In times past when democrats lost special congressional elections in places like Montana and Kansas, they consoled themselves with the idea that they had won “moral victories,” the idea being that they had lost by less of a margin of error than usual. But with twin defeats in South Carolina and, especially, Georgia, that particular illusion is no longer possible. Now Democrats are scrambling to figure out why they are persistent losers, but in so doing are forming a classic circular firing squad, according to NBC News.
Better campaign tactics could have garnered us victory
The classic excuse for an election loss is to blame it on faulty campaign tactics. Jeff Weaver, Bernie Sanders’ former presidential campaign manager, for example, suggested that the Democrats erred by putting their eggs all in one Georgia basket with tens of millions of dollars expenditures when a fraction of that amount could have carried the day in Kansas and Montana.
Neera Tanden, the president of the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, was a little more caustic in her assessment. She tweeted, “One important lesson is that when they go low, going high doesn't f------- work.” In other words, Democrats, who regularly accuse their Republican opponents of wanting to kill people, are just being too darn nice.
We’re running on the wrong issues
Several Democrats were on more solid ground when they suggested that their candidates are running on the wrong issues. Some, like Sen. Chris Murphy, have suggested that the Democrats are too obsessed about Russia and Trump and not enough on issues that people care about. He said, "We need to be hyper-focused on this issue of wage growth and job growth — I think Democrats are scared of this message because it’s what Republicans have been talking about." President John F.
Kennedy used to believe in that of wisdom, which is why he pushed for a supply-side tax cut similar to the one enacted by President Ronald Reagan. It is by no means clear that Democrats understand what caused job and wage growth.
Or maybe Jon Ossoff was not liberal enough
Anna Galland, the executive director of MoveOn.org, has another theory about why Democrats keep losing.
She decried the fact that Ossoff campaigned like a centrist, proposing cutting spending and opposing universal health care. Instead, he should have gone full bore in opposition to Republican plans to repeal and replace Obamacare. Indeed, the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, the Red Guards of the Democrats, are the most incandescent in their rage over what is going on. Only by being true, blue leftists can Democrats hope to win. The proposition is dubious, to say the least, but it would be an interesting experiment to try.
