocketed and graduates are often saddled with lifelong debt. Health care is out of control. Food prices are through the roof. The separation between the haves and have-nots continues to grow ever wider. Tax policy continues to favor the very wealthy. Pelosi made a fortune on insider trading and is not interested in seeing that banned for congresscritters. Infrastructure is a mess with no solution in sight.
The list is long. What have dems really gone to the mat for? How is middle-America feeling better because of the work dems have done? “Oooh…it’s hard!” is not enough. Dems should have these fights, be on chat shows hammering it home, have floor votes and hold everyone accountable for their vote. Then hammer it home again and again who the people are who are obstructing change. What change is best? Dunno…have those debates over and over!
But they do not do that. Obama was notorious for constantly trying to be bi-partisan all while republicans had no interest in it at all and intended to block him at every opportunity (quite literally). As mentioned above Schumer made a very nice bi-partisan budget deal and Trump and republicans just trashed it.
Maybe I am being glib but, clearly, more Americans agreed Dems were not getting the job done this last election. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and we just got a big, shit spoonful.
Your post is a classic piece of glib nonsense and this is perfect encapsulation of why. You are just sticking your fingers in your own ears so you can’t hear yourself.
Your post amounts to: “The Dems don’t change anything. They try but are blocked by the Republicans that the electorate (in the aggregate) keep voting for. I can’t understand why the Dems can’t change anything!?”
