I want to recommend that you read Jim Newell’s post at Slate in full. He catalogues the serial miscalculations that led Democrats to the point at which they find themselves:
The Democrats will now control next to nothing above the municipal level. Donald Trump will be president. We are going to be unpacking this night for the rest of our lives, and lives beyond that. We can’t comprehend even 1 percent of what’s just happened. But one aspect of it, minor in the overall sweep, that I’m pretty sure we can comprehend well enough right now: The Democratic Party establishment has beclowned itself and is finished.
Among the points he makes are:
- The DNC completely misunderstood the nature of the election.
- The professionalization of politics is a failed model.
- The Clintons are finished.
I think that over the next weeks and months we’ll be seeing:
- The Clintons struggle for relevance. They might be able to retain it. If they do, it will keep the Democrats wandering in the wilderness for decades. They’re old news.
- The Sanders supporters reach for power.
- The DNC and the battalions of professional consultants, pollsters, organizers, etc. blame anyone but themselves for the failure.
- Somebody will note that Barack Obama has very little impact on elections in which he’s not on the ballot.
- Democratic elected official, particularly sitting senators and big city mayors, start jockeying for position in the new, updated Democratic Party.
- The RNC worry about what their fate will be in the Age of Trump.
Isn’t just the DNC that has “beclowned itself”. So has the RNC. The RNC just has the unexpected misfortune of a newly elected president who isn’t a member of the club.
I am probably one of the few, if any, that doesn’t believe Obama threw his hat in the ring in 2008 primarily to become President. I think he probably knew it was a very long shot, but he wanted the role that Sanders might take in trying to lead the party to a post-Clinton Democratic identity. But somehow Clinton crumbled, and with the help of a recession, he became POTUS before that plan bore fruition and somewhat ended up ratifying most of the Clinton legacy. And by picking Biden as his VP, which completely made sense at the time, he essentially left Clinton as his heir.
I don’t know how truly enamored liberals are of Sanders, as compared to say Elizabeth Warren, who doesn’t seem to want a leadership position.
The Sanders folks could have staged the same kind of coup the Trumpsters did had they tried hard enough.
They failed then Sanders made himself a political cuckold
whereas Trump made many of his Elite rivals his political cuckolds.
Shaw Obama voted for the bankster bailout, Sanders opposed.
Supports TPP, Sanders opposed. Obama is a right winger.
@Ken, my thinking is Obama said he wanted to emulate Reagan, which I believe meant that he had a lot of disagreements with the Clinton DLC/ triangulation/ business-friendly model. In principle, he wanted to steer the party in another direction, but in practice he found himself in the midst of a high-risk banking crisis, being advised by former Clintonistas, and too inexperienced not to defer to all of the tried and true precedents.
Sander enjoys a lot of freedoms that Obama didn’t; the freedom of old age; freedom from party; and the freedom from consequence as a mere single vote among a hundred.
PD- I think that is roughly what I think about Obama too. On foreign policy I think his basic instincts have been correct, but he compromises. He gave in to the generals on Afghanistan early. In Syria he has compromised with the neocon element that wants full invasion and has mostly minimized direct involvement.
Steve
steve,
Not sure how he gave in to the Generals on Afghanistan. He campaigned on more resourcing for that war. He got what he wanted.
Both DNC and RNC have struggled this cycle with a populist wave (or tsunami?). DNC’s response was to build a sea wall by rigging their nomination, but as a result they’ve been shut out of power. The RNC decided to ride a yuuuuge surfboard, and we’ll see if they can pull it off.