Pelosi and the need for change in the democratic party

I kind of covered this tangentally in yesterday's article, but Nancy Pelosi said recently that no direction change is necessary for the democratic party and that the party needs to work on its messaging. Now, a lot of people castigated her over this already, and I can understand why, but in light of yesterday's article, I'm going to recognize that this could be interpreted in many different ways and that only some interpretations of this statement are bad.

First, the meaning many people took it as. That the democratic party is "doubling down on a failed strategy" as Jimmy Dore put it, and that they've learned nothing from their defeat. That they're already going to be pushing more Clintons in the future, and Pelosis, and Schumers, and that nothing is really going to change, then that's a problem. I'm already seeing people talking about centrists like Biden and Booker and Kaine in 2020, and I'm so enthused over these guys running I'm already considering another protest vote for the greens in 2020. The fact is, the direction the democratic party is on has been an unmitigated disaster, and the democrats seem to think running more to the right is the answer. It isn't. Again, I believe this wasn't a victory for the right. I believe it was a failure of the left. No one is inspired by people like Clinton. Well, except hardcore feminists maybe. People who showed up for Clinton voted while holding their nose for the most part. She was a very weak and uninspiring candidate. She was scandal laden and more or less forced down our throats. If this is what the dems mean, then the left, including myself, have every right to castigate them for this. It's a horrible strategy to run to the center when people are fed up and demoralized with centrists. It will just serve for future defeats because the establishment is just so clueless that they don't see the need for change.

If, however, this claim that the democrats don't need to change is based on their core values, which Pelosi implied, and that they need to focus on the details, I'm a bit more sympathetic here. I want the liberals to act like liberals. I want them to embrace their core values and not be shy in pushing them. It's possible that Clinton's approach was just bad messaging, and that Sanders represents a much better messaging of the same ideals, as well as a much more left wing approach to the same kinds of politics. If this is the kind of thing Pelosi was saying, I'm a bit more willing to work with her on that and support the democrats in future elections.

One thing is clear to me though, the democrats DO need to change in some way that involves moving to the left. Whether they mean the details of their plans or the big picture, something has to give. Their current trajectory is a death spiral.