In so very many ways, the Democrats’ cupboard is bare.
We’ve been discussing this ever since His High Holiness the Lightbringer Barack Obama left office after eight years of a “Me First” presidency. Not only did it do a lot of damage to the country, but it left his party in a rough place, which is why all they could muster as a ticket for 2016 was Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. Clorox can’t bleach anything that white.
The need to recycle Granny Maojackets in a presidential race eight years after the then-upstart Obama threw her from the early polling heights she occupied was the surest sign that the Dems were struggling for candidates whom the American electorate cared about.
This bareness of the cupboard isn’t only noticeable when casting about for new candidates; it is apparent in leadership too. As I wrote in Monday’s Morning Briefing, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer “…doesn’t play hardball as well as some of his predecessors in Senate leadership.” He doesn’t really do anything as well as his predecessors, which is why this government shutdown did not go well for the Dems. They rushed into it with a battle plan that seemed like it was drawn up on bar napkins by a bunch of drunks, who, when they sobered up, realized that they were too hungover to come up with anything better.
Now, a lot of disgruntled Dems are calling for Schumer to leave his leadership position. In these highly charged political times, it’s not a bad thing to see any major player on the other side teetering. The problem with rooting for them to actually fall is that there is always someone worse waiting in the wings for the Democrats. The aforementioned bare cupboard has a lot of diseased rodents scurrying around in it.
If you look at the likely candidates to replace Schumer should he step aside, it’s a rogue’s gallery of people you wouldn’t want to be caught on an elevator with, even if you were only traveling one floor.
Right behind him is Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who is the Dems’ whip in the Senate. He’s also been one of the most vocal critics of late regarding how his party handled the shutdown. I don’t think that means he’d be any better than Schumer. I wouldn’t trust any Illinois politician as far I would be able to throw him at his inevitable parole hearing. Durbin is most likely merely posturing because he knows that Schumer is weak, and this is his big opportunity to become the leader. He’ll go back to being beyond awful as soon as he gets the job.
The next four in line behind Durbin are Hawaii’s Brian Schatz, Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, and New Jersey’s Cory Booker. That has more of a Politburo feel to it than an American political party. Schatz makes the least noise of any of them — relative, I know — but is probably the worst of the group. We know that Klobuchar is the craziest. And, if we’re to believe him, Booker has the largest bladder in the history of humankind.
Picture the elevator ride again, and you’ll quickly realize that none of them would be an upgrade from Schumer.
One of the biggest signs that the shutdown was bad for the Dems is that their flying monkeys in the mainstream media weren’t spinning like crazy for them. Now that we’re wrapping it up, there are a few moments of honesty being shared on the propaganda sites. This is from New York Times Opinion writer and Dem apologist Josh Barro:
Sometimes, when you’re angry, you need to take out your aggression on something. Having a punching bag can be therapeutic. And while Chuck Schumer might look useless this week, he is in fact playing the useful role of punching bag to Democrats who are angry because they want something they cannot have: control over the policy agenda despite having lost the last national election.
Democrats in both chambers of Congress are denouncing Mr. Schumer and this deal to end the government shutdown that their voters hate. But they offer no plausible account of how they would have done better, because there isn’t one.
That’s right, it’s just the blind leading the blind over there, and even their butt-coverers know it.
A quick glance at the states represented by Democratic leadership in the Senate provides a perfect snapshot of why the Dems are struggling — and will continue to struggle — with messaging that resonates with the American people. Going through the list in this column, beginning with Schumer, we have New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New Jersey. That’s five super-blue states and one purplish-blue state (Wisconsin). Remember when Dems liked to brag that they were fighting for working-class people in Middle America?
None of them know where Middle America is, even with the hint in the name.
It’s not any better in the House, where leadership in descending order hails from New York (Jefferies), Massachusetts (Clark), California (Aguilar), California (Lieu), and the now deep blue Colorado (Neguse).
With the lone exception of Colorado, those in Democratic congressional leadership represent the literal fringes of the country. Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois all touch the Great Lakes, so that’s close enough to Canada for me. It’s as if the Dems are trying to draw a picture of just how out of touch they are.
Let them keep drawing it. Maybe the Republicans can work on Wisconsin a little harder.
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