WE Are NOT the Problem
As is normal after an election, the losing party engages in a lot of introspection and asks the looming question: Where did we go wrong?
But this was by no means a “normal” election – nor is it a “normal” loss when the loser is the one with the backing of the majority of voters, and the winner has clearly demonstrated that he is not fit for office.
I think what we need to focus on is the fact that Democrats are not the problem, nor are our policies, nor is our message. The problem is gerrymandering, voter suppression, a complicit media, unverifiable vote counts – and now we have the added components of Russian interference, and James Comey clearly having used his office for partisan purposes.
In other words, while we’re busily distracted looking under the hood searching for a mechanical failure, the GOP goes about stealing the car – one hubcap, one tire, one fender, one taillight at a time.
This election wasn’t about Democrats having the “wrong message”, or having forgotten its core values, or having ignored certain portions of the populace. The Democrats have always been on the side of the working-class; we have always fought to maintain and strengthen the safety-nets that get our fellow citizens by during the worst of times. WE have always been on the side of The People.
We didn’t lose this election because we didn’t “connect” with people – we lost because many of the people we connect with weren’t allowed to vote. We didn’t lose because we had a failed strategy – we lost because the GOP, via James Comey and the Russians, had a “strategy” all their own.
We didn’t lose because our candidate had too much “scandal-ridden baggage” – we lost because the MSM never even mentioned the hundreds of scandals the Republican candidate was, and continues to be, involved in. Despite thirty years of unrelenting attacks by the GOP, Hillary’s “baggage” was two carry-on suitcases when compared to Trump’s cargo-hold full of steamer trunks bulging with lies, deceit, and outright theft.
We didn’t lose because we don’t say the right things – we lost because what we have to say is continually drowned-out by FOX-News et al. We didn’t lose because we chose the wrong candidate – we lost because their candidate was backed by a well-oiled machine that pursues the dismantling of fair elections.
We didn’t lose because our candidate failed to exemplify Christian values – we lost because so-called “Christian” leaders told their flocks that a self-proclaimed “pussy-grabber” was chosen by God.
I try to be patient with the “but we have to figure out what HRC/Dems did wrong, so we can correct our course in future” comments – most of which seem to be centered on “I told you so – you shoulda picked my guy” rather than any real concern about future political endeavours. But the truth is that as long as we are not focusing on how to fight GOP tactics, the integrity and honesty of our candidates will always be a fatal flaw rather than a vote-getter.
This is not to say that our Party and it’s members should never be criticized, or that election strategies shouldn’t be continually scrutinized, discussed, and altered when and where warranted. However, given our present circumstances, endlessly blaming ourselves and our Party for “what went wrong” is to ignore the fact that what’s wrong is not who we are, but who our opponents are, and what depths they will sink to in order to undermine us.
We lost to an ignorant, lying bigot whose entire life has been spent enriching himself by cheating and stealing from hard-working Americans, with a complete disregard for anyone’s welfare but his own. We lost to a self-aggrandizing, mentally unstable idiot who outsources the very jobs he claimed he would now protect. We lost to a bloviating, immoral bully who has deliberately encouraged xenophobia, misogyny, intolerance, and racism – and has promoted violence as a means to an end.
This was not a loss to a candidate with a superior strategy, a better “image”, a more worthy message. It was a loss to a man who – despite his obvious failings as a candidate and as a human being – had the support of a party that consistently undermines fair voting practices, controls the airwaves through the likes of Limbaugh and Alex Jones, and has learned to rely on the mainstream media to NOT do its job, all while looking the other way as our sworn enemy, Putin, promoted a puppet who will do his bidding as opposed to the bidding of the American people.
That said, it seems rather pointless to be arguing amongst ourselves about how an ad buy here, or a rally there, or a speech delivered in a different tone would have changed the outcome of this election. We were never up against a “better candidate”; we were up against a party that is without scruples. We were up against a party that will lie, cheat, steal in order to “win”, with absolutely no regard for the welfare of the country, or the well-being of its citizens.
Declaring that we shoulda-coulda won this election if only we’d done this, said that, chosen a different candidate, campaigned here rather than there, spent more time on this topic as opposed to that topic, is meaningless. The damage has been done, and we are now facing a pResident who stands for everything we as Democrats abhor, and that we as citizens will suffer the consequences of.
If you want to continue tinkering under the hood, so be it. Just remember that while you’re trying to figure out why the car stalled-out in the middle of the highway, the Republicans are busy constructing road-blocks, shutting down on-ramps, draining the gas tank, and devising ways to ensure we ain’t going nowhere, no how, no way.
Playing the Blame the Democrats Game is always fun for some. But it doesn’t move us forward an inch; it doesn’t solve the problems we face. And I, for one, am sick and tired of those who think that playing that game is going to get us anywhere. We have a clear and recognizable enemy that needs to be fought - and guess what? That enemy ISN'T us.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Even Joe Biden is wrong.
I could not agree more with you.
K&R
As Obama said, he did more outreach to rural areas of purple states. That enabled him to minimize the losses in those areas enough to carry the state.
Would that have been enough to get Clinton wins in WI, MI and PA? There's no way to know, but that would be my one major critique of the Clinton Campaign.
But she had a hell of a lot to overcome. Shelby County v. Holder decision of 2013 that made voter suppression much easier, the FBI, 25+ years of vicious attacks (much of it rooted in sexism), a white backlash that's been building for 8+ years, a pathetic media (obsessed with spectacle while promoting false equivalencies in the name of "balance"
, etc., etc., etc.
As always, right on target!!
It boils down to the basic mentality of deplorables, they are predisposed to believe what they want to believe.
That's why they stay stay glued to Fox News. 
Well put, Nance.
48% of eligible voters did NOT vote! How can this be? It's beyond pitiful. arrrghhhh 
Too much attention is given to what Hillary did "wrong" and not to how the Republican Party "won" the electors and has been cheating for years.
Yes, indeed Nance Greggs! 
This, especially this:
One of your best, Nance. And that's saying a lot.
Because - and this bears repeating - despite all you say, we still lost the election.
And it's also worth noting that the same people who insist there must be no criticism of Hillary Clinton or her campaign or its strategists, seem to have no problem weaving elaborate narratives about how Bernie and his "Bros" damaged her irreprably by having the temerity to mount a vigorous primary challenge.
Looking forward, what can we do better, how can we appeal to more voters? Even those relatively straightforward and obvious questions seem to piss a contingent here, off. We aren't supposed to consider how to appeal to any Trump voters, anywhere, even the Rust Belt, because fuck those people and here's a long list of everything that's wrong with them since they voted for DT. Fine, I can live with that.
So someone asks "how can we expand our voter base"- my perfectly logical suggestion to that is, okay, we have the Hillary voters, we say "screw you" to the Trump voters- who is left? If you're going by the people who actually went to the polls, by my math the next-largest slice is the Gary Johnson voters. Why not look there? The GOP will undoubtedly skew towards authoritarianism, like they always do, which I should think would leave us a big opening among voters who support the bill of rights, personal freedom, choice, etc. Obviously we aren't likely to get a ton of traction among the hard-core econo-Randroids, but the rest of them?
By reminding people that real progressives support personal freedom, the right of consenting adults to make their own decisions about their own bodies, ending the drug war/fully embracing marijuana legalization, marriage equality, opposing things like censorship of what consenting adults can watch or read.. pushing back against noxious and intrusive theocratic laws- really, it seems a natural fit.
But that suggestion seems to get stony silence, or worse. It really seems to bother a few people, even. Not sure why. 
Hmmmmm.
After people get through "Greens are deluded assholes, Trump Voters are racists, and Libertarians are just idiot Republicans who smoke pot har har hyuk"... who, exactly, do they think is left besides those of us already on board?
The point is, arguing "what we've been doing is perfectly fine and how dare you suggest there is any room for improvement"- seems a bit, um, unrealistic. We can't fix Gerrymandering, or voter suppression for that matter, without winning some elections first, either.
Like I said, he's not running in 2020, and neither is Hillary. We sorely, desperately need new leadership. Generationally, ideologically and geographically.
I thought I was responding to someone else.
The Democratically appointed justice depart sat on it thumbs for 8 years. They also know the Republican have been dropping minorities off the voting rolls (with one or another version of cross check) since 1999. That is a long time to stand idly by.
It's time the Democrats stop doing this:
At some point you have to acknowledged you are part of the problem.
Also the justice department could have put a banker or torture or two in jail. A few bankers in jail would be fewer robber barons in the Trump Cabinet. And no Trump saying torture works.
