I'll wade my way in here at the top level comment. My two cents is the blame isn't intended to be on you or you collectively (as you and peers like you). I see it as aimed at Democratic strategists. You mentioned Scott Walker in another comment. The Democratic Party put up a bland candidate against him twice. Is it your fault there wasn't someone better? Certainly not. Was it mine? As a Wisconsin resident, maybe more blame falls my way, but there isn't much I can do, either. I see the blame falling on the party leadership. At my company we have contingency plans and career development plans. If my manager retires or takes a different position, we know how to fill that gap. If I (as a more senior employee) leave the company, there are plans in place to ensure key work still gets done. Where is that in the DNC? Who is looking in state houses for the next Congressperson? Who is looking in the House for the next Senator? Is anyone grooming people for the next Governor rnlr race? It seems like the answer is "nobody." And I think that's the coastal elite criticism. The party has an intent but no plan.As a mutherfucking "coastal elite" I'm about DONE being hectored and blamed and pilloried and lambasted and criticized and concern-trolled and otherwise dragged through the mud because of the way OTHER PEOPLE voted.
Come on in. The water's scalding. Yes. These mysterious, Machiavellian, Bilderberg "strategists." Who are they, exactly? What is their power? Is it Debbie Wasserman Schultz? Chair of the DNC from 2011 until the Bernie Bros got pissed? Donna Brazile? She who leaked that maybe somebody from Flint might ask about water at the debates? Terry McCauliffe, who sank Howard Dean? I mean, they're shady: But where was this shadowy cabal when Gavin "shots fired" Newsom decided that it was time for gay marriage to be legal 11 years before the country finally got around to it? Did they somehow think Cruz Bustamante was a better bet than Gray Davis? You think those fuckers saw Obama coming? Here's what I know. I was talking to my respresentative about a massive solar energy initiative fifteen fucking years ago. He's governor now. That shit died in committee again and again and again and again and again. What moved forward? The "stop harassing my grandma during dinner" act. The "stop waking up my dog with Viagra commercials" act. And, of course, the "keep a husband in Florida from saying goodbye to his braindead wife" act. Lemme say something. I've been voting since '92. I cannot remember a time when politics of any kind hasn't been a variation on "what can we squeak past those benighted hicks in the flyover states." That's eight years of Clinton, eight years of Bush, and eight years of Obama during which some jackass from a place I don't want to visit was constantly and endlessly doing something to fuck up my life. Fucking up yours worse? Sure. Condolences. But Washington and Oregon haven't gone Republican since Reagan. California hasn't gone Republican since Bush 1. I helped design this thing. Flew out there in 2006. Got to ride from the airport an hour and a half in a cab. Democrats had the House. Democrats had the Senate. And the driver knew I flew in from Seattle, and I had a ponytail down to the small of my back. He still spent 90 minutes railing against liberals, hippies and coastal elites... and then expected a tip. Then I get to the fucking store and discover that we're in a fight because one of my programmers accidentally slipped some Dixie Chicks into their mix and we were now officially one fuckup from fired. Whose fault is it? Someone else's clearly. "The strategists." "The coastal elites." "Those bubble-dwelling millennials." It certainly isn't the fact that the middle of the country values hating everyone else above their own self-interest. Somewhere there's an HL Mencken quote about how most people are perfectly satisfied to have everyone else was doing worse if they can't do better. But in looking for it, I found this: - Ezra Pound We mostly got our shit together out here where the oceans hit. Come join us. Or, you know, drag yourselves into the 21st century. Because for the 24 years of my political activity it's always been someone else's problem... and it's a problem that keeps getting worse.I'll wade my way in here at the top level comment.
My two cents is the blame isn't intended to be on you or you collectively (as you and peers like you). I see it as aimed at Democratic strategists.
He was right. The war had begun. Verbal bombs dropped-with one target in sight: the future of the Democratic Party. Dean was out for DNC blood, and Gore gladly went along for the ride. “Howard Dean was assassinated in broad daylight. Unlike Kennedy’s ‘grassy knoll,’ Dean’s killers are not hiding-it was the Democratic Party itself, and more specifically the Democratic Leadership Council, that successfully went after, and sabotaged his candidacy The DLC reacted with fury to [Dean] going all out to torpedo his momentum,” Naeem Mohaiemen correctly opined on Alternet.org following Dean’s presidential death. “Although Democratic nominees soon piled on the ‘bash-Dean’ bandwagon, earlier attacks were carried out by DLC operatives. There was even the smell of scandal when two top Democratic candidates were found sharing information about Dean in an attempt to slow him down.”
“A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.”
Would me moving to the coasts change anything? It would make Washington or New York a little bluer and Wisconsin a little redder. The "benighted hicks" would still be here, and they'd still be voting the same way. My life is pretty comfortable here. I have two different local coffee shops on the way to work, and there's a Starbucks when the occasion calls for it (e.g. Thanksgiving Day). The cost of living is pretty low, and if I go straight to work (and not detour for coffee) I go through one stop light and six stop signs. I'm not union, and while voted against Walker twice his actions haven't really hurt me. Realistically, I'm probably personally better off under Walker and the Republican houses. Here's what I've idly been trying to figure out since the election: if I wanted to be involved in picking the chair or party platforms or anything, how would I do that? Can I? Wikipedia says Debbie Wasswerman Schultz was picked by Obama. Is that that, or are more people involved? Are individuals? I genuinely don't know. Should I be going to one of these meetings? I'm not picturing a group of people sitting in offices rubbing their hands together and dictating how things are going to be next. That would actually be a relief. Instead I'm picturing the opposite: people not really sure what to do next, throwing something at the wall and looking around a conference room of blank faces, nobody sure if it's a good or bad idea or even how to evaluate if it's a good idea.Is it Debbie Wasserman Schultz? Chair of the DNC from 2011 until the Bernie Bros got pissed? Donna Brazile? She who leaked that maybe somebody from Flint might ask about water at the debates? Terry McCauliffe, who sank Howard Dean?
shadowy cabal
You think those fuckers saw Obama coming?
As an aside, Obama gave the Keynote at the 2004 Nominating Convention. He then spent 4 years as a Senator building a following. Of Course they say him coming.
Is that the kind of meeting you went to? I asked a couple friends how to get more involved, and they weren't really sure. This is the closest I've found that isn't phonebanking.