Are the Dems Capable of Getting Their Act Together or Will They Continue to be the Keystone Cops??

While the vast majority of the minority Republican Party remains solidly behind the Abomination-in-Chief and his stated aims, if not his sinister actions which undermine our democracy, the much more diverse Democratic Party is splintered and without any leading figure or unifying principles except opposition to Trump. Although Biden remains the frontrunner in the still early primary polls, there is as yet no one who seems inherently able to unify the various widely disparate factions of the party. Obviously nominating a moderate candidate like Biden or Klobuchar risks alienating the progressive wing and losing their enthusiasm, while nominating a progressive candidate like Warren or Sanders risks alienating both the majority moderate faction and swing independent voters, who are largely responsible for Democrats retaking the House in 2018 by flipping seats in republican dominated districts. And alienated or unenthusiastic Democrats and independents are obviously less likely to turn out where it matters in the handful of swing states which will again determine the outcome of the presidential election in 2020. This could also have major implications for retaining control of the House as well as retaking control of the Senate, which is almost as important as retaking the White House. The inordinately large number of Democratic presidential candidates is also probably detrimental in that it dilutes fundraising as well as media attention on individual candidates and delays unification.

Meanwhile, the House Democrats’ attempts at oversight and investigation remain substantially stalled and impotent due to White House stonewalling, with a handful of court victories so far not producing any tangible progress. So far the House Democrats have bent over backwards to try to appear reasonable, and have avoided any drastic measures such as finding most of the uncooperative witnesses in contempt of Congress and levying associated heavy fines. This all makes the Democrats look weak, timid and indecisive, and I believe is a big mistake when going up against ruthless adversaries such as Trump. The recent court filing to try to get Trump’s taxes is months too late. The recently announced one week delay in Mueller’s long-awaited and way overdue public testimony before the Judiciary and Intelligence committees puts it just before the congressional summer recess, as well as during vacation time for many Americans, which will further blunt any revelations or momentum that it may produce. Also, the longer the Democrats put off initiating an impeachment inquiry, which I think may be inevitable, the more political it will appear. One big problem is that many recently elected Democrats from Republican dominated districts as well as other moderate Democrats are still vulnerable in 2020, further complicating the risky high-wire balancing act that Pelosi and the Democratic leadership must navigate. Recent squabbling among House Democrats, particularly the public feud between Nancy Pelosi and the vocal progressive first term female representatives, also harms the public image of the party and gives plenty of ammunition to Trump and his surrogates.

The bottom line question is: are the Democrats too diverse and fractured to unify adequately behind the eventual presidential nominee, and will their/our disgust with Trump be enough to overcome this disunity as well as the inherent advantage of an incumbent with very high base approval and a good economy, not to mention massive financial resources? This certainly makes for chronic high anxiety!!