Let's Try Not Being Absolute Cowards For a Change

A new group of consultants wants Democrats to sell out the most vulnerable in service of a faulty strategy.

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I have a very simple theory of politics: you gotta give people something to vote for. This is not a particularly nuanced or new take, nor is it one that is meant to be a complete cure-all for all electoral woes. But it makes sense to me, and it holds up in what we’ve seen, time and time again, for the past 20 years or so.

What I mean by “something to vote for,” usually, is one Big Idea. You get one concept to sell to people, which must always be centered around one thing: that their lives will improve if they check your box. In 2008, Barack Obama did this better than any politician had in years. The country was bogged down in costly and gruesome wars and the economy was in the shitter. Everywhere we looked, it seemed as though the answer was “no.” Obama’s slogan was “Yes we can.” (It was also “Change we can believe in,” but “Yes we can” is a lot better.)

People went to the polls and voted for Obama because they thought he would make their life better. His big-picture message did not depend on marketing himself to specific demographics of people while leaving others behind (behind the scenes, of course, his consultants were consulting as hard as possible). Broadly, he came in with an idea and showed everyone who heard it how they could get involved. Yes we can.

Donald Trump did this as well, of course. He showed up in 2016 and said variations of “I will fix your problems.” He told everyone that they were going to Make American Great Again. While not as elegant or evocative as Obama’s slogan, it worked. In 2020 Joe Biden, essentially, did the same thing: he told voters that the pain they’d suffered in the Trump presidency would end, and that things would be better. In 2024, it was Trump’s turn again.