Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
No, they just need to run someone who isn't hated.
Hilary Clinton didn't lose because she's a moderate. She lost because she's Hilary Clinton (and because she didn't campaign in what she foolishly regarded as safe states).
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Why did Kerry and Gore lose, Cliff? Why did Obama pip Hillary and all of the "establishment" candidates for the 2008 election by running on single-payer health care? Obama obviously shifted towards the center once he was in office, but he was the progressive darling in 2008.
The problem for centrist Democrats (as you've noted before) is that they've largely abandoned their economic policy positions that tied them to unions and blue-collar workers to focus more on progressive social policies. They've essentially embraced Reagan-era Republican economics and combined it with 2020 "woke" culture. It's a losing combination because the social policies drive up Republican turnout, but the neoliberal economic policies depress the minority and young progressive votes, and do nothing to solve the issues facing unions and blue-collar workers who may be more on the fence about the social issues.
They've gone all-in on the assumption that their millenials and gen Z voters care more about "identity politics" than they do climate change, wealth disparity, health care, education, etc., and they're completely wrong.