What Atlanta’s Dan Quinn can teach the Left.
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
In the wake of the stunning comeback by the New England Patriots against the Atlanta Falcons in last Sunday’s Super Bowl you can be certain of one thing. Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn and his staff are hard at work figuring out how they gave up a 25 point third quarter lead. Atlanta, like most good football teams, understands that forthrightly addressing failure is what great organizations do.
The entirety of the American Left would do well to follow Atlanta’s lead. But so far, there is little evidence that they will.
Take top Democratic leaders. They should now clearly understand that getting 70 percent or more of the vote in the big metro areas on the east and west coasts isn’t enough to win the presidency or set the national agenda. To win the presidency, and to lead the country, you need the heartland on board with you, too.
Yet the top names in the Democratic party continue to be aging coastal liberals. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is from New York. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi is from San Francisco. The early favorite for the 2020 presidential nomination is Sen. Elizabeth Warren from Boston.
But name a Democrat up-and-comer from Nebraska. Or Wisconsin. Or Kansas, Iowa or Missouri. You can’t, can you? That’s because there isn’t one.
That takes us to shrieking lefty celebrities. Unlike in the liberal enclaves where celebrities live, most people in America’s heartland are appalled when they hear a woman dropping F-bombs in public like Madonna did. Good mid-westerners wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something on their heads meant to evoke thoughts or images of female private parts. Being a “nasty woman,” as Ashley Judd proclaimed herself, isn’t something of which to be proud in Topeka, Kansas. Yet these stars persist in their vulgarity, taking no heed of the fact that, according to polls, most Americans find it offensive.
Then there’s the legacy media. They embarrassed themselves during the 2016 election to the point of risking permanent irrelevance.
So, in light of that embarrassment, what changes have the legacy media made? Answer: none – other than to double down against Donald Trump. The Daily Wire’s John Nolte is making a weekly list of blatantly inaccurate legacy media stories on the president. The latest compilation has 24 unmistakable examples. How many times do you have to be caught getting it wrong before you start working extra hard to get it right?
The Atlanta Falcons before they are finished will completely understand how they blew the Super Bowl. They know that they have no shot next season if they don’t.
You’d think that Democrats who lost a winnable election, Hollywood celebs that are finding it increasingly hard to sell a ticket and a legacy media that was not only wrong but appallingly wrong, would want a similar understanding.
There is, however, no evidence anywhere to support that idea.
The Falcons have a shot at next year’s Super Bowl. But right now, the Dems have no shot at all.
It isn’t that the left can’t learn from their mistakes…they WON’T learn from them. And it doesn’t matter who tries to teach them, they just will not learn from their mistakes. Instead repeating them over and over again like a broken record.
Well said Paul….as usual.
Good analogy Paul, as the presidency IS the Super Bowl for the Democrats, and they did not expect for the “blue wall” or the defensive line of the rust belt to be penetrated. It is difficult to understand their unwillingness to learn from serious mistakes, and how they are too willing to double down on their failed game plan. By ignoring the deep concerns of the American people that our country was heading in the wrong direction, they were relying too heavily on the historical success that they have enjoyed in those key states. In my opinion, this unexpected and devastating loss has created a very irrational response, which only convinces those who voted for Trump that they made the right choice. Also, those Democrats who were flirting with the idea of crossing over could be persuaded to do so in the next election. As noted in the opinion piece, we may be witnessing a complete realignment of the electorate, which could result in the once great Democrat party becoming a regional and insignificant factor in national elections. If President Trump will fulfill or even partially accomplish his agenda, he will be re-elected in 2020, and Vice President Pence could be a serious contender for the following election. I, for one, hope that the Democrats will not adjust their game plan or their leaders, and that they will continue to deepen the hole in which they so deservedly occupy.
I too hope they stay Pat!
YOU WISH “early favorite for the 2020 presidential nomination is Sen. Elizabeth Warren.” Warren is to Dems what-Fiorina-was-to-GOP: Useful bulldog, marginalized when-the-rubber-hits-the-road.
Wide angle shot: Before the election, your Rush Limbaugh sounded exasperated by the inevitability of a Clinton win, while Michael Moore was telling anyone willing to listen that Trump had it in the bag. The opinion industry was as-abuzz-with “How will the Republicans re-group?” as it is now asking the same of the Dems.
Blah-blah-blah as — with only two one-term exceptions since FDR — parties swap 8-year turns at the White House.
Keep an eye on Dems’ REAL bench, many-of-whom — in a blind Pepsi Challenge test — you’d guess were Republicans:
https://youtu.be/Bj34HIm8tm8
PS: And remember that you heard it first here…
Dems?
2020?
“Gavin Newsom.”
Sure was nice to be in the Caribbean for a week; no political news except CNN, which is….no news. Yep, I agree that for the Democrats to have any chance to regain significance, they will need to disguise as Conservatives (not Republicans) and have a blind electorate. Chris Kennedy has about the same charisma and command of the English language as Caroline Kennedy (who uttered “you know” over a hundred times in a short speech during a failed senatorial campaign). Whoa, but we should never overlook the charming Chelsea Clinton as we worry about the deep bench of the Democrat party. The most immediate concern of the Democrats should be the prospect of defending 25 seats (2 of these are Independents who caucus with the Dems), and only 8 Republicans up for re-election in 2018. Methinks there is a little “whistling through the graveyard” going on here.