FWIW, I think "culture war concessions" works only at the level of the candidate, not at the level of policy -- when it works at all. Nothing could ever have convinced America that Obama was socially conservative, even though he was and is.
Biden is making all kinds of compromises and concessions on immigration, and no one is recognizing it or caring (except for progressives who notice and get mad).
You saw the same exact pattern with Jimmy Carter. By the end of his presidency he had tacked so far to the Right that progressives primaried him with Ted Kennedy and almost won. But Republicans kept on thinking he was leftism incarnate.
I think Republican voters DON'T think Biden is leftism incarnate. They're just really mad about culture stuff and don't care about Biden as a person. To them he might as well be named Brandon. It's Twitter activists and street activists the GOP fears and hates.
Because culture-war concessions are mostly about candidates rather than policies, if Dems are to make culture-war concessions it's going to have to be at the local and state level, where they can quickly pivot to embracing politicians like Eric Adams.
Having Biden or Harris or Pelosi or other national Dems come out and say culturally conservative stuff seems unlikely to matter; if you want to make concessions, run local pols like Eric Adam who will throw more money at cops and refuse to say "Latinx", etc. etc.
And always remember that the right-wing outrage machine never stops running at full blast, it just changes its target. If Biden stops hiring Black people, no one will notice except angry progressives; right-wing outrage will simply refocus on something else.
Thus, even if you'd be perfectly willing to make culture-war concessions in exchange for Dem electoral victories and/or economic policy wins, consider the likelihood that at the national level, no such trade is on offer.
(end)
(end)
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
