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This was a really good column. The left should be aware that we’re getting played, too. The GOP decided a while back that rather than co-opt/share credit for popular liberal ideas, they’re simply going to prevent them from being enacted ... 1/
... Thereby depriving D’s from getting credit with their own base for enacting anything, creating frustration within the D ranks. The antithesis of consensus politics. It’s compounded by many D’s perpetually looking for “bipartisan” cover ... 2/2
... which ends up being an invitation for even more mischief from R’s: They can yank apart the D coalition by refusing a deal. Their BATNA causes the D’s to lose a Lieberman or a Manchin, so how does that work out badly for them? 3/
[Everybody’s pointing to this good @delong interview which makes many of these points - that the GOP can’t be considered a governing partner at all, in any circumstance. vox.com/policy-and-pol…] 4/
@delong ... But even among the D declared 2020 candidates, you still hear appeals to bipartisanship, as if this were a thing to be desired for its own sake. Blue Dogs define their appeal as bipartisan, which is simply giving way to *someone else’s* approval. 5/
@delong So yeah, anyway the Dems should run on popular stuff *and play offense, all the time* against those who oppose said popular stuff; they let the GOP get away with it *constantly*. <eom> 6/
@delong ps: The rise of the Bernie-left has everything to do with the failure of Obama/Rahm/Feinstein et al to realize that *they were never going to find willing GOP dance partners* — giving up policy substance *and* political leverage in the process.
