Do The Democrats Really Want To Lose An Election They Could Win?

Reports of the latest debate among Democratic candidates in the US focus on how Senator Elizabeth Warren sharply criticized former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg – a late comer in the nomination battle who is setting records and annoying the competition with spending a huge amount of his own, I repeat his own, money. According to Warren the former New York mayor should be disqualified because of some indelicate, rude comments he made years ago.

Here is how I wish Bloomberg had responded.

‘Now that Senator Warren has gotten that out of her system perhaps we can focus on the job at hand. I would like to remind people on this stage that the only, repeat only, chance of implementing any of these ambitious programs is if a Democrat is elected president. And by the way, winning the White House is not enough. The successful candidate must ensure that enough Democratic candidates win House and Senate races enabling us to control Congress. This involves hard work, money and organization. I would ask each candidate on this stage how he or she is going to accomplish that. 

Michael Bloomberg

Holding the high moral ground and losing is not an option. As history shows, Democrats are good at that. Now, Senator Warren has a point – those comments were insensitive and wrong. I deeply apologize for them. Against those comments I would put my accomplishments – both in and out of office -- on behalf of the entire wonderful mosaic of citizens that make up this country.

According to certain members of the Democratic Party all those accomplishments were possible simply because I am fortunate to be wealthy. First, I make no apologies for earning a large amount of money. Unlike Trump I didn’t simply inherit it. Countless valuable colleagues and I created what turned out to be a successful company. In many ways this typifies the aspirational nature of American society and, frankly, this is what makes this country unique. People aspire to achieve. And our system allows that. Now, Senator Sanders doesn’t like this economic model. From time to time he calls himself a Socialist. If he’s serious this amounts to government control of production, i.e. the government replaces the individual who wants personally to achieve something.  But then we have to ask if he really is serious. His book of accomplishments during his long Senate tenure is pretty thin – other than of course pandering to hunters in his adopted state of Vermont by opposing several efforts at gun control. We also have to ask if he even cares about helping the rest of the Democratic ticket. For years he liked to style himself an Independent, affiliating with the Democratic Party only when it suits him – like now.

Senator Bernie Sanders

It is very important that any American government recognises the value of those aspirational dreams of so many citizens. But this is not a free-for-all. It involves the real rule of law and the maintenance of a level playing field to ensure equal opportunities. It is also critical for any government to recognise that all outcomes will not be equal. Therefore we must ensure that the safety net of health care, housing, financial security, and education gets stronger and stronger. We must combine desire to achieve with compassion. Without that safety net, without security for all our society will be badly damaged. All you have to do is look at the record of the Trump administration to see the proof of this.

I am not going to stand up here and lecture you about my comprehensive plan, or plans, for strengthening that safety net. My experience as chief executive of a large company and as mayor of the incredibly complex city of New York demonstrates clearly the vital need to include multiple voices, multiple opinions in designing successful approaches to major problems. It takes time and a great deal of hard work to build the consensus required to implement a successful program. No one person or small group of people – however well educated – has a monopoly on brilliant ways to tackle common problems. Genius can and does come from the smallest, most humble towns in the country as well as from our leading universities.

Senator Elizabeth Warren

One of the advantages of age is that you remember all too well previous elections where the Democratic candidate was routed by the Republican. I was a young man in 1972 when the late Senator George McGovern, a decent and honourable man from South Dakota, was routed by Richard Nixon in an election the Democrats could have and should have won. But they were torn apart by issues including the Vietnam War, radical populism and clear racial and gender injustices. The center collapsed and Nixon was all too happy to fill it. I remember a famous comment another defeated Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson, made when an admirer told him he was the most intelligent and decent man to run for president. ‘Thank you,’ Stevenson replied, ‘but being intelligent and decent means very little if you don’t get elected.’

So I would hope the Democratic candidate in 2020 remembers that while we need the strong support of active, committed wings of the party that by itself is not enough to win. You need a big piece of the center. We found that winning formula in 2018. In order to restore our country, to end our international isolation, to end the bigotry and divisions that define so much of the Trump administration we must unite all factions of this great party.