One of the dominant phrases in Democratic politics headed into Election Day 2024 was “nauseous optimism.” Party officials and insiders thought Kamala Harris had a real chance at success, but they were so overwhelmed with anxiety about the possible outcome that they reached for antacids with as much frequency as they reached for their cellphones.
As vote tallies came in, the second word in the “nauseous optimism” phrase was no longer necessary.
As The Washington Post reported, the day after the elections, the party was “awash in angst-ridden second-guessing.”
If Biden had not clung so long to his reelection bid, could the party have held primaries to produce a more battle-tested nominee? If Harris had picked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) as her running mate, could that have improved her margins in the “blue wall” states? If Biden had stayed in the race, could he have retained the coalition that powered him to the White House in 2020? Democrats were also asking a deeper question on their bleak day after: How had the party so misunderstood the country and so badly underestimated the number of voters attracted to Trump’s message?
The article added that many Democratic strategists concluded that, as the dust settles, it’s time for “a thorough rethinking.”
From my limited vantage point, the day after Election Day I heard from a great many Democrats and Trump critics thinking along the same lines. The party is overdue for a dramatic overhaul, they said. The party’s script and strategic playbook need to be torn up and rewritten. If Democrats are going to compete going forward, they’ll need to reassess not only their core priorities but also what they say, how they say it and to whom they say it.
Why, they asked, would Democrats think they can stick with the status quo in the wake of failure? Why repeat the same mistakes and expect different results?
I’m all for introspection, especially in the wake of setbacks. What’s more, the questions many Democrats are asking after Donald Trump’s big win have real merit and deserve thoughtful answers.
But as these conversations get underway, I’m also mindful of the fact that Republicans tend not to bother with such reflections.
In 2008, after Barack Obama’s dominant national victory and Democratic triumphs up and down the ballot, the Republican Party looked like a small, defeated, leaderless, directionless and regional party. Common sense suggested GOP leaders would agree on the need for “a thorough rethinking.”
They did not. In fact, top Republican officials held private meetings, agreed to simply oppose everything Obama wanted (even when they agreed with him) and changed effectively nothing about the GOP’s agenda.
Four years later, after Obama cruised to a re-election victory — in a race Republicans thought they might win — the RNC launched a so-called autopsy initiative called the “Growth and Opportunity Project,” which ultimately advised, among other things, that the party should move to the left on immigration and stop relying so heavily on conservative media.
Party officials and candidates discarded the recommendations shortly after, agreeing instead to stick to their usual message and priorities. The “Growth and Opportunity Project” ultimately became less of a blueprint and more of an embarrassing answer to a trivia question.
In 2018, after Democrats won dozens of congressional seats and took back the House, The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein remarked, “I am stunned by how little debate and discussion there has been by Republicans about the extent of their suburban wipeout. … I think they should be more alarmed than they are.”
The New York Times reported around the same time that Republicans leaders had little interest in “self-examination … about why a midterm that had seemed at least competitive became a rout.”
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York — at the time, one of only six U.S. House Republicans serving in states north of Pennsylvania — told the Times, “There has been close to no introspection in the G.O.P. conference.”
Two years later, Democrats enjoyed a clean sweep, winning the White House and both chambers of Congress. Republicans changed nothing. In 2022, Democrats had one their best midterm election cycles since FDR. Republicans threw together a half-hearted audit of sorts, before again changing nothing.
When making a list of things the two major parties do differently, it’s best to add “demonstrate an interest in self-reflection” to the mix.
