It’s already started. With an opening to boot out an incumbent president with a low approval rating and minority support, a gaggle of Democrats have jumped into the race seeing a possibility to be the party’s nominee. Not only is the opponent a Republican, but it’s the arrogant figure of Donald Trump, a lying bully and braggart who lost the popular vote to Hillary and used Russian assistance to win in 2016. A denier of global warming, he has taken the country out of the Paris accord, tried to destroy Obamacare, and seems to follow Putin’s bidding regarding foreign policy.
What a great candidate to run against and bring the nation back to sanity. But that’s only possible by getting the nomination first. Democrats who no one has heard of are getting into the fray and internecine fighting has already begun. To get attention, a candidate not only has to elevate him or herself with an engaging personality and great ideas, but has to cut down other competitors in the race, scrambling over their backs to become the top dog. And the more people who are running, the more fighting there will be and the more ammunition that will be given to Trump and his supporters. Not good!
And it is not only each Democrat against the rest of the field but the extreme left against the regular left and both against the centrists. Labels like socialist are getting tossed around, proudly by the extreme left and fearfully by the centrists, the latter realizing that a socialist will be unable to win the presidency in America. It also means that all Democratic centrists will be tarred by the GOP as socialists wanting to radically change America by eliminating capitalism and the free market. Having heard some Democrats calling themselves socialists, many voters will apply the designation to all of the party’s members, being frightened by the Republican advertising that emphasizes the characterization. Too many citizens don’t pay close attention to politics and will readily absorb fake news.
There’s also the issue of anti-Semitism that is turning many Democrats off. Two Muslim Democratic members of Congress are criticizing American support of Israel, but doing it in a way that alienates Jews and makes it seem as if they have dual loyalties. This has been boiling up recently and has distracted Democrats from what should be their major task- defeating Donald Trump. Any problem that draws attention away from Trump and focuses on Democratic dissension is bad for the party and good for Trump. The Muslims and leftists don’t realize or don’t care about the importance of solidarity and presenting a united front against Trump. After the election is won, squabbling can start again.
The effect of Howard Schultz also has to be considered, a Democrat who is running as an independent. If he stays in the race, he is sure to peel votes from the Democratic candidate and hand a victory to Trump. Hopefully, he will come to his senses before the election and drop out, realizing that he cannot win. Money alone is not enough.
There has to be a unified message by the Democrats of what they stand for that will capture Americans and not just opposition to Trump. And it must be centrist if they hope to win. Health care reform, education, infrastructure, fighting global warming, new well-paying jobs, research and development to grow the economy. These are all themes that should be emphasized in addition to Trump’s foibles. But conflict in the Democratic ranks must be tamped down until the real battle is won.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020