I’ve heard Simon Rosenberg speak twice now, and check in on his blog from time to time. Always weighty and thought-provoking.
Trust me that I’m not giving anything away by excerpting the end of his post, which you should read in its entirety, about how Democrats should move forward:
Reinvigorate the Democratic Party – President Obama and his team should leave his fellow Democrats a reinvigorated DNC with a new mission. He should establish a “2024 Project,” one focused on doing what is required for Democrats to roll back recent GOP gains and come out of the next redistricting as the dominant political party in America with majority control in the Senate, House and state houses and legislatures across the country. At the core of this project must be strategies to expand the new majority coalition built in recent years into terrain critical for winning more control in Congress and in the states.
Among the more operational things the DNC should take primary lead on now is recruiting and training a new generation of candidates and operatives needed to beat a new generation of Republicans, expanding and turning out the new majority coalition, and advancing efforts to make it easier for people to vote in every state and locality in the country. A $50 to $100m fund should be put aside for a national paid media effort in off-year elections too.
Too many of these important responsibilities have been left to others parts of the center-left ecosystem. It is time for the most important piece of this ecosystem – the Democratic Party itself – to be challenged to fulfill its rightful and vital role as the enterprise charting the future of all Democrats over the next decade.
We will be issuing a separate memo on the Hispanic vote soon.
I share for several reasons, including his reinforcement of what we all know to be true when we’re being honest with ourselves, and what we ignore when we devolve into too much blame and not enough critical analysis of recent events:
- He’s talking 2024 because this kind of work takes time.
- It also takes massive and strategic investment in what—and especially who—is coming next.
- He refers to an ecosystem, and while he calls the party the most important piece, he’s also clearly saying that all of the pieces depend upon each other and need care and feeding.
We’re lacking some of those critical elements in the ecosystem in Texas. I hope that the progressive leadership & political entrepreneurship program we’re launching will be a healthy and beneficial addition. None of us can do it alone, though.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for his next memo on “the” Hispanic vote.
