Matthew Yglesias takes on Carville's slamming "Faculty Lounge Politics" in a way that I think helps re-focus the problem of left of center politics right now. Yglesias says it's not about faculty lounges (which...of course it's not) but rather what he calls the "BA Bubble." Basically most people staffing offices and writing about politics are young and college educated and most Americans are neither.
He's talking about a form of epistemological closure on the Left. While he doesn't mention "Defund the Police," that's a great example of a complicated policy proposal that may or may not have some merit that gets swallowed up by a bad slogan designed to appeal to the activist base - which is younger and more educated than the average voter.
Broadly speaking, a lot of Democratic policies are popular. If those ideas are communicated in a resonant way - which Biden seems pretty good at doing - then you build your coalition. If they are wrapped in language that falls flat, you lose voters. A "path to citizenship" is reasonably popular. "Open borders" is most definitely not.
If you want to talk about racism outside the walls of academia, you have to change your language. You have to talk about bigotry and prejudice and how the opposite of that are American ideals of decency, kindness, charitability and freedom. Talking about "privilege" and "systems of oppression" is not going to reach the very people you need to reach.
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