The Rude Pundit: Democrats Should Go on the Offensive By Celebrating Accomplishments

[babylonsister]

https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2022/04/democrats-should-go-on-offensive-by.html


The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
4/08/2022
Democrats Should Go on the Offensive By Celebrating Accomplishments


snip//

I mean, everything's not even in the neighborhood of perfect, but, c'mon, look at this:

1. I've said this before, but it deserves repeating: The 2020 election was a miracle, one that should give us national pride. In the midst of a global pandemic, at a point when cases were surging, despite all kinds of obstacles, the 2020 election went amazingly smoothly for the vast majority of Americans (that is, the ones who weren't forced to spend hours in line because of state incompetence or hostility to voting). By Donald Trump's own Department of Homeland Security's assessment, it was "the most secure in American history," with more people voting and no increase in the rejection of ballots despite the surge in mail-in voting.

2. The United States played a big role in getting a vaccine against Covid-19 done in record time, which is the only reason we can even pretend that the pandemic is over (which it definitely is not). And I'm not just talking about the creation of the vaccine. The rollout of the vaccination program has been astonishing, with 563 million shots given in the United States in about 15 months, 11.3 billion shots around the world. Even acknowledging the need to do more in Africa and elsewhere and the intransigence of anti-vaxxers, that's a stunning pace.

3. And after the American economy was wrecked by Covid, the unemployment rate is now down to 3.6%, with wages rising more quickly than they had been. There are always caveats: wages should be higher, and inflation due to mostly worldwide factors makes those wage gains worth less. But people are working, and they are getting hired at rates we simply haven't seen in decades. We've gotten back 93% of the jobs lost in the pandemic shutdown. That's an incredible turnaround.

All three of these accomplishments are objectively positive. They are inarguably good. There is simply no way to argue that a well-run election, a vaccine to stop a virus, and more jobs are bad. Sure, if you're a terrible person, you can say that higher wages affect corporate bottom lines, but for most of us, it's awesome and meaningful. If you spin these as bad, you are actually degrading accomplishments that cross party lines. The federal election was run by a Republican administration, and most of the state elections were also run by Republicans. The vaccine was developed with support from a Republican administration.

snip//

The only way Republicans and their allied media could tear these things down is to outright lie about them. Despite what Republicans say, there wasn't widespread voter or election fraud or misconduct. The vaccine prevents hospitalization and death and isn't experimental. And the economy is doing great and isn't remotely a communist nightmare. And the lies worked. They made a large portion of the United States hate these accomplishments by creating a narrative about insidious incompetence, putting Democrats on the defensive, attempting to respond to the GOP narrative, which drowned out the successes.

snip//

If I were advising Democrats, I'd tell them to keep hitting on those three things up there. I'd tell them to pose a simple question to Republicans: Why don't you want to celebrate these accomplishments? Why don't you like seeing your country succeed? That's the message for Democrats: Despite what the right tells you, you can feel good. You've been through enough despair. You don't need to feel terrible all the time. We know it's been rough, and for many of you it's still rough. But we can still do great things. We can still do them, and it's okay to feel okay.

[MyOwnPeace]

1. And if they continue to lie and attack........

simply ask, "OK, what would YOU do?"

Trust me - they will have NO answer.

They have NO plan, vision, or ideas - ONLY attack and preserve tax breaks and their own offices.

YES, the 2020 election WAS a miracle - one that needs to be continued so that the 'plan' brought by Joe can continue!

[moose65]

2. Agreed

Democrats tend to give voters too much credit - we think they’re going to remember all the bad things Republicans do and all the good things Dems do (or try to do). Sadly that’s not really how it works.

Democratic messaging needs to repeatedly stress all the accomplishments of this administration. Trump repeatedly took credit for low unemployment, even though he had nothing to do with it. Democrats need to do the same, and also stress the strong job growth and the infrastructure spending that will help every state.

Sometimes Democrats seem afraid to tout their own accomplishments.