TheOfficeMut
Unconfirmed Member
This is going to be a very long post so I apologize in advance. I'd like to hear the mistakes you've made and what you promise to do to be more inclusive and understanding going forward so that we, democrats, do not make this fatal mistake once again.
Clarification: By inclusive I do not mean to suggest that we should tolerate sexism, racism, bigotry, xenophobia and so forth.
Anyway, here goes:
After Hillary Clinton lost the primary and Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, it didn’t take long for rumors to circulate that Clinton would once again run for president after she fulfilled her duties as Secretary of State. With each passing year it became increasingly apparent that she was going to be the DNC’s candidate of choice and that the democrats were going to thrust all of their efforts into making her the nominee, regardless of reason, regardless of opposition.
When Clinton announced her bid to run for president in April, 2015, I threw all of my support behind her. I couldn’t imagine anyone else having as much experience or likability as her. From the onset I thought the election was going to be a breeze. Coming off of Obama’s unprecedented 2008 and slightly-worse-yet-still comforting 2012 victories, for sure no republican would pose a threat and that we – the democrats – galvanized a base that wasn’t going away, one that would surely show up for Clinton as it did for Obama.
When Donald Trump announced his bid for the White House, I immediately called the election in my head: “Clinton wins in a landslide of similar or greater proportion to Obama.” I noticed most people here and in the media took his announcement as a joke, so I did too. I felt reassured through my echo chamber that is NeoGAF that no one would take him seriously, that the mere announcement and audacity of the buffoon from The Celebrity Apprentice running for president would in fact help the democrats and hurt the republicans.
Back on the liberal side Bernie Sanders announced his bid for president. This man’s primary was going to be in vain and I felt rather annoyed that he expected to challenge Clinton. Clinton waited eight years and deserved an unopposed path through the primary and to the White House. Why? Because I thought I knew better; because I thought she was progressive enough and that people would be fine with that; because I thought that someone like Sanders had to concede before even starting in order to not ruin her or the party’s chances of reelecting a democrat.
Then Sanders began campaigning and his message began resonating and his supporters started growing and suddenly I found myself invigorated, more so than I had ever felt, even with Clinton. At one point I found myself rooting for Sanders over Clinton, but that was short-lived. Sometime before the first debate I kept reading on this forum that Sanders’ ideas were pie-in-the-sky, unrealistic, bravado acts attempted to persuade Clinton supporters to switch and that lasted through the election. I once again reinforced the idea that the only way forward was with Clinton and that Sanders, the outsider, was going to jeopardize our only chance.
Once the debates started to happen I scoffed at most of what Sanders would say, even ideas I wanted and agreed with. I would frequent the forum to reassure myself that my train of thought was right, that Sanders was unrealistic and that Clinton still had it in the bag, and I always came away a little more arrogant than I had been before. It also didn’t take long for me to mentally see and participate in a divide where I alienated Sanders supporters because I viewed them as an enemy to the party, one that needed unity, unity that was only going to be realized under Clinton.
On the republican side Trump dominated the debates by humiliating his opponents through insults that only children would make while also offering no substantive policies. Great! He was doing the work of the democrats and reasonable republicans were going to be voting for Clinton this election. Sanders supporters could try to create their rift but it wouldn’t matter, we didn’t need them.
Then the primaries started to wind down, Clinton won and the conventions began to approach. Sanders had still not entirely conceded and the in-fight with the democrats had grown feverishly. I laughed when Sanders supporters on this forum were largely ignored or banned because they felt they weren’t being heard. I could only empathize with Clinton supporters. “Once she is officially dubbed the nominee then we can get this train rolling.” On the other side, Trump’s impressive takeover of the GOP and eventual nomination only reaffirmed to me that his joke of a party was going nowhere and that this election was for the democrats to lose. This was going to be a piece of cake.
But up until then Clinton’s email scandal had permeated the media nonstop and her likability as a candidate was consistently shown to be very low, on par with Trump, yet none of this mattered. People surely had to fall in line come November because look at the opposition! Clinton was the clear choice and anyone else, especially Trump, was literally illogical. Email scandal? Ha! That doesn’t matter. I’m sure people dismiss it just as much as I do. What about her deplorable comment? It doesn’t matter either, it’s only the truth and the people getting offended weren’t ever voting for her to begin with. But what about the Clinton Foundation, Wall Street speeches, Haiti, Benghazi, super-predators, and corporate interests, won’t they be a problem? I thought none of this mattered. I thought the constant battering and decades’ worth of GOP assault only refined her character.
Up until the very day of the election I was stubborn and steadfast. I thought her GOTV was smooth sailing and that Trump was going to be met with Goldwater. Never did I expect it all to come crashing down. But by 11pm on November 8th, a reality I never expected took hold and we elected Donald Trump as President of the United States of America.
The day after I was angry – still am – about how all of this turned out, but it’s been quite a sobering experience. I’m still scared and will continue to be scared for as long as he remains president and the GOP controls congress, but in many ways this loss illustrates to me how unbelievably shortsighted and ignorant I was throughout this entire election and how getting your information through an echo chamber – NeoGAF – is not feasible.
Now we are beginning to see many reports about how the Clinton team misjudged the white working class (warned by Bill, Obama and Biden), failed to adequately poll and visit crucial states, failed to get millions of voters to show up for her, and had a message that centered on her and not on America which didn’t resonate with others. All of the things I thought didn’t hurt her actually did. I was extremely naïve in thinking this could never happen, but here we are.
I think people need to come to terms with how they’ve treated others if you’re like me. Our naivety and shortsightedness got the best of us and we really need to evaluate what we are going to do going into 2018 and 2020. I needed a cathartic moment and writing this out has helped. Hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I had behaved differently before. I still won’t sympathize with Trump supporters who voted for his platform based on opinions of hate, but if we, the democrats, want to take back control, then at the very least we need to understand how Sanders and Clinton supporters alike became so divided and make an effort to come to a mutual agreement. I will not say one way or another whether Sanders would have done better because that’s not something that can ever be proven anymore. We need to look forward and become unified.
I had so much more I wanted to say that I think I’ll say it through the course of this thread.
Clarification: By inclusive I do not mean to suggest that we should tolerate sexism, racism, bigotry, xenophobia and so forth.
Anyway, here goes:
After Hillary Clinton lost the primary and Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, it didn’t take long for rumors to circulate that Clinton would once again run for president after she fulfilled her duties as Secretary of State. With each passing year it became increasingly apparent that she was going to be the DNC’s candidate of choice and that the democrats were going to thrust all of their efforts into making her the nominee, regardless of reason, regardless of opposition.
When Clinton announced her bid to run for president in April, 2015, I threw all of my support behind her. I couldn’t imagine anyone else having as much experience or likability as her. From the onset I thought the election was going to be a breeze. Coming off of Obama’s unprecedented 2008 and slightly-worse-yet-still comforting 2012 victories, for sure no republican would pose a threat and that we – the democrats – galvanized a base that wasn’t going away, one that would surely show up for Clinton as it did for Obama.
When Donald Trump announced his bid for the White House, I immediately called the election in my head: “Clinton wins in a landslide of similar or greater proportion to Obama.” I noticed most people here and in the media took his announcement as a joke, so I did too. I felt reassured through my echo chamber that is NeoGAF that no one would take him seriously, that the mere announcement and audacity of the buffoon from The Celebrity Apprentice running for president would in fact help the democrats and hurt the republicans.
Back on the liberal side Bernie Sanders announced his bid for president. This man’s primary was going to be in vain and I felt rather annoyed that he expected to challenge Clinton. Clinton waited eight years and deserved an unopposed path through the primary and to the White House. Why? Because I thought I knew better; because I thought she was progressive enough and that people would be fine with that; because I thought that someone like Sanders had to concede before even starting in order to not ruin her or the party’s chances of reelecting a democrat.
Then Sanders began campaigning and his message began resonating and his supporters started growing and suddenly I found myself invigorated, more so than I had ever felt, even with Clinton. At one point I found myself rooting for Sanders over Clinton, but that was short-lived. Sometime before the first debate I kept reading on this forum that Sanders’ ideas were pie-in-the-sky, unrealistic, bravado acts attempted to persuade Clinton supporters to switch and that lasted through the election. I once again reinforced the idea that the only way forward was with Clinton and that Sanders, the outsider, was going to jeopardize our only chance.
Once the debates started to happen I scoffed at most of what Sanders would say, even ideas I wanted and agreed with. I would frequent the forum to reassure myself that my train of thought was right, that Sanders was unrealistic and that Clinton still had it in the bag, and I always came away a little more arrogant than I had been before. It also didn’t take long for me to mentally see and participate in a divide where I alienated Sanders supporters because I viewed them as an enemy to the party, one that needed unity, unity that was only going to be realized under Clinton.
On the republican side Trump dominated the debates by humiliating his opponents through insults that only children would make while also offering no substantive policies. Great! He was doing the work of the democrats and reasonable republicans were going to be voting for Clinton this election. Sanders supporters could try to create their rift but it wouldn’t matter, we didn’t need them.
Then the primaries started to wind down, Clinton won and the conventions began to approach. Sanders had still not entirely conceded and the in-fight with the democrats had grown feverishly. I laughed when Sanders supporters on this forum were largely ignored or banned because they felt they weren’t being heard. I could only empathize with Clinton supporters. “Once she is officially dubbed the nominee then we can get this train rolling.” On the other side, Trump’s impressive takeover of the GOP and eventual nomination only reaffirmed to me that his joke of a party was going nowhere and that this election was for the democrats to lose. This was going to be a piece of cake.
But up until then Clinton’s email scandal had permeated the media nonstop and her likability as a candidate was consistently shown to be very low, on par with Trump, yet none of this mattered. People surely had to fall in line come November because look at the opposition! Clinton was the clear choice and anyone else, especially Trump, was literally illogical. Email scandal? Ha! That doesn’t matter. I’m sure people dismiss it just as much as I do. What about her deplorable comment? It doesn’t matter either, it’s only the truth and the people getting offended weren’t ever voting for her to begin with. But what about the Clinton Foundation, Wall Street speeches, Haiti, Benghazi, super-predators, and corporate interests, won’t they be a problem? I thought none of this mattered. I thought the constant battering and decades’ worth of GOP assault only refined her character.
Up until the very day of the election I was stubborn and steadfast. I thought her GOTV was smooth sailing and that Trump was going to be met with Goldwater. Never did I expect it all to come crashing down. But by 11pm on November 8th, a reality I never expected took hold and we elected Donald Trump as President of the United States of America.
The day after I was angry – still am – about how all of this turned out, but it’s been quite a sobering experience. I’m still scared and will continue to be scared for as long as he remains president and the GOP controls congress, but in many ways this loss illustrates to me how unbelievably shortsighted and ignorant I was throughout this entire election and how getting your information through an echo chamber – NeoGAF – is not feasible.
Now we are beginning to see many reports about how the Clinton team misjudged the white working class (warned by Bill, Obama and Biden), failed to adequately poll and visit crucial states, failed to get millions of voters to show up for her, and had a message that centered on her and not on America which didn’t resonate with others. All of the things I thought didn’t hurt her actually did. I was extremely naïve in thinking this could never happen, but here we are.
I think people need to come to terms with how they’ve treated others if you’re like me. Our naivety and shortsightedness got the best of us and we really need to evaluate what we are going to do going into 2018 and 2020. I needed a cathartic moment and writing this out has helped. Hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I had behaved differently before. I still won’t sympathize with Trump supporters who voted for his platform based on opinions of hate, but if we, the democrats, want to take back control, then at the very least we need to understand how Sanders and Clinton supporters alike became so divided and make an effort to come to a mutual agreement. I will not say one way or another whether Sanders would have done better because that’s not something that can ever be proven anymore. We need to look forward and become unified.
I had so much more I wanted to say that I think I’ll say it through the course of this thread.
