I don't care who the candidate is, it is a mistake

[dsc]

to promise that he or she will bring unity. It give the GOP a veto over his or her promise. The GOP has demonstrated, loudly, longly, and clearly that it has zero interest in unity. If a Democrat wins they will not cooperate no matter who they are or what they attempt to do. We need to understand this and not make promises that we literally can't keep. Promise to keep our side of the street clean. Promise to meet with GOP legislators, promise to listen to them, but do not, under any circumstances promise that unity will happen. It won't, and we will be blamed.

[Kurt V.]

1. K&R

[DownriverDem]

23. Focus

on who will win the Electoral College.

[samplegirl]

2. I really think Elizabeth Warren

should be higher in the polls. She’s been a great voice for the party and feel she’s got more experience!

[watoos]

4. Her policies probably align with mine,

more so than any of our candidates. That's the good news, the bad news is that I don't give a crap about policies in the primary. Warren could be a David to slay Goliath, it could happen. I believe that in today's world we need a Goliath to slay Goliath, then we can work on policy.

[Adrahil]

7. That's well said. NT

[watoos]

17. By the bye, Kamala is one of my Goliaths.

[spinbaby]

6. She hasn't been getting coverage

I think male candidates are getting more coverage just for being charming than females are getting for talking about issues.

[maxsolomon]

22. what do you base that on?

Jay Inslee's charm?

Or just that O'Rourke rolled out his campaign last week so he got press for that?

[Adrahil]

9. She has not impressed me on the stump so far.

I don't think she's the one. But it's early days.

[LibDemAlways]

16. Expect to hear a lot of Beto and Biden.

The mainstream media is pretty much ignoring everybody else.

I want a candidate who will rip Trump to shreds, who isn't afraid to invoke the name of Stormy Daniels to his face, who will bring up Trump University, stiffing contractors, making nice with dictators, signing a tax bill that favors the 1%, inciting violence with his rhetoric, and on and on.

We'll never pry away the ignorant Trump cultists, but we have a great opportunity to reach out to independents by relentlessly pointing out who and what Trump is and making him own it.

Trump will say or do anything to retain the loyalty of his cult. It's up to the Democratic nominee to assure that his support starts and ends with the MAGATS. We need to nominate someone up to the task. I'm currently leaning Warren, but I'd vote for anyone passionate about ridding us of the cancer bent on destroying this country.

[watoos]

3. It's never a mistake to bring a positive message.

Speaker Pelosi has made similar statements. How can Trump or his cult attack a message of unity?

Seeking unity doesn't mean that we expect the Freedumb caucus to change its ways, doesn't mean that we expect Mitch McConnell to change his ways, it's merely a positive message to run on, no harm no foul.

With that said, I only have one criteria when deciding who to vote for, he/she needs to be as tough as nails.

[Autumn]

8. Positive messages are good. But on health care when you say you are open to a better way and

including "especially the Republicans" vision of how to get heath care I think that goes beyond a positive message.

[BobMcWan]

5. Amen.

I don't bother to listen when a Democrat starts talking about working across the aisle. Yes, beautiful and fun fantasy to indulge in...I like to buy the occasional lottery ticket myself ..just to daydream about the things I would do if I won. I reckon the odds of finding more than one or two sane Republicans on any given issue as worse than my odds of winning the Powerball.
Elect Democrats, get legislation that benefits working people moving and call out the Republicans who stand in the way so we can elect MORE Democrats. Brute political force..no apologies.

[marylandblue]

10. If we don't take back the Senate, we will need to work across the aisle.

But cooperation is not necessarily of singing Kumbaya. Sometimes you have to give the other side "an offer they can't refuse." This is usually done in secret meetings and palace intrigue. We may never hear the details, but I want a President who can get his hands dirty for a good cause.

[ehrnst]

32. You mean like this?

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders extended an olive branch Thursday to President-elect Donald Trump, offering to work with the incoming Republican administration on infrastructure and trade policy.

“I don’t think it makes sense to say, ‘No, we’re not gonna work in any way in any form with the Trump administration,’” Sanders told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Trump has talked appropriately about a collapsing infrastructure: our roads, bridges and water systems. If he is prepared to work with us on rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure and creating millions of jobs and doing it in a way that doesn’t privatize our infrastructure or give tax breaks to billionaires, yes, let’s work together.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/bernie-sanders-can-work-with-trump-233532

[BadgerMom]

11. Deliver a super majority

It happened in 2008. It would be tremendous to do it again.

[Demsrule86]

13. Things have deteriorated since then. We had an economic meltdown in 2008 as well

as a very unpopular president in office. Look at the senate. We won't take a supermajority in 20. The Senate shows we need to win in red and purple states and probably choose a center left candidate for our nominee. If we don't get the senate...no judges. Now unless we end the filibuster, there will be no policy gains even if we win the White house and keep the House. I wish we could work across the aisle and get some of the things we want.

[unblock]

12. agreed. any comments about unity should be qualified under the "it takes two" principle.

[pdsimdars]

14. Couldn't agree more. . . you can't reason with the unreasonable. Just do what is right!

[defacto7]

15. I'm afraid you are correct. I don't like it but it's true.

They are determined to destroy us at any cost. Our only recourse is to destroy them both politically and ideologically. It's unfortunate but it's by their own actions that it's our only choice. You can't appease a tyranny, you can't fight a lion with cookies. It's a war that they started and they are in it to the death. We had better prepare and dig in.

[The Liberal Lion]

18. Yes I agree

We can not reach across the aisle when across the aisle is tyranny. Compromise with evil is still evil, and the middle ground with ignorance and intolerance is still unacceptable. If it's unity they want it shall have to be them who relent.

[Awsi Dooger]

19. Unity can't happen but you have to say it

Swing independent voters will decide the election, and they are incredibly apolitical. That's how they can somehow favor Trump in 2016 then turn against him very early in 2017, while eligible to go back to him.

That type is two decades behind the times and doesn't understand Fox News has created a nation in which its viewers will accept nothing but lies. Chuck Todd has to ask the anachronistic questions to Beto and others. If any of our candidates doesn't handle that question as calmly and skillfully as Beto did, they risk immediately turning off those apolitical swing types by claiming all is lost and blaming Republicans for it.

[AdamGG]

20. It's like Obama labeling himself as post-partisan

Then the right is even more motivated to block everything he does, so they can say, "haha he's not post-partisan".

[LiberalLovinLug]

27. Yup. Obama held on desparately to that meme till the bitter end.

You could even say till the bitter bitter end when he decided not to go out on a limb, or rather put the Democratic party there, calling for a national emergency on the election interference in 2015 with or without Mitch's crossed finger promises about using it against them. I get that it was a risk to the nominee, but why? It didn't have to be if they framed it as an actual threat to the country, and got intelligence agencies to vocally back them up.

But it was maddening to watch him in his second term. I get that any decent President would at least attempt to keep putting his hand out no matter that it was slapped away each time, in his first term. But winning the second term, while losing the House and Senate, should not have meant to tamper down, but to ramp up. The second term should have been all about showing America that Democrats do have a spine, and principles, and that we could also go on the offensive rather than perpetually on the defense. Always on air defending every made up GOP smear, while the GOP were laughing and brain storming about the next fake news they were going to release, knowing how the MSM would always always take them at face value no matter how many times they were proven liars.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. People want hope.

[dsc]

24. people need honesty

We have infantalized the electorate to such a degree that they are no longer rational. They need to be told. you can have policies x,y and z but only if you elected Democrats. You can have a working government, but only if you elect Democrats. Only one party right now behaves in anything like a rational matter. Telling voters they can have divided government and have any kind of progress is just plain wrong. It is morally wrong, and as a practical matter it leads to what the electorate has been doing.

[pecosbob]

25. A Harry Truman-esque approach to the campaign is what is called for

it means that you simply rephrase GOP talking points when spewed forth by pundits...take Maddow as an great example. Question everything, concede nothing. Talk turkey, no politician-speak...Warren does this very well.

[Autumn]

26. F***ing Republicans deserve the same unity they gave us.

[Ferrets are Cool]

28. You can't make someone "unify" when they couldn't care less

about "unity". Go back and learn some history. Republicans LOVE discord, factionalism, dissension, and any other word that is the opposite of unity, WHEN and ONLY WHEN it involves helping the average American. They are all UNIFIED when it comes to helping their own pocketbooks and their rich donors.

[avebury]

29. You cannot have unity with the GOP as they have become

the Fascist Party of the 21st Century and don't give a rat's a** about the majority of Americans.

Democrats need to be about obtaining unification of everyone else for the purpose of taking back this country and standing for the majority. Putting children in cages is just like what the Nazi's did. Charlottesville is right out of the Nazi playbook. Mass murders are being committed by White Nationalists/Supremacists.

Why hasn't White Nationalists/Supremacists being labeled a terrorist group?

There is a reason why Pompeo is scared of the International Criminal Courts exploring crimes committed by American soldiers. Could he be envisioning the day when a 21st Century version of the Nuremberg Trials takes place with the US in the Defendant's chair?

[Squinch]

30. Maybe the promise should be the candidate will bring

unity among thinking, rational people.

[Blue_true]

31. Agree. Our nominee should have policy proposals the WE approve of.

If that means fighting republicans politically, so be it.

[Mr Tibbs]

33. Hence the need for a mass movement

Over the next ten years our political system will evolve into young vs old. The young will win in the end.

http://time.com/5414551/senior-citizen-voter-registration-ad/