Democrats Rediscover Populism
(and Not a Moment too Soon) As Republicans took a radical turn, Democrats learned to talk to normal people again. At about 9:30 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, November 8th, practically every political writer in America began collectively shredding their prewritten election analysis. With few exceptions, national political journalists, including this article’s author, had already sorted out their takes on why Democrats had fallen short. They were too beholden to the progressive left, perhaps, to recognize how worried voters were about crime. Or too wrapped up
with high-minded talk about saving democracy to connect with voters struggling to make ends meet. Maybe Democrats were victims of circumstance, destined to be caught holding the bag as the COVID-19 crisis snowballed into a global economic slump. Conversely, might the problem really have been that they had failed to seize their window of opportunity to make the transformative change this political moment required? (As you might imagine, I fell into the latter camp.)
BY AUSTIN AHLMAN 12 PROSPECT.ORG DECEMBER 2022