What Kind of Crisis?

 So, I'm sitting here reading the Sunday edition of The New York Times and...

The Democratic Party is Having an 'Identity Crisis'

We are?

How can somebody (Ezra Klein) be so smart...

"Biden’s best argument is his record. Violent crime is falling, fast, and is now near a 50-year low. Inflation has fallen beneath 3 percent and done so without the recession economists overwhelmingly believed would come. Growth is strong, and rental prices are falling. More Americans than ever have health insurance, in part because of the boost Biden gave the Affordable Care Act. America is producing more energy than at any other time in its history — and, despite the Biden administration’s focus on climate change, that includes oil, where America now leads the world in production."

...and be so dumb at the same time?

"The other tension will be what it means for the party that believes itself to represent the working class to be losing working-class voters. “It’s hard to say you’re the party of lower-income working families when they are rapidly leaving the ranks of your movement,” Murphy said. “I think our party has to squarely grapple with an identity crisis that will get worse as more and more low-income voters vote Republican even though we continue to claim those are the voters we are fighting for. Low-income voters get to decide for themselves who their chosen party is. If we don’t start listening to them about what they really want, we will no longer be the party of the working class, no matter how we label ourselves.”"

The "working class" doesn't want low crime?  Low inflation?  Lower rental prices?  Better health insurance?  Lower gas prices?  

Those two paragraphs are only separated by about four other paragraphs telling us how old Joe is.  (Like we don't know?  Like Trump isn't?  Which do you think is healthier?)  Of course he's old.  That's why he's been so effective.  The most dysfunctional Congress in my lifetime and he's still managed to get things done. 

(Afterthought added.  Suppose Joe kicks the bucket in office. Kamala Harris inherits Biden's team to help her govern.  Now suppose Trump kicks the bucket in office.  ______ (fill in the  blank) inherits Trump's team to try and govern.  Are you really going to pick Stephen Miller and Michael Flynn over Jeff Zients and Lloyd Austin?)

If you read Klein's article, I want you to keep one phrase in mind throughout:  Evolution: Not revolution.  We're pumping more oil than ever but we are also building more electric vehicles than ever.  Because we must change.

Then, try to put your mind out in rural America.  They don't want lower gas prices?  They don't want better health insurance?  They don't want lower inflation?  Sure they do. But they're going to vote for Trump just as sure as God made little green apples.

So what's really going on out there?

Don Brown
February 8, 2024

P.S. I readily acknowledge Ezra Klein has about 50 IQ points on me.  He really is brilliant.  But I bet he's never lived in rural America.  Certainly not the South.  And yes, it takes me all week to get through the Sunday edition of the Times. I'm slow.  But I get there.