this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
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Biden may have had (relatively minor) details around the side but his campaign message was straight center.
Right, and Harris didn't even have those relatively minor details. She was as center-right as they come
We can say her campaign was bad because she had no time to figure out what policy was the winner (take polls and normally it's tested in primaries). BUT she ran on abortion rights and fucking democracy. If that doesn't get the left out to vote, literally nothing will. We won't see a left platform for fucking decades, because literally nothing gets the left out to vote.
I don't even think you know who you're referring to as 'the left'
Well that's a pretty good non sequitur. How am I supposed to even respond, I say I do and then you say nuhuh. Well that's the point of a non sequitur huh.
If "democracy" means i cant pay my bills and my relatives get slaughtered overseas, it seems a pretty lame thing to hold on to.
And that is again a big failure. People all things considered dont care about democracy as a virtue in itself. They care about economic and social security and a prospect of personal developmemt and social participation. contrary to the popular stories revolutions rarely were fought over political participation. They were fought over empty stomaches and lack of housing.
Trump understood to pretend to care about these problems of the people. Harris lowkey denied them existing.
I agree, though I would amend one part to make my point:
And that's exactly where the Dems are going to go. All these left things that left people care about? They will be on the backburner at best.
all the left things that left people care about aren't just progressive policy, they're populist policy. Abortion makes the most sense when classified as a healthcare issue. Universal healthcare, and medicare for all, consistently polls popular. So does increasing the minimum wage. So does student loan forgiveness, and free college, which is why biden campaigned on that.
Harris' most popular policy was probably price controls, because despite all the hemming and hawwing that economists get up to whenever you touch any economic lever, that's something that the american people can believe will decrease their costs of living. people don't give a shit about the left, or about ideologies, you're right on that front, as the person before you is. but make no mistake, those policies which tangibly reign in the economy, control it, and give people free shit, those are, at the very least, progressive policies, if not outright leftist policies.
Everything polls well in blind polls. Then when they say it's a Dem idea. support craters. Chalk that up to whatever you want. I'm starting to realize this polling stuff, it's easy to say "yes I support that" when you get a phone call. But when it comes to the ballot box, well... something else happens.
So that and combined with the left never coming out (they couldn't even come out for their own freaking rights). it will not win elections. Biden gave student loan concessions, and his thanks was polling said he was going to lose, aka the left was not going to show up. ACA was on the line for anyone that payed attention, and the left did not come out.
The only thing that wins elections is "it's the economy stupid", which maybe includes a minimum wage.
And the appetite for change is so great that even those minor details are enough for people, but this campaign couldn't even do that.
That's not what won Biden the election, it was the straight center that won it.