I’m sorry, wut? Optimism? From LIBERALS? Since when?
If this was even remotely the paradigm, Biden wouldn’t be suffering from a perpetually low approval rating.
Instead, we’ve been forced to listen to liberals tell him to quit since 2021…and to take that Black woman with him.
Never mind that Democrats have been gaining ground nonstop since 2017. Every supposed red wave has been resoundingly crushed. If we could ever get our shit together for census year elections, we’d be unbeatable.
In the meanwhile, I’d argue that liberals have EARNED a little optimism, especially in light of what’s going on with the opposition right now. But damn if anyone is allowed to say so.
“I can look at events and make a credible argument that it’s a waste of time to throw money at extremely unwinnable House race”
There’s a reasonable list to being pragmatic. To focusing on the places you can win. But you need to make sure you define “win” correctly.
Writing off Florida and Texas and states we just won’t be able to flip his defeatist. The “win” shouldn’t be to flip them this time, but to close the margin. To set things up so that next time, or the time after that, our “win” becomes flipping the state.
Bush Junior being reelected may have made it seem unbelievable that a black man with a foreign sounding name could become president. It’s a good thing Obama didn’t find it unbelievable.
Our over-optimism in manifesting nonassholeism is the most frustrating. To woefully oversimplify: WJClinton's triangulation strategies left us thinking social progress was really all we need/the best we could hope for. We abandoned the field on so much in the following 20 years - bankruptcy reform, deregulation, workers' rights. antitrust, patching holes in the social-floor... SCOTUS... But we got some solid social wins.
Those gains have left us with exposed flanks - cancel culture complaints are guerilla warfare, and we leap to engage every skirmish, because it's the only thing we think we can defend. Meanwhile the holes we didn't patch get bigger. "If we can just make a couple moonshots, we can get out of this mess!" Ok...
Noted: But I do think that the abortion issue and having really good candidates to run against Rick Scott and Ted Cruz actually do put Florida and Texas potentially at play (at least the Senate races) this year...
I guess, especially where Trump is concerned, I’m the opposite liberal. I forecasted Trump’s win in 2016; a dark day in history. And I’m vocal that despite - dangerously - trashing every gag order, and despite Trump’s obvious illegal actions, he’ll never spend a day in jail. So I take the pessimistic side.
In addition, though we’ve had Democrats in office since Reagan, none were “Star Trek” liberals, at least economically. Obama made some progress on health care. Biden, who actually is more middle-of-the-road, has been the best at it, getting unions going and money into the pockets of poorer people. But Clinton was conservative, with NAFTA and workfare among other things. And no Democrat has repealed or replaced the devastating tax cuts for the wealthy that have moved 50 trillion (a number too big for most to comprehend) dollars upwards to the wealthy. Democrats softly push a “woke” agenda but no revolutionary change.
I’m sorry, wut? Optimism? From LIBERALS? Since when?
If this was even remotely the paradigm, Biden wouldn’t be suffering from a perpetually low approval rating.
Instead, we’ve been forced to listen to liberals tell him to quit since 2021…and to take that Black woman with him.
Never mind that Democrats have been gaining ground nonstop since 2017. Every supposed red wave has been resoundingly crushed. If we could ever get our shit together for census year elections, we’d be unbeatable.
In the meanwhile, I’d argue that liberals have EARNED a little optimism, especially in light of what’s going on with the opposition right now. But damn if anyone is allowed to say so.
“I can look at events and make a credible argument that it’s a waste of time to throw money at extremely unwinnable House race”
There’s a reasonable list to being pragmatic. To focusing on the places you can win. But you need to make sure you define “win” correctly.
Writing off Florida and Texas and states we just won’t be able to flip his defeatist. The “win” shouldn’t be to flip them this time, but to close the margin. To set things up so that next time, or the time after that, our “win” becomes flipping the state.
Bush Junior being reelected may have made it seem unbelievable that a black man with a foreign sounding name could become president. It’s a good thing Obama didn’t find it unbelievable.
"𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢."
And I'll remind you that the Dems won hugely when Howard Dean and his 50-state strategy was in place.
You can't win if you don't run candidates for office!
Our over-optimism in manifesting nonassholeism is the most frustrating. To woefully oversimplify: WJClinton's triangulation strategies left us thinking social progress was really all we need/the best we could hope for. We abandoned the field on so much in the following 20 years - bankruptcy reform, deregulation, workers' rights. antitrust, patching holes in the social-floor... SCOTUS... But we got some solid social wins.
Those gains have left us with exposed flanks - cancel culture complaints are guerilla warfare, and we leap to engage every skirmish, because it's the only thing we think we can defend. Meanwhile the holes we didn't patch get bigger. "If we can just make a couple moonshots, we can get out of this mess!" Ok...
Noted: But I do think that the abortion issue and having really good candidates to run against Rick Scott and Ted Cruz actually do put Florida and Texas potentially at play (at least the Senate races) this year...
Believe things will get better. Work to make it so.
But realize it’s going to go in small steps and sometimes include a step (or several) backward.
That universal arc IS long, but it does bend.
I guess, especially where Trump is concerned, I’m the opposite liberal. I forecasted Trump’s win in 2016; a dark day in history. And I’m vocal that despite - dangerously - trashing every gag order, and despite Trump’s obvious illegal actions, he’ll never spend a day in jail. So I take the pessimistic side.
In addition, though we’ve had Democrats in office since Reagan, none were “Star Trek” liberals, at least economically. Obama made some progress on health care. Biden, who actually is more middle-of-the-road, has been the best at it, getting unions going and money into the pockets of poorer people. But Clinton was conservative, with NAFTA and workfare among other things. And no Democrat has repealed or replaced the devastating tax cuts for the wealthy that have moved 50 trillion (a number too big for most to comprehend) dollars upwards to the wealthy. Democrats softly push a “woke” agenda but no revolutionary change.
I’m more pessimistic than most, I guess.