"Are cranky Democrats an electoral risk?": https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/553530-are-cranky-democrats-an-electoral-risk Are cranky Democrats an electoral risk? BY JESSICA TARLOV, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 05/18/21 09:30 AM EDT No one has ever mistaken me for a Bill Maher fan. His standup never really appealed, and I was one of those snowflakes who was deeply offended by his use of the N-word in 2017 and sided with Ben Affleck that Maher’s comments about Islam were more Islamophobic than “classical liberal.” But now, even though my memory isn’t short — I do know how to hold a grudge — this season of “Real Time with Bill Maher” hits all the right notes for me. I’ve been loving it. From having the scientists behind the “Dark Horse” podcast on to discuss the origins of COVID-19 and the vaccine, to Democratic wunderkind David Shor who managed to survive his “cancellation” by the woke mob, to tough talk by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) on the future of the Democratic Party and how it must include white people like him, Maher and those who book his guests are totally speaking my language: irreverent, researched, controversial and, most of all, thought-provoking. A recent episode featured American linguist and Columbia professor John McWhorter and his perspective on what he calls “Black fragility,” the problem with “mean woke” people, and the importance of challenging the orthodoxy that Black Americans operate as some kind of monolith instead of the diverse and varied group they are. I’d recommend that you watch the entire 15-minute interview, but what particularly resonated with me is a new term McWhorter and Maher used to describe themselves: “cranky liberals,” or “cranky Democrats.” They’re not disaffected, they’re not disengaged, they’re just really cranky. Liberalism has changed dramatically over the past few years, and the impact of these changes can be felt across a broad spectrum of issues that are turning a lot of happy Democrats into cranky ones. For me, there are a few issues that stand out to cause crankiness. First and foremost, is the so-called movement to “defund the police.” Since this slogan burst onto the scene following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, it’s been a complete disaster. Politicians have contorted themselves into unattractive knots trying to explain what it actually means — because no one in their right mind thinks that we should actually defund police departments. Progressive stalwart Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) acknowledged that it isn’t the term she would use, and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) made no bones about it: “Defund the police” cost Democrats seats in November and hurt the Black Lives Matter movement. There’s no reason to be talking about defunding police when only 18 percent of Americans support the concept overall — including just 28 percent of Black Americans and 34 percent of Democrats. What has been central to President Biden’s success is that he does popular things. That’s how you get elected and keep your approval rating above 50 percent. As crime continues to soar in major cities, it is now a top issue in the New York City mayoral race, and I cringe every time I hear that terrible slogan. Second, so-called “cancel culture” is becoming something more than right-wing complaining. According to recent polling, over 60 percent of Americans see the cancel culture as a threat, including a growing number of Democrats. Just a few years ago, who even knew what cancel culture was? Today, nearly everybody does and 48 percent of Democrats say they see it as a problem, compared to 52 percent who don’t. That’s way too slim of a margin to ignore. And I can understand why it’s becoming more and more of a hot-button issue. We have European publishers who have been fired as translators of Amanda Gorman’s poetry because the translator wasn’t a Black woman, even though Gorman picked the white Dutch translator herself. We have seen employees at Smith College get called racists for following school protocols and asking a Black student to leave an area that was off limits to everyone. And one of the most egregious examples is that of Mimi Groves, a white teenager who used a racial slur in a Snapchat video when she was 15, apologized and still had her college admission revoked after a fellow student decided to make her past actions a current problem. These kinds of reactions and cancellations make a lot of solid liberals cranky — and they worry us. Ronnie Shows, a former Democratic congressman from Mississippi, got it right when he recently wrote, “This means Democrats must reject the notion of ‘cancel culture.’ After four years of abuse from the Trump administration, some Democrats think now is the time to exact revenge on conservatives. We must reject those urges.” Third, what’s making me a cranky Democrat is the new anti-racism curriculum popping up in both public and private schools. I am strongly in favor of curriculum revisions to address this deep issue, but not to the exclusion of historically important curriculum that is getting the heave ho. Anti-racism teachings and world history must coexist and complement each other. From refusing to talk to students about Christopher Columbus and why we celebrate Veterans Day, according to one public school teacher I met, to the drama playing out over race at my alma mater, the Dalton School in Manhattan, even the most liberal parents are wondering if it’s time to pull their kids. Virginia’s Fairfax County is about to pay nearly $300,000 for an equity consultant, and in the private Brearley School families must sign an “anti-racism pledge” to be considered for admission. Many parents feel their children are too young for such complex conversations that schools are pushing, and I can’t say I disagree. This is about liberal pushback, not conservative opposition. It’s about parents who share the same progressive values as these schools who feel like things are going too far. All this makes me wonder if we are running a real risk of turning “cranky Democrats” into disenchanted Democrats. With former President Trump out of the picture as the animating force, I worry that we will we start to see more results like the 2020 House outcome, where the GOP picked up seats across the map and sent more women and people of color to Washington than ever before, or the recent primary in Texas’s 6th District, where a popular Democrat failed to even make the run-off. That’s certainly my fear. And it’s something that worries Maher and McWhorter, too. We want enthusiastic Democrats, not cranky ones. Jessica Tarlov is head of research at Bustle Digital Group and a Fox News contributor. She earned her Ph.D. at the London School of Economics in political science. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaTarlov.
This is a good take and one that people need to pay attention to. Abigail Spanberger, Conor Lamb and more are canaries in the coal mine telling the DNC that the left-leaning edge of the party is causing cracks in the coalition. Tester, Manchin, Sinema, etc. are Democrats who know how to appeal to more moderate voters because of their stance on issues like economics, healthcare and trade. Those are bread and butter issues that the AOCs of the world ignore at the expense of culture war issues. As a Democratic voter, I frankly don't care what plays well in New York or California. Those are four safe Senate seats. What matters are the 46 others and the electoral college.
AOC definitely cares more about economic disparity issues than people like Manchin and Senima. Bad take. Because ******** down efforts to raise the minimum wage by Manchin repeating a state that has some of the lowest median wages in the nation and in the developed world is definitely Manchin representing interests of his people rather than the interests of special interests and his own stake in private businesses like hospitality he has part ownership of that employs a lot of min wage staff. Mainstream Democrats will use culture wars rhetoric especially in things like guns and making sure there is the right amount of colored people in Biden's cabinet to deflect from sincere economic reform.
Oh I didn't mean to imply she doesn't care. But she is the conservative punching bag du jour and her vocal support for movements like Defund the Police hurts candidates in other states. I do feel for her because it's damned if she does, damned if she doesn't and she is exactly the type of real person - former bartender - that we need in Congress for a truly representative body. But the loudest voices in the room do a disservice to candidates around the country by focusing on truly unpopular issues like defund the police, BDS, etc. I don't like a lot of Manchin's positions and think he is naive regarding the filibuster. But we're only in a position to pass the American Rescue Plan and, perhaps, some meaningful infrastructure because Manchin knows how to win West Virginia. Without his seat it'd be Majority Leader McConnell again and absolutely nothing would be getting done. I certainly wish that some of the candidates in Maine, North Carolina, Iowa, etc. had been able to pull off wins (and not run godawful campaigns) so that Manchin wasn't one of the most powerful people in the country, but I'm grateful that he knows how to win in his state.
I don't know what about Manchin is appealing to the common West Virginian. He isn't self made and was born into capital and inherited businesses and is why he is moderately wealthy today. He knows how to win V because he's the incumbent with massive resources of campaign contributions from the largest businesses in WV and the nation in general relative to anyone who would primary him. A populist could win WV with the proper resources that establishment candidates get from wall street and large corporations especially with coal jobs becoming more sparse and wages being so low for the average West Virginian.
All I know is that every single day I wake up happy knowing Trump isn't leading our country. Only so much crazy a person can take, unless they are already so crazy they believed his lies.
You know I was just thinking the other day that if AOC was an old white guy, and FoxNews didn’t tell white conservatives that she’s the devil... she’d be basically Sharrod Brown who consistently wins a Senate seat in now a deeply red state. Much of this “who is extreme liberal vs moderate” only comes down to who FoxNews and the billionaires that fund Facebook ads want to spend their money and time vilifying. Yes there are some cases like Rashida Thalib where she sometimes says far left policy positions that have no chance in hell of reaching the floor, but my sense is that it’s because she was an activist just a couple years ago and it’s muscle memory to provocate, but with AOC if you didn’t know she was AOC you’d really just see someone who is deeply principled and might not always have the most easily achieved goals, but damnit is she passionate about it. ... Now when’s the last time any Republican spoke about any policy issue with the passion that AOC does where it was actually about policy and not bomb throwing political theatre?? Thats basically the two extremes of the two parties now... which tells you how far gone the Republican Party is now. You don’t even have Rand Paul ranting about the deficit anyone. Instead he’s picking fights with Dr. Fauci and pushing conspiracy theories.
That's not really a good take, there are a ton of red herrings in there and sounds like a Republican writing under the guise of a "democrat". When is the last time you heard anybody talking about Defund the police? That ship has sailed. Now I agree the cancel culture is a thing that has gone overboard but that is not a solely Democratic issue and I don't see how it can be tied to the Democratic party especially in a election. mcwhorter is a joke and is a person that writes stuff to appeal to the Trump voter and hides behind a veil of being highly educated. I am against all of the cancel culture and purity test but I don't consider AOC to be that bad and I am very happy that progressives have actually seemed to be trying to work from the inside instead of just trashing any and everything because it's not exactly what they want. I think Democrats need to stay cranky, when democrats get content 2010 happens and we are still paying the price on the state and federal level. I understand your sentiment and agree on the premise but I don't think this article was good or genuine.
I don't pretend to know anything about West Virginia politics other than that the Democratic party has been on a steady decline there and Manchin keeps winning. Any cursory review of my posting history on this subforum will show I'm the furthest thing from a "Republican writing under the guide of a 'Democrat'." I wish I felt differently, but I'm not really sure that the national electoral record of the progressive wing of the party is admirable. I'm happy that more progressive candidates are winning in big cities, but we need an effective messaging strategy that allows members from more moderate locations to run separately from the more liberal members. I say all of this as someone who "voted my conscience" for Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 primary! [QUOTE="jiggyflyI think Democrats need to stay cranky, when democrats get content 2010 happens and we are still paying the price on the state and federal level. I understand your sentiment and agree on the premise but I don't think this article was good or genuine.[/QUOTE] Completely agree; I think that crankiness just needs to be nuanced and tailored to candidates' respective markets.
The moment a butterfly gets its wings, thinks it got them entirely through its own merit and decides that no other butterflies should have wings at all.
While the rest of the world is facing covid surge, the US is seeing the opposite. Biden is also seeing a 60% approval. If covid and economy continues to improve… but traditionally the other party win in the mid term… but … tradition should probably be thrown out we are still in an era of untruth as truth and a coordinated national effort by the Republican to steal elections … which also mean the Dem are not going to sit home in the mid term overall, we are still in chaotic political environment and prediction is probably crap so just sit back and wait personally, all of this win or lose isn’t that important… what’s more important is do we still have a government that is by the people and is fair … the slope of that has been negative and though the Dem put up a good fight recently, I think they are losing the overall war … may luck be with us American and those that do not see the dangers of this generation of power hungry anti-democratic lawmakers
A moron on twitter. There is a great acount called Brooklyn Dad posting his Ls Online (@DefiantLs) that is worth a follow though.
