Our political Quote of the Day comes from The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf, writing about the victory of a Democrat in the special election to fill the seat in California’s 36th congressional district. It was widely believed that this race had become competitive but in the end L.A. City Councilwoman Janice Hahn defeated Republican challenger Craig Huey 54.6 percent to 45.4 percent. Democrats have a huge advantage in this district but many had believed it was competitive and Democrats at the last minute seemly agreed by pulling out all stops — even getting former President Bill Clinton involved.
The outcome is another opportunity for California Republicans to absorb lessons they never seem to learn: it’s folly to run staunch social conservatives in elections here, especially in blue districts. They just lose. Contra Rush Limbaugh, confidently running as a conservative doesn’t always work when attempted. Per William F. Buckley’s advice, the thing to do is run the electable candidate who is most conservative. Despite what the Tea Party may think, persuading folks who aren’t already ideological allies is an important part of electoral politics. The base isn’t enough.
And ignoring that advice hurts everyone because, in uncompetitive races, the Democrats who wind up getting elected are marginally worse than they’d be if the party were forced to up its game.
Instead we’re governed poorly.
And, indeed, the problem with what we are seeing on so many fronts in American politics is the growing assumption that you don’t need to really build coalitions — just the people who read what you believe in and read, listen to who you listen to and believe on the radio, and watch who you already agree with on cable is enough. The problem with this is that when someone wins then it’s all a victory of a power play. Without consensus, coalition-building, reaching out, and respectful compromise it’s one big grudge game. We see the hubris now in the debt ceiling discussions.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.