Proposed party slogans show Dems still don’t get it as evidenced by their continued opposition to single-payer healthcare
By Yvonne C. Claes
The Democratic Party is hopeless.
It’s leaders aren’t even trying to win over voters anymore, as evidenced by four lackluster campaign slogans the party released Wednesday ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
The proposed bumper stickers — which include the pathetic “She Persisted. We Resisted,” the apathetic “Make Congress Blue Again,” and the downright awful “Democrats 2018. I mean, have you seen the other guys?” — reveal a party out of touch with the concerns and struggles of average Americans.
Judging by these three prospective slogans, Democratic Party leaders believe that reminding people Hillary Clinton lost to a buffoon huckster, making sure party allegiance supersedes issues despite a majority of voters identifying as independents, and offering not to be as bad as the opposition are what they plan to offer voters.
In other words, they plan to offer nothing.
Instead, they hope to replicate a strategy that in 2016 ceded the White House to Donald Trump and has caused them to lose more than 1,000 legislative seats and governerships over the last decade.
Income inequality and healthcare are high up on most Americans’ list of priorities. But nowhere are these values reflected in the messaging, and more importantly, in the policies touted by party officials. And that fact did not go unnoticed by social media.
Immediately, Twitter users seized on the lameness of the “Have you seen the other guys?” slogan, noting it is reminiscent of the tone deaf “I’m With Her” used by the Clinton campaign. Some even wondered if the phrase was meant as a joke.
Those on the other side of the aisle also mocked the proposed slogan. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) derided the Dems for their significant electoral losses and offered a suggestion of its own for the 2018 midterm elections.
Others Tweeted their own suggestions, which were popular, judging by the number of re-Tweets and likes.
The slogans reveal party leaders do not understand the depth of frustration among voters over the stranglehold corporate America has on the government. And that death grip is making it impossible to pass popular initiatives, such as Medicare for All.
But at least one prominent Progressive has been giving the corporate Democrats the verbal ass kicking they deserve over opposition to single-payer healthcare, particularly in The Golden State.
RoseAnn DeMoro, director of National Nurses United and of the California Nurses Association, provided the rhetorical pummeling during a little-appreciated speech to delegates at the May 24 California Democratic Party Convention in Sacramento.
DeMoro was masterful in her succinct six-minute speech, which included a threat that Progressives would leave party. DeMoro, it’s worth remembering, endorsed the Draft Bernie movement, which seeks to convince Sen. Bernie Sanders to start a new political party, during last month’s People’s Summit in Chicago.
“And this is my unification speech, which is a warning. …If you dismiss Progressive values and reinforce the dynamic status quo, don’t assume the activists in California or around this country are going to stay with the Democratic Party,” she told California Democrats.
DeMoro’s verbal bomb was met by explosive cheers from Progressive delegates. It belied the bullshit “Come Together and Fight Back” message forwarded by the Democratic National Committee and the “Stronger Together” slogan of the Hillary Clinton campaign.
(Get a load of the guy in the background, who leans back, crosses his arms and disdainfully looks at DeMoro with a patronizing, self-satisfied smirk, at the 4:57 mark).
“Millions of people are hurting. We’ve never had a moment like this. We all need to embrace SB 562 and if we don’t embrace that, then shame on us. Because every death, every person suffering is your fault Democrats. You’ve got the power, you’ve got the majorities, you can do this.”
But she acknowledged that Democrats’ opposition to single payer, despite a majority of Americans now supporting it, is making the job of health-for-all advocates more difficult.
“Bernie Sanders — I was actually with him last week — and he said that California can make his job easy. He’s fighting against Donald Trump. We’ve got Jerry Brown. Come on, Democrats. Jesus, I mean what does it take? You know that Bernie is right. “
And DeMoro warned that Progressives won’t unite with corporate Democrats for the sake of unification.
“I want the party unified, but we’re not going to unify around the status quo. We’re not going to unify around consensus about nothing, It’s not about nothing. It’s not consensus for nothing or about nothing. Consensus for consensus sake is over.”
If Democrats continue on the same path and do not offer policies that help average Americans, they can expect future electoral losses, she noted. Regardless, activists will not give up the fight for Medicare for All.
“We’ve lost and we’ve lost and we’ve lost, and we’re gonna win,” DeMoro said at the California convention. “And we’re going to move this movement, Bernicrats, nurses, and all the Progressive Democrats. We’re gonna move this movement across the nation.”
And she is keeping up the heat on Twitter. In the meantime, DeMoro has continued to call out corporate Democrats for standing with insurance companies and not the people. And she’s made it clear that she — and Progressives — aren’t going away anytime soon.
She has shown no particular love for California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Democrat who single-handedly killed a a Medicare for All bill in that state.
At least one prominent Democratic lawmaker is starting to get the message, albeit in the eleventh hour. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said late last month her party needs to make Medicare for All a priority and begin campaigning on the issue across the country.
But many remain doubtful Warren and her colleagues are serious about offering and enacting bold policies, which would mean advocating for programs that their corporate owners — including the health care and pharmaceutical industries — oppose.
Time will tell if the Democrats can pull it together in time to win back some of the legislative seats lost under President Obama. But if their latest public relations fiasco is any indication, they still haven’t a clue what they stand for or what the American people want.
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