I don't know who I want, but I know what I want
Michelle Obama told CNN that she and Barack were going to support whoever wins the Democratic Primary, and that trying to choose a winner now is like trying to predict the World Series champion after the first few games of the regular season. It's about time somebody said something sensible.
I'm still refusing to back anyone for 2020 until at least the beginning of 2020, but I'm getting a better idea what what I'm looking for. I didn't watch the first Democratic debates, and I avoided most of the noise surrounding it, but I caught enough of it to see that the 2020 Presidential Election will be a contest between three powerful mass emotional forces.
The first one we know about it. Republicans have anointed Donald Trump as their messiah, and nothing is going to convince them otherwise. Democrats can't do anything about it - and that's a good thing, because they have to deal with the other two.
Progressives look at the big problems that have been revealed these past few years - inequality, white supremacy, denial of science in the face of a climate disaster - and conclude that massive reforms are needed. I totally get that. I don't think they're wrong. But there's a hard reality they'll have to deal with.
It's entirely possible to live in the Great White Midwest and be largely unaware of what's going on. I've been here for close to a week, and it's not hard. You don't even have to watch FOX News. The local channels and the broadcast networks don't talk about much. It's entirely possible to believe that white privilege is a myth dreamed up by people who want to guilt-trip you, that weather is something that just happens and certainly isn't worth giving up our big SUVs over, and that rich people deserve their money because they work hard. If this is the world you live in, then all the squabbling in Washington is just a lot of incomprehensible noise that they wish would just go away.
To a large number of Americans, the Republicans and Democrats fighting in government are like two kids arguing in the back seat of the car. It doesn't matter who started it or who did what to whom. They don't want justice or fairness or the rule of law. They just want quiet. And they will listen to anyone who promises to give it to them.
So here's the problem Democrats face, the two emotional forces they have to contend with. Push too hard for progressive reform, and they will frighten all those Midwestern white people into the welcoming arms of Donald Trump, who tells them he will Keep America Great without them having to inconvenience themselves. But play it too safe, and they will blow a hole in the emotional fuel tank powering the progressive movement, and those people will either vote for a third-party candidate or just stay home, "to teach the Democrats a lesson."
Is that fair? No. But it's reality. We white people are broken, and we have to account for that. Democrats can't afford to copy the Republicans' abandonment of reality.
What I want is a candidate who can thread that needle, who can present enough of a progressive message, but do it in a way that doesn't scare the Midwestern white folks. The people who can do that will get my attention. That's who I'll be watching and listening for.
I'm still refusing to back anyone for 2020 until at least the beginning of 2020, but I'm getting a better idea what what I'm looking for. I didn't watch the first Democratic debates, and I avoided most of the noise surrounding it, but I caught enough of it to see that the 2020 Presidential Election will be a contest between three powerful mass emotional forces.
The first one we know about it. Republicans have anointed Donald Trump as their messiah, and nothing is going to convince them otherwise. Democrats can't do anything about it - and that's a good thing, because they have to deal with the other two.
Progressives look at the big problems that have been revealed these past few years - inequality, white supremacy, denial of science in the face of a climate disaster - and conclude that massive reforms are needed. I totally get that. I don't think they're wrong. But there's a hard reality they'll have to deal with.
It's entirely possible to live in the Great White Midwest and be largely unaware of what's going on. I've been here for close to a week, and it's not hard. You don't even have to watch FOX News. The local channels and the broadcast networks don't talk about much. It's entirely possible to believe that white privilege is a myth dreamed up by people who want to guilt-trip you, that weather is something that just happens and certainly isn't worth giving up our big SUVs over, and that rich people deserve their money because they work hard. If this is the world you live in, then all the squabbling in Washington is just a lot of incomprehensible noise that they wish would just go away.
To a large number of Americans, the Republicans and Democrats fighting in government are like two kids arguing in the back seat of the car. It doesn't matter who started it or who did what to whom. They don't want justice or fairness or the rule of law. They just want quiet. And they will listen to anyone who promises to give it to them.
So here's the problem Democrats face, the two emotional forces they have to contend with. Push too hard for progressive reform, and they will frighten all those Midwestern white people into the welcoming arms of Donald Trump, who tells them he will Keep America Great without them having to inconvenience themselves. But play it too safe, and they will blow a hole in the emotional fuel tank powering the progressive movement, and those people will either vote for a third-party candidate or just stay home, "to teach the Democrats a lesson."
Is that fair? No. But it's reality. We white people are broken, and we have to account for that. Democrats can't afford to copy the Republicans' abandonment of reality.
What I want is a candidate who can thread that needle, who can present enough of a progressive message, but do it in a way that doesn't scare the Midwestern white folks. The people who can do that will get my attention. That's who I'll be watching and listening for.
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