Not Left vs. Center, but the People vs. the Powerful

The flawed study ‘Deciding to Win’ may help Democrats get back to fighting for the forgotten middle class again.

We are digesting a wave of studies on why Democrats lost in 2024 and what they should do now. Deciding to Win, by Simon Bazelon, Lauren Harper Pope, and Liam Kerr, argues that Democrats must move to the center to succeed. It’s getting a lot of attention; after all, its findings seemed to be endorsed by Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and my partner, James Carville.

So, is the answer to eschew the left, to moderate and move to the center?

The study’s authors are right that Democrats have to address their losses with moderate voters, eschew the elite’s identity politics in favor of economic issues, and address fundamental doubts on crime, immigration, gender identity, and American exceptionalism.

The full article can be read at The American Prospect.