We can be deniers if we wish. The party that elected Johnson, Carter and Clinton has lost its way. We have lost 1000 seats in state legislatures, numerous governorships, and many senate and house seats since Obama's election. The situation will be much, much worse in the Senate after the 2018 elections. A couple of vulnerable Democratic senators may even accept positions in the Trump administration, accelerating the process.
Obama was a bit of an aberration, a man for the moment, at the end of the wars, in the middle of huge recession. Obama did nothing to help the party for 8 years, other than advise Clinton to NOT have a private server and to suggest that she campaign in white working class areas. I suspect that he also suggested that it really wasn't a good idea to have all those speeches to the bankers. It was truly amazing that Hillary thought that the way to win the election was to have Jay-Z, Beyonce and JayLo concerts. Pro-Trump commentators on CNN suggested that these concerts would backfire, and they did.
Bill Clinton was very clear in his advice. Hillary should have focused on her roots, as he did. She could have relied on Obama to campaign in the cities. There should have been lots and lots of ads about Clinton in PA and in ARK. And there should have been lots and lots of campaign stops in WI (there weren't even ads there), Iowa (She gave up there early), MI, and PA.
==============
TWO SUGGESTIONS
FIRST
Let's get back to basics. We stand for working people of ALL colors. We are fooling ourselves if we think that we should be the Wall Street party, or the party of minorities. Of course, we should stand against discrimination. BTW, how exactly did Trump increase the Republican percentage manning Hispanics? It could be because the Democratic Party spent almost nothing on Spanish media, and had very few interviews. Jeb Bush or Rubio would likely have won a majority of Hispanics. And yes, we stand for protecting US jobs. Helping bankers and our favorite big US corporations cannot help. We must develop a platform that answers the real issues: an adequate safety net, automation, globalization and climate change.
SECOND
Let's start locally, and work to win local legislatures and state governments. The answer to governing is NOT all about the federal government.
Yes, it was (and is) right to believe that we can win in Arizona and Texas and Georgia, but that won't happen if we are the party of the elites of NY, DC CA and Seattle. It's OK to be the old Boston-Austin axis. It is NOT OK to forget the Southern half of the partnership.
In the end, we must remember the words of Ronald Reagan, who was once a New Deal Democrat. He said that he did not greatly change positions. It was the Democratic Party that had moved from being the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy (and even Johnson). We lost our way in 1968 when the liberals abandoned Humphrey (and nominated McGovern in 1972). Bill Clinton called the party back to the center with the DLC. 911 and the wars changed the nature of politics, and we again believed that moving far to the left was the answer (after all, the Republicans had moved for to the right). BTW, Obama was NOT a candidate of the left. The decisions he made were major disappointments to the left over his 8 years.
BOTTOM LINE
Many of the Republicans would have beaten almost any Democratic candidate for president. The time was right for a change. HOWEVER, there was no excuse for the poor campaign, and the poor results in the states, the Senate and the House.
Unless we do something in the next few years, we will not recognize the electoral landscape in 8 years. IMHO, all this will be ignored and this generation will need to learn by nominating their own McGovern in 2020 and perhaps 2024. Perhaps, a trouncing in 2020 would be good for the party.
IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE
We could have lost to a Rubio-Hailey ticket (it would have happened if not for Trump's attack dog Christie). For many years, I will recall Gov Haily (Indian-American) and Senator Scott (African-American) on the stage backing Rubio at one of his rallies in very Republican South Carolina. The proposed leadership of the new Republican Party was there to be seen.
The Republicans WILL change into a Trump type party OR to the inclusive party envisioned after the 2013 autopsy. We Democrats probably won't even bother with real analysis until we have a sound defeat. We still think that we are the party of the people, (and that we were robbed of the election). We are in a state of denial. Grief and eventually a new direction may take years.
