If you believe the fact that somebody somewhere said “defund the police” in 2020, and that’s why Democrats lost downballot races, do you think the fact that somebody somewhere supported same-sex marriage in 2004 cost Kerry the White House?

Look back now at Democrats who opposed against same-sex marriage in 2004-2008 in the attempt to “take that issue away from Republicans”—how did that opposition play over time? Did it “work”? Did any Republicans vote Democratic in consequence?

How does that opposition to same-sex marriage look now, as an example of a stand (ie, the lack of one) on principle? (About the way it did then, I’d say, with the added sheen of futile expediency).

Of course these are two different issues, but I’m struck by the way Republicans allegedly won votes in each case by using these issues in attacks in Democratic candidates, and yet...

..taking a stand against the “progressive” position somehow didn’t help Democrats...even though (also somehow) they allegedly lost elections because of voters’ alleged opposition to the progressive position.

One is left to conclude that we’ve encountered another situation in which we assume Democrats have some agency over two things they don’t control: 1) the fundamental commitment to racialized policing that so many whites seem to embrace and 2) the activity of organizers.

It’s not clear that anything Democratic candidates can say will change #1, and as for the second, Democratic candidates have no authority over organizers. Instead of worrying about those two things, why not try to manage what one can actually manage?