Democrats’ biggest challenge seems internal

Bill Knight column for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, Jan. 8, 9 or 10

Although using movies to make a point can be as lame as sports metaphors, two current films may provide a little inspiration and perspective for Democrats in 2018.

In “Darkest Hour,” the stirring speech by Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) is featured, as Britain’s Prime Minister says, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing ground, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!”

It’s a tribute to determination, one that complements a deeper perspective in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” where a wounded rebel, Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), advises a comrade that the Resistance will win “not fighting what we hate but saving what we love.”

After some electoral victories in 2017, the challenge for the Democratic Party may be to be derermined and to “save what we love.” After all, the GOP may not field candidates like accused pedophile Roy Moore. The trial in the new year could be a combination of three variations on a theme: mobilizing Democrats’ base, get-out-the-vote efforts, and truly representing everyday Americans.

Democratic victories last year ranged from overcoming a 2 to 1 minority status in Virginia’s House of Delegates to a virtual tie, to flipping more than 30 statehouse seats nationwide since Donald Trump was elected – some of which were areas where Trump prevailed by double digits.

In Alabama’s Dec. 12 balloting to replace Jeff Sessions, Democratic candidate Doug Jones defeated Moore, but by a margin of just 1.5 percent. There, several unions and the state labor federation were active in the campaign, perhaps appreciating that Jones worked in unionized steel mills several summers as a teen. Government Employees focused on central Alabama, the teachers handled Birmingham, the Building Trades several areas, and the Alabama AFL-CIO Montgomery. Operating virtually alone, the United Steelworkers in Mobile helped turn the 14 percent advantage Donald Trump had in 2016 into a 14-percent victory for Jones.

All that helped fill the vacuum left by a Democratic Party so absent that unions had to furnish local organizers and even yard signs. (The lack of a structure or support by the Democratic Party is familiar to areas essentially written off as Republican strongholds, such as Illinois 18th Congressional District. )

A key in the Jones-Moore race was the turnout of African-American voters, whose 30 percent turnout was more than Barack Obama attracted. More than 95 percent of them voted for Jones, undoubtedly remembering his role in prosecuting those responsible for bombing the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, when four girls were killed.

African-American women turned out and backed Jones overwhelmingly – 98 percent cast ballots for him, and in particular it was African-American women who belong to unions. They make up just 12 percent of union members there, but they’re credited with about 25 percent of voter contacts.

“We won in Alabama and Virginia because black women led us to victory,” conceded Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee. “We can’t take that for granted.”

Agreed.

The same goes for workers.

Despite Alabama having a larger union-membership density than Virginia or Florida – comparable to Wisconsin or New Hamphire – the Democratic Party has virtually ignored the potential there.

“Democrats have developed a habit over the last four decades of trying to get their voting base fired up during elections without delivering a whole lot once in power,” commented Bradley University assistant professor of political science Ed Burmila, writing in Rolling Stone. “They think Americans, and liberals in particular, want to see bipartisanship – lots of hand-holding and playing nice. By the time they wake up from that fantasy, it may be too late.”

The Democratic Party can no longer ignore issues and rely on the campaign message that candidates aren’t as terrible as their Republican opponents.

Although he was no Jedi, Samuel Gompers, founding president of the American Federation of Labor, said that labor must “reward its friends and punish its enemies” – in any political party.