Election reflections | Robust Analysis

First, two quotes which stick in my head:

Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth.

I’m not really in the excuse business.

Democrats lost because they didn’t make a compelling case for why they’d make better elected representatives than Republicans. (And Alison Lundergran Grimes refusing to say whether or not she voted for Pres. Obama? That’s just pathetic.) It’s not like they lacked material to justify voting for them. They didn’t run on their successes and didn’t offer a compelling vision – any vision, really – for what they’d attempt to accomplish over the next two years. The vision – a compelling narrative of what of you want to achieve – is critical because the successes feel pretty thin to many people. As Kevin Baker put it:

This appears to have been a baffling rejection to this supremely detached president, whose supporters have been protesting that the public just does not appreciate all he has done – a list that invariably includes Obamacare, a revived stock market and an unemployment mark that has inched slowly downward.

What the White House doesn’t seem to appreciate is just how little a dent this has made in the devastating loss of wealth, security and opportunity so many Americans have experienced in the last few years.

Looking at the positives for a moment, yes, Obamacare has helped a lot of people but the people who’ve been help only constitute a modest fraction of the total population and in the US we spend about twice as much for health care as people do in other high income countries to achieve comparable life expectancy and mortality rates. That’s an issue that goes undiscussed. Likewise, I’m all in favor of increasing the minimum wage but only about 5% of the working population earns minimum wage. What about the rest of the working population? What about the fact that real median household income is at its lowest level in nearly 20 years.

What’s the plan to address that? Worker productivity has been increasing steadily for decades but compensation hasn’t kept pace

Meanwhile, corporate profits are through the roof and people at the upper end of the income scale are raking it in.

What’s the plan for dealing with those issues? Extend unemployment benefits to 99 weeks? Sure. But go to mattresses for aggressive fiscal policy?

If the private sector isn’t creating enough jobs, then we need to invest in public goods that will generate more demand. We accept the Federal Reserve as lender of last resort when credit markets fail. Well, if we want to elevate full employment to be the national goal that it should be, then the government must be the job creator of last resort when the private sector fails.

Nope.

If you don’t address middle class economic issues or make a compelling case that you will then it shouldn’t be the least bit surprising that you get your ass kicked come election day. I may not care much for Bill Clinton but he was spot on with “It’s the economy, stupid.” Maybe you fight the good fight and lose anyway. So be it. If you go down swinging at least you were trying to do right.

I’ll close with an excerpt from our recently re-elected State Rep Ken Gordon’s thank you note to his supporters (emphasis mine):

…Two years ago I promised the voters in this district that I would build a record that we would be proud of, and then I would run on it. I did just that. I asked you to vote for me because of what we had accomplished, not because I was better than someone else. That message was received, appreciated and it was successful.

Throughout my first term, and with your support, we were able to get to work solving the problems that face our district. We are beginning to address the traffic problems that frustrate us each and every day. We increased local aid to each of the towns in our district. We addressed unique challenges to the school budget in Bedford. The result of our work was the endorsement of almost every selectman and school committee member in Bedford and Burlington, as well as Burlington’s planning board. And we were recognized by the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce and The Middlesex 3 Coalition because we know that government cannot solve our problems, but it can be part of a solution that involves our businesses and residents. We were available, we listened, and we responded.

We heard from our veterans, parents of school-age children and our seniors. I am committed to working for their interest in my next term. I hope you continue to know that even if you do not agree on every vote that I take, that I am there to address your concerns.

To those of you who supported my opponent, I will continue to listen to you and work hard to help make your lives better. If you posted a sign on your property this last month, I will respond to your concerns, no matter whose name was on that sign. This does not mean we will always agree, but it does mean I will always listen and consider all sides of a story.

There is still work to do. I return to the legislature to stand up for working families and small businesses who need our help. Thank you for your support so we can continue this important work.

Solve problems. Run on your accomplishments. Always engage your constituents. If more Democrats had done that in 2014 then probably more would have been elected.

UPDATE 11/8/2014 PM: