The Fight to Come

Matt Bai, who wrote a book about the debates on reforming the Democratic Party during the early Obama era, has some thoughts on what needs to be done to bring the party back today. (This is another Washington Post link, so once again I'll blockquote the relevant part.)

The far left has been flat-out wrong on the two broadly most important issues of the day, which was a huge reason Democrats couldn’t get their nominee over the hump last year.

The party’s self-described progressives now proudly embrace the label of socialism as they champion expansive government and vast federal spending, despite the public’s plain distrust in government, and despite the obvious inflationary risks. And the most visible faction on the party’s far left has been obsessed, at least since 2020, with dividing up the electorate by race and ethnicity and gender identity, accompanied by a penchant for shouting down anyone who disagrees....

It would be nice to think you could “rebrand” the party without having a fight over the defense of capitalism and Americanism, but I don’t think you can.

That sounds plausible to me, but so far the party seems to be running in the other direction.