Now that the victorious glow for several high-profile candidates of color has worn off slightly—an inevitability expedited by the final concessions of Andrew Gillum in Florida and Stacey Abrams in Georgia—the time was ripe for a BEWARE OF PLAYING IDENTITY POLITICS, DEMOCRATS piece.
That piece comes to us this morning from Politico. It carries the baffling headline, “2020 Democrats go all-in on ‘identity politics.’” It opens (emphasis mine throughout):
Democrats thinking about running for president in 2020 are dramatically changing the way the party talks about race in Donald Trump’s America: Get ready to hear a lot more about intersectionality, allyship, inclusivity and POC.
White and nonwhite Democratic hopefuls are talking more explicitly about race than the party’s White House aspirants ever have — and shrugging off warnings that embracing so-called identity politics could distract from the party’s economic message and push white voters further into Donald Trump’s arms.
The first rhetorical pitfall here: What, exactly, is the Democrats’ “economic message” to its base? Being the party that doesn’t actively want to use poor people as human footstools isn’t much of an affirmative message. Also, for the love of god, “identity politics” need not—and shouldn’t, in my opinion—run independent of “economic” (read: class) concerns. But here I am, probably talking too much about “intersectionality” and “POC” for this middle-of-the-road writer’s taste!
Politico goes on to credit this “shift”—2020 Democratic primary voters caring about issues like systemic racism—to Donald Trump’s presidency, which absolutely has thrust issues of identity to the forefront. Were these issues not on white liberal voters’ minds before? Broadly yes, but that’s another debate for another day!
Karthik Ganapathy, a spokesman for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, smartly told the site: “I think people on the left are really looking for someone that can take on corporate power and eradicate systemic racism.” I’m nodding so vigorously my neck is starting to hurt!!
After going on to recount various (white) 2020 contenders’ steps, and missteps, on race in recent months—Elizabeth Warren’s strange messaging about that DNA test and Bernie Sanders’ talking about racism—among…
