Oblige My Feels

I've read a few Twitter feeds jumping on Pete Butigieg for criticising Clinton's 2016 campaign for not taking seriously enough the economic hardships of the Rust Belt.  This has generally been distilled into the "who should Democrats be talking to" argument.  The Extremely Online and more ideological crowd tend to believe that any accommodation of the center is stupid, pointless and dilutes the message. 

This strikes me as missing the point of elections.  Given how unpopular Trump is, just about any candidate for the Democrats can probably find their way to 270 electoral votes.  I find it hard to believe that Trump carries Pennsylvania, Wisconsin or Michigan again.  But winning those states means pointing out how rough things have gotten in the Rust Belt, which is something Clinton really COULDN'T do, running - as she was - for Obama's third term.  Now, Democrats have the latitude to attack the status quo for many working class whites.

Appealing to working class whites is problematic for many constituencies within the Democratic coalition, because quite a few of them are racist, sexist and homophobic.  Many of the are indeed Deplorable and unreachable.  I don't think anyone is suggesting there is a way to win the vote of the 67 year old white guy who's aggrieved that he can't use the N-word or slap women on the butt anymore.  But there are lots of people out there who you could appeal to.

One group, in particular, are suburban GOP-leaning women.  They helped drive the Blue Wave of 2018, as they switched parties and helped deliver the House.  It is structurally imperative to turn them from Trump Protest voters into Democrats.  They already likely agree with Democrats on many of the social issues, including guns, climate change and LGBT rights.  They need to be brought along on economic issues. Similarly, some working class whites are likely already there on economic issues and need to be brought along on social issues.

Whomever wins the 2020 nomination needs to be able to create an electoral coalition that represents close to 55-58% of the country.  That wins back control of the Senate, helps control redistricting at the state level and possibly helps facilitate a truly bold liberal platform.  That will require not preaching to the choir, but the skeptics in the back pews.  And I'm not talking about Bill Clinton's triangulation.  I'm talking about the sort of political campaign Obama ran.  Right now, the main contenders for his style of candidate seem to be Harris, Buttigieg, O'Rourke and Booker.