Democrats have won the national debate on economic issues, declared CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday’s GPS.
Zakaria cited polls conducted by left-wing advocacy organizations as evidence of his claim:
The Democratic economic agenda is broadly popular with the public. More people prefer the party’s views to those of Republicans on taxes, poverty reduction, health care, government benefits, and even climate change and energy policy. In one recent poll, 3 in 4 supported raising the minimum wage to $9. 72% wanted to provide pre-K to all 4-year-olds in poor families. Eight in ten favored expanding food stamps. It is noteworthy that each of these proposals found support from a majority of Republicans.
Zakaria advised Democrats to adjust their messaging — but not policies — toward non-overtly economic issues to improve his party’s political fortunes: “The Democrats need to talk about America’s national identity in a way that stresses the common elements that bind, not the particular ones that divide.” No comments were offered on Democratic narrative fomenting division across the lines of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, income, or wealth.
“Minorities,” suggested Zakaria, are inherently threatened and need protection from American society: “[The Democratic Party’s] defense of minorities and celebration of diversity are genuine and praiseworthy.”
Using the nonsense term “gay rights,” Zakaria described Democrat support for redefining marriage and family as “progressive” and “admirable.”
Expressing contempt for the American electorate, Zakaria described their political considerations (particularly among those who voted for Donald Trump) as grounded in superficial considerations:
The more I study this subject, the more I am convinced that people cast their vote mostly based on an emotional bond with a candidate, a sense that they get each other. Democrats have to recognize this. They should always stay true to their ideals, of course, but yet convey to a broad section of Americans — rural, less-educated, older, whiter — that they understand and respect their lives, their values and their worth. It’s a much harder balancing act than one more push to raise the minimum wage. But this cultural realm is the crossroads of politics today.
“Working class whites,” said Zakaria last December, voted based on “emotional,” not “rational,” considerations. He did not define “working class whites.”
Two days before last year’s presidential election, Zakaria described Trump’s “core beliefs” as “racist.” He has since adopted a more circumspect approach in denigrating Americans who voted for Trump as generalized bigots; borrowing from Barack Obama’s strategy of more subtly attacking the character of their shared political detractors (“increased resentment about … people who don’t look like us or practice the same faith as us”).
Zakaria presents himself as a politically objective and non-partisan news media figure. CNN similarly presents itself as an objective and non-partisan news media outlet, marketing itself as “The Most Trusted Name In News.”
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.