I'm the Governor of Kentucky. Here's How Democrats Can Win Again.

[elleng]

By Andy Beshear

Mr. Beshear, a Democrat, is the governor of Kentucky.

With the November elections over, the political analysis and finger-pointing have begun on cable news and within the national Democratic Party. While I’m deeply disappointed with the national result, I refuse to play the blame game. . .

What I offer instead is a way forward. I won re-election 12 months ago by five points in a state that Donald Trump just carried by 30 points. And I did so at a time when inflation and illegal border crossings were higher than they are now. . .

When most Americans wake up in the morning, they are not thinking about politics. Americans wake up thinking about their jobs and whether they make enough money to support their families. . .

So the way forward is not complicated, but it takes work and discipline. The focus of the Democratic Party must return to creating better jobs, more affordable and accessible health care, safer roads and bridges, the best education for our children and communities where people aren’t just safer but also feel safer.

We do this through policy and by taking direct action that gets results. . .

The Democratic Party must show the American people that it cares about creating a better life for each and every American and re-earn the public’s trust about its focus and its direction.

None of this means we abandon important values and principles. . .

Earning trust and showing people you care about them also requires that we talk to people like normal human beings. And that we are not afraid to share our “why.” ..

So while others are talking about political strategy and messaging, the way forward is really about focus and about action. The next several years are the Democratic Party’s chance to show the American people that we will not just run on but also govern by addressing those core issues that can and will improve the lives of our people. . .

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/opinion/democratic-party-future-kentucky.html

((Sounds like a good formula. ALSO sounds like what V.P. Harris was saying.))

[Raven123]

1. "Aren't just safer but feel safer"

Can’t get to the entire article but what I read has me confused. If people are safer and don’t feel safer, how does one change that perception, if not by “messaging?”

I respect Beshear and goodness knows we could learn from him, but these few lines confuse me.

[elleng]

2. *We wake up thinking about the next doctor's appointment for ourselves, our parents or our kids.

We wake up thinking about the roads and bridges we will drive on that day, wondering how safe they are and how much traffic we will see. We wake up thinking about the public school we will drop our kids off at, and we wake up thinking about public safety in our communities.

Yes, there are a lot of big, important issues facing our country, but when families are struggling in these core areas, it’s hard to focus on or reach anything else. . .

So the way forward is not complicated, but it takes work and discipline.

((NOT entirely clear.))

[Alice B.]

3. I think he's approaching the difference between perception and reality

From another angle.
Say, when crime is down but people are susceptible to fear-mongering.

[doc03]

4. Where have I been? Was I in a comma the last four years or what? I am 76 years old

but I swear that is exactly what Biden and Harris did for the last four years? He was a contender for President and VP.

[elleng]

5. Right.

With you, and approaching 80.

[tulipsandroses]

9. That's what I thought too. I've cursed Joe a few times

when I punctured a tire driving through a construction zone. That damn Joe Biden getting all these roads and bridges fixed!
Healthcare- Biden made it possible for more people to qualify for the ACA.
I don’t get it. People saying they want what Biden was doing, what Harris would have improved on.

I’m not convinced that is what they want.

[Lonestarblue]

6. The Beshear famiky has been in Kentucky politics for many years. His father is a former governor.

I think name recognition and that his father was a good governor helped Beshear, who first won election after Republicans lost a huge amount of money investing employees’ pensions in risky hedge funds. They planned to recoup it by drastically cutting the pensions of teachers, firefighters, etc. Those groups revolted and staged multiple protests. The Republican incumbent governor lost to Beshear. He’s obviously been a good governor for Kentucky since they re-elected him, but what he says in this piece is what the Biden/Harris administration has been for the past four years. All the pundits and opinions of many Democrats have faiked to acknowledge that the Republicans’ right-wing media machines play a huge role in selling lies and brainwashing people so they refuse to see the truth. How we overcome right-wing media is the question.


Edited to add a free link for those who want to read the full piece.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/opinion/democratic-party-future-kentucky.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZU4.WrkY.m4nzNK4pCcKy&smid=url-share

[SamKnause]

7. Where the fuck have you been the last four years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is exactly what Biden and Harris did while trump's cult tried to stop them at every turn.

Fuck this alternative reality shit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just fucking ridiculous.

[Dem4life1970]

8. Message: Run a white male for POTUS

Really, that is the message of 2016 and 2020. After 2 terms of Obama the White American electorate went insane (for anyone who gets offended, here's a Data point: no Democrat since 1964 has won a majority of the white vote-neither Carter, Clinton, Obama, nor Biden). That insanity led to Trump. He ran a campaign based on white male privilege (rapist, insurrectionist, convicted felon) and racism, with misogyny sprinkled in for taste. The autopsy of 2012 led the GOP to believe in the South African strategy (& it's no surprise that Elon Musk, Peter Theil, and what's his face-3 white male South Africans are at the top of the Trump campaign). They want to entrench their power by fiat if they have to before 2042 arrives when the US becomes majority-minority.

A white southern male Democrat like Beshear in the short term may be the best foot forward in the post Trump era.

[dalton99a]

10. It is a hard truth.

[Dem4life1970]

11. It is an UGLY, hard truth. We found out how ugly America is by these election results.