James Carville, a former strategist for President Bill Clinton, had a lot of good lines in his MSNBC interview Tuesday afternoon, but “What we need is power!” resonated with me the most.
I write this from 36,000 feet in the air somewhere over Ohio on my way home after a disappointing Iowa caucus. It was my first time attending, and I expected a lot. The food and the people delivered, but the politics left a lot to be desired.
The internet needs no further dunking on the Iowa Democratic Party. Chair Troy Price’s clear anguish as he addressed the press pulled on all our heartstrings. Iowa shouldn’t go first again, and the issues with the Shadow Inc. app had better be fully investigated, but I digress.
The real issue is the no good, very bad politics we saw at work in Iowa. With just 71% of the election results, there’s still time to see a change — but potentially not enough of one to save Democrats from a frightening battle over the soul of our party. Liberal lefties have been claiming victory because 60% of caucusgoers favor government healthcare over private insurance and because Bernie is animating younger voters.
But guess what? Iowa doesn’t represent the country or the Democratic Party. Not even a little bit.
Carville summed it up well when he rhetorically asked if the Democratic Party wants to become an ideological cult. I, for one, certainly don’t want that. I want to be a winner! Liberal Democrats aren’t winners — they’re actually losers more often than not.
It seems that in just 15 months, we have forgotten all the lessons of the 2018 midterms: Liberals only win in very specific circumstances. Most liberals who won were running in superliberal, generally white districts. None of them flipped Republican-held seats to support Democrats.
The real heroes of the 2018 midterms were the diverse coalitions of moderates who got Democrats seats in purple and red districts, such as Lucy McBath, Lauren Underwood, and Kendra Horn. They were Democrats with national security backgrounds such as Elissa Slotkin, Max Rose, and Chrissy Houlahan. And they were trailblazers such as Cindy Axne and Abby Finkenauer, who won seats back from Republicans in Iowa.
None of these candidates advocate for blowing up our healthcare system or opening up our borders — quite the opposite, actually. They know elections are won in finding common ground and unity.
In that same MSNBC segment, former Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri rightly pointed out that Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, and Amy Klobuchar added up to about 56% of the vote in Iowa thus far. Sanders and Warren account for just 43%. The upshot? Even Democrats in Iowa aren’t nearly as liberal as they’re portrayed.
Democratic voters aren’t interested in being an ideological cult. The longer we isolate ourselves, the stronger Republicans get. Trump’s approval rating is almost at 50% for God’s sake, and he was just impeached!
Democrats need power. Moderates are the path to power.
Jessica Tarlov (@JessicaTarlov) is senior director of research and consumer insight for Bustle Digital Group. She is also a Fox News contributor.
