Will Democrats Ever Learn from Mistakes?

The weaknesses Democrats showed in elections in Virginia are current problems, but they really aren't new. Furthermore, saying Glenn Youngkin's victory in Virginia was just because Terry McAuliffe proved to be an ineffective candidate in 2021 just doesn't tell the whole story. 

After all, Democrats also lost seven seats in Virginia's House of Delegates; giving control of that body back to the Republican Party.

Moreover, in New Jersey, Phil Murphy's surprising struggle to win reelection as governor -- in a very blue state! -- suggests the Democrats' problems getting elected this year are more widespread. To say those weaknesses threaten Democrats' prospects in next year's mid-term elections is an understatement.

OK, briefly told, what are the most obvious problems?

• In Virginia ham-handed messaging played a big role. For instance, Republicans will never stop laughing about McAuliffe's suicidal comment during a debate that sounded like he was opposed to parents having any say-so about what goes on in public schools. 
• The recurring inability to unify behind the candidates they select and the constant squabbling by stubborn factions within the party at the worst time. (Remember the Bernie-or-Busters of 2016? Hillary Clinton sure does.)
  
• Well-meaning progressive Democrats' conviction that since they are always 100 percent right on the issues they care about the most, the electorate will simply see that ... even when those progressives do a poor job of selling their proposals (ideas that I usually like) to the public. So, convinced they are right, they refuse to compromise to actually win on election day. (See the ongoing logjam preventing the timely passing of some popular parts of Biden's Build Back Better agenda in the House of Representatives. Today's progressives don't seem to want to grasp that a lot of Democrats, nationwide, mostly agree with Joe Manchin.)
• In 2021, without unifying their party, Democrats don't have enough of the electorate on their side to win in many states. 
  
• Too many Democrats of all ideological stripes apparently can't learn from having their weaknesses to do with winning elections exposed ... again and again (sigh).       
  

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