Forget ‘A Better Deal.’ Here’s what would actually work for Democrats.
EUGENE ROBINSON, WASHINGTON POST
At a kickoff event Monday in Berryville, Va., Democratic Party leaders announced three initial policy priorities: creating 10 million jobs over five years, with new apprenticeship programs and a tax credit for employers who provide on-the-job training; “cracking down on the monopolies and big corporate mergers that harm consumers, workers and competition,” as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) writes in a Post op-ed; and concrete action to lower the price of prescription drugs, a big factor in rising health-care costs.
All of which is fine. But somehow I don’t see Republican spinmeisters quaking in their Ferragamo loafers.
----
If there is one lesson Democrats should have learned from 2016, it is that opposition to Trump is not by itself enough to win elections. I predict this will still be the case when the 2018 midterms roll around.
Yes, the Republican Party looks to be in trouble. Trump is sowing intraparty rancor and division, not unity. The base has remained loyal thus far, but independents and crossover Democrats have been given no reason to stick with the GOP.
It is possible that the stars might align next year to produce conditions for a pro-Democratic, anti-Republican “wave” election. But that has not happened yet. In the Senate, the Democratic caucus has 25 seats up for grabs next year, while Republicans have only eight seats at risk. And in the House, the GOP holds a 46-seat majority that will be difficult to reverse because of gerrymandering.
I’m still waiting to hear the “bold solutions” that Democrats promise. I can think of one possibility: Why not propose some version of truly universal single-payer health care?
Yes, that would be risky. But it might generate real excitement among the Democratic base — and also grab the attention of some of the GOP’s working-class supporters. Incrementalism is not the answer. Democrats need to go big or go home.