Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate minority leader and top Democrat in the country, had some harsh things to say to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Schumer commented on her election loss, saying, “When you lose to somebody who has a 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame others — Comey, Russia — you blame yourself."
The Senator continued on to say that his party lacked clarity on its platform: “People didn’t know what we stood for, just that we were against Trump.”
The Democratic party appears to be more out of touch with their base than ever before. Many Democrats are hopeful for the midterms as a way to turn back the red tide that has resulted in a Republican-controlled House, Senate and White House. But what do they stand for besides opposing Trump?
We know the Democrats vehemently oppose Trumpcare, as most Americans do; the bill only has a 17 percent approval rating. But that is not a party platform. It's just opposing the legislation of the opposite party. What is the Democrats' official policy for healthcare? Some of the more socialist members want the country to move to a single-payer system like those used in the UK and Canada, while others want the party to stand by the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
If the Democrats hope to make any headway in the 2018 midterm elections, what they need most is clarity, and that clarity cannot come from just opposing the President. At times even the President’s own party opposes him, so the Democrats can’t stand out just on that. They need to reassure their base of the party’s principles, and to do that they first need to figure out what they are.
The Democrats are going through a civil war of sorts: Classical tax-and-spend Democrats such as Clinton and Schumer are the establishment, the old guard of the party, while millennials stimulated by Bernie Sanders’ 2016 run represent a new direction for the party, a move towards socialism.
This lack of clarity, principles and leadership have not only hurt the Democrats in the election this past November, but also in fundraising this summer. The RNC more than doubled the amount of money raised by the DNC in May. It seems that sometimes, although people may not be big fans of Trump, they prefer to donate to his party instead of the Democrats.
Whether it was Comey, Russian collusion or just the candidate being Hillary Clinton, if the Democrats hope to move past the election in November and bring about change in 2018 the party is going to have to decide what they stand for.
And come up with a better slogan than: “Democrats: I mean, have you seen the other guys?”