Biden Becomes Litmus Test for 2028 Contenders

[Sympthsical]

43. There's a difference between navel-gazing and being able to admit obvious things

Last year wasn't that long ago, and I do remember the commentary surrounding it.

It was plain and obvious to everyone - literally everyone who wasn't invested in wild conspiracies out of partisan motivation - that something was wrong. People saw what they saw. And instead of acknowledging it, the lies, obfuscations, and redirects became more and more ridiculous over time.

It was a genuine scandal. If Trump weren't so singularly awful, it would legitimately be one of the biggest political scandals of the 21st Century so far. We still talk about Woodrow and Edith Wilson, and this instance had that flavor all over it.

This is a big problem for us. This inability to recognize, admit, and engage on obvious things. That the political narrative must always supersede the plain reality that voters perceive. Telling people grocery prices and housing prices and insurance and their wallets weren't an issue. The economy's great, jack. And anyone who tells you otherwise is a right-winger!

It was absolutely insane that that was a through line of our messaging. That there weren't issues with the President and why are you believing your lying eyes? Those was some insanely brazen brass balls to attempt on an electorate that has 24/7 access to video.

And layering conspiracies all over it? Remember the grand crypto/tech bro conspiracy post. I do.

C'mon.

Yes, I want this as a litmus test. I want Democratic candidates who can state obvious things, acknowledge obvious realities, and not live in reality-adjacent partisan media bubbles that no one believes outside of those who already attend the company picnic.

Yes, telling the truth and acknowledging the obvious should be a candidate litmus. Being able to gather information, process it, and make reality-based plans in the face of it is something we've lost in the age of social media where narrative must always reign and anyone who won't indulge the spin is a heretic.

If people can't look at the past decade and realize that this era of manufactured alternative narrative reality must come to an end, we're doomed. The 2030 census is coming. We need to knock this shit off and deal with what's coming. We're starting to lose youth, ffs. Us. Democrats. We can't even appeal to young people the way we used to. And that was, like, our entire thing.

How many alarm bells are required here that - just maybe - the insularity has not led to making the best choices?