I've Been Letting This Marinade All Day

I've been letting this marinade all day and I still don't know what to think about it.

For decades, Democrats have suffered continuous and increasingly severe losses among white voters. But preparations by Democratic operatives for the 2012 election make it clear for the first time that the party will explicitly abandon the white working class.

All pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned in favor of cementing a center-left coalition made up, on the one hand, of voters who have gotten ahead on the basis of educational attainment — professors, artists, designers, editors, human resources managers, lawyers, librarians, social workers, teachers and therapists — and a second, substantial constituency of lower-income voters who are disproportionately African-American and Hispanic.

...

The 2012 approach treats white voters without college degrees as an unattainable cohort. The Democratic goal with these voters is to keep Republican winning margins to manageable levels, in the 12 to 15 percent range, as opposed to the 30-point margin of 2010 — a level at which even solid wins among minorities and other constituencies are not enough to produce Democratic victories.

How in the world do you consider the working class white vote no longer attainable when, in the last election, you tried, at least, not to get below a floor portion of the vote? You go from a goal to just saying, "ignore white voters"?

The last time I checked, those who don't have a college degree are the majority of the population.

*BLINK*

I think this says more than what is quoted in this article. I think this says the Obama administration hasn't done squat for that demographic so they are just saying, "Forget them because we screwed them, anyway."

The poor, as a group, vote in much lower levels than other demographics and I can't see how the group they are going for is going to get them the vote.

I don't get it.

 

Comments

[MIB]

The question isn't why don't Democrats consider the working class, White demographic "obtainable", but whether it's winnable given the resources they have to contest various races. As Democrat presidential candidates have been losing the class by double digit spreads (!), it's likely a better strategy to direct just enough effort toward the group to mitigate loss margins.

The lesson here is to play to your strengths.

[Politicalseason]

Sounds eerily like the conventional wisdom of the last decade or two of the GOP on winning the black vote.

[DarkStar]

Playing to your strengths? Uhhhh... Strength in numbers. How about that, MIB?

It does sound like the GOP and Blacks. But given the numbers involved, it doesn't make sense to me at all.

[MIB]

"But given the numbers involved, it doesn't make sense to me..."

That much depends on which numbers you're using and the type of election -- congressional, senate, presidential -- that's being contested.

[P6]

I think it was phrased that way to avoid saying they're writing off the Tea Party cohort.

And THAT I don't understand.

[DarkStar]

I agree. If they want to say they are ignoring the Tea Party demographic, fine. But they are getting more than the Tea Party demographic here.

It still makes no sense.