STOP Using The Term "Electability"

[kpete]

Our subject today is a word.

It seems to be the word of the moment, at least on the political left. One can hardly read an opinion page or watch cable news without confronting this tiresome term, this irksome idiom.

For the love of heaven, people, please stop saying “electability.”

Note, please, that the last president was a black man with the unlikely name of Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., who came to office with just a few years of senatorial experience. His successor was a TV reality show host with no government experience whatsoever and a history of racist, misogynistic and incompetent behavior.

Neither was electable by any traditional measure. Both were elected, nevertheless. So what does “electability” mean?

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article235087672.html

[pwb]

1. Opinions are like you know what?

.

[gulliver]

2. Its meaning is clear and it is a crucial word.

Last edited Sun Sep 15, 2019, 02:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Trying to shame people into not using it is not only illogical and misguided. It is arrogant and tendentious.

[Thekaspervote]

3. Yes it is. Using RW talking points to their own means

[ConnorMarc]

7. You said a lot w/o really saying anything.

Amazin'!

[dalton99a]

4. Let the candidates decide, and let the voters decide.

[empedocles]

5. Electiability is a crucial conecept

The 2008 economic situation was a mighty force in electing Democratic President. Voters were voting against another Republican President; not for a progressive or a black candidate - as the race based teaparty forcefully demonstrated in 2010.

If the economy, etc. is bad enough, a progressive could be elected - and be hamstrung for most of their term like Obama.

[For the record I thought the Obamas were very capable, good people].

[Gothmog]

6. I personally beleive that Joe Biden is the most electable candidate that the party has available

The main thing that matters to me is defeating Donald Trump and so electability will be a consideration

[ConnorMarc]

8. It's a term the mainstream media needs

They have to position themselves as the people in the know.

Therefore, this term is a word they HAVE to use.

Unfortunately it influences too many people still.

[Jake Stern]

9. Elections are all about electibility

You may disagree with the term but I feel the concept it's a vital part of who we choose to run as our party's standard barers.

An AOC style candidate would not be electable in West Virginia

Bernie Sanders has near zero electability among African American voters

A Trumpian Republican is virtually unelectable in San Francisco

I support Biden because I believe he has the greatest electability of all the current Dem candidates.

[caraher]

10. I don't find it a useful term

It's chief function is to foreclose consideration of a candidate without stating explicitly why their candidacy should be considered viable. It shuts down meaningful discussion.

Instead of saying, "Candidate X is not electable," say instead, "Voters will likely reject Candidate X because Candidate X (fill in the blank)." What goes in the blank should be the discussion. Otherwise you're left with an insipid "Is not/Is too" discourse.

I'll never forget canvassing for Jesse Jackson in 1988 and chatting with a working class white guy who said, "I like Jesse but he's not, you know, 'electable.'" The body language and changes in tone made if pretty clear that "electable" in that particular context meant "white" (and not, say, too out-of-step on the issues). Letting the discussion begin and end with "electability" lets us evade harder conversations about what lies beneath these judgments.

[Joe941]

11. Ug this is revisionist history. tRump wasn't elected.

There was rampant fraud with russiA. I am so of people ignoring that fact and acting like tRump is a legitimate president.

[GoCubsGo]

12. Thank you!!!! I'm also sick of the "can't elect a woman" meme, too.

The last woman who ran got nearly 4 million more votes than her opponent, and only lost the Electoral College because of an treasonous, unprecedented ratfucking. She lost those 3 states by 80, 000 votes TOTAL.

The most votes ever received by one candidate in a presidential election went to a black man with a funny name, and the second-most went to a woman. The "electability" narrative, and the "can't elect a woman" narrative are bullshit being pushed by many of the same people who said those two could never get elected. Time to stop listening to them. Way past time, actually.

[brooklynite]

13. No..Some candidates are electable...one is not