Can Democrats learn?
“2003 jump-started the learned helplessness Democrats are known for,” writes Dan Pfeiffer this morning in a post about party members’ reaction (or lack of it) to Donald Trump ordering the bombing of Iran nuclear facilities. “Democrats need to once again become the party that opposes wars—particularly dumb, poorly thought-out wars of choice.” Agreed. But it’s the learned helplessness I want to address. Again.
Qasim Rashid, Esq. writes at his Substack:
Let’s not sugarcoat it. This week, the Democratic machine threw everything they had—billionaire endorsements, NYT op-eds, a deluge of corporate cash, and the full weight of washed-up politicians like Andrew Cuomo, Bill Clinton, and Michael Bloomberg—at Zohran Mamdani. And he still won. Big. The party now has a choice to make, and that choice will determine whether it ever has a chance of truly returning to its roots as a party for working people—or whether it completes its transformation into Republican-lite. How do we ensure they make the right decision, and how do we ensure leaders like Zohran Mamdani become the new face of the party going forward?
I don’t know enough about Zohran Mamdani to say whether he should or shouldn’t be the party’s new face. But I’ve already addressed the need for the party to put forward new faces for an electorate that clearly wants them.
Jonathan Lemire observes in The Atlantic:
Mamdani revealed himself to be remarkably adept at communicating his message, mastering social-media memes and delivering powerful speeches that evoked far more of Barack Obama’s loft than Biden’s whisper. He said yes to seemingly every interview and every podcast, tossing aside the caution traditionally preached by the focus-group-wielding political-consultant class. He tapped into liberal New Yorkers’ anger over Gaza. He resonated with young people, including young men, who not only turned out for him but also volunteered for his campaign, creating an enthusiastic army of believers that created a noticeable contrast with Cuomo’s support from donors, unions, and establishment figures. In the race’s final days, a cheerful Mamdani walked the length of Manhattan, a metaphor for the tirelessness he brought to the race.
Lemire cites the usual pundits offering their usual “what will the Republicans say?” warnings about Zohran Mamdani’s rise. Democrats too predictably flinch like abused spouses when Republicans bark. Think what voters see is “socialist” first, or is it the flinching? The former smear only carries real weight these days among voters old enough to remember the Cold War (including most of the Democratic establishment). The latter is a bigger turnoff to voters who don’t, and they will inherit this country, or what’s left of it, when the Democratic gerontocracy shuffles off.
“I’ve already heard from some Democrats who worry that this guy is going to get us all labeled as socialists,” the Reverend Al Sharpton, the civil-rights leader and Democratic stalwart, told me. “But he hit on something; he connected with something. Mamdani kept showing up. Democrats need to keep showing up.”
That was Coloradan Adam Frisch’s message when he addressed the DNC winter meeting in February. Frisch nearly upset pistol-packin’ Republican Lauren Boebert in 2022. There’s a message there. If politics is downstream of culture, perhaps policy is downstream of showing up.
What I see is an internal struggle among party members who have learned helplessness and those who refuse to be bound by their elders’ aversion to risk-taking and fear of experimentation.
I used this example just last night over dinner with friends.
Tell Democrats that they’re out of time, down by four points, and their only chance at winning is to throw a “Hail Mary” pass. They’ll say, “But what if we’re intercepted?”
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