For everyone still walking around in an apparent state of shock, I have some advice: reality check yourself as well as the Democratic Party. John Kerry didn’t lose the presidential election because he failed to counter the Republicans’ “flip-flop” mantra or swiftboat ads. John Kerry lost because the Democratic Party platform decided to focus on issues that mainstream America either doesn’t care about (i.e. gay marriage) or want to talk about (i.e. abortion rights). While polls may show that most Americans are not opposed to some form of either of those two categories (i.e., gay marriage and/or abortion rights with restrictions), when faced with an unwavering Democratic Party stance that promotes an all-or-nothing attitude on both of these major party planks, an overwhelming majority of Americans chose to walk over to, or remain with, the Republican Party’s nominee.
The lessons Democrats should take away from this are: 1. To be successful at the national level, Democrats should build their platform with more mainstream planks; 2. At the very least, they should never go back to New England to find their presidential candidate; 3. If they do choose to keep their unwavering stances on abortion and gay rights, they should at least find someone from the South (a la Clinton) who can win over the conservative electorate; 4. Finally, Democrats should, at all costs, avoid the collective myopia of the last four years which led them to believe that victory in 2004 was an inevitability.
Nick Gottuso
Mukilteo
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