patrick.net

Two good articles from the NYT today:

The first is about identity politics: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-identity-liberalism.html?_r=0

One of the many lessons of the recent presidential election campaign and its repugnant outcome is that the age of identity liberalism must be brought to an end. Hillary Clinton was at her best and most uplifting when she spoke about American interests in world affairs and how they relate to our understanding of democracy. But when it came to life at home, she tended on the campaign trail to lose that large vision and slip into the rhetoric of diversity, calling out explicitly to African-American, Latino, L.G.B.T. and women voters at every stop. This was a strategic mistake. If you are going to mention groups in America, you had better mention all of them. If you don’t, those left out will notice and feel excluded. Which, as the data show, was exactly what happened with the white working class and those with strong religious convictions. Fully two-thirds of white voters without college degrees voted for Donald Trump, as did over 80 percent of white evangelicals.

The second was about voter dynamics regarding resistance to Trump on the basis of personality. It used Berlusconi as an example, and stated things that I've heard from Trump supporters here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/opinion/the-right-way-to-resist-trump.html

Mr. Berlusconi was able to govern Italy for as long as he did mostly thanks to the incompetence of his opposition. It was so rabidly obsessed with his personality that any substantive political debate disappeared; it focused only on personal attacks, the effect of which was to increase Mr. Berlusconi’s popularity. His secret was an ability to set off a Pavlovian reaction among his leftist opponents, which engendered instantaneous sympathy in most moderate voters. Mr. Trump is no different.

We saw this dynamic during the presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton was so focused on explaining how bad Mr. Trump was that she too often didn’t promote her own ideas, to make the positive case for voting for her. The news media was so intent on ridiculing Mr. Trump’s behavior that it ended up providing him with free advertising.

One of my primary objections to Trump (beyond personality) was how he used vague statements and shifting positions to avoid spelling out exactly what he would do. I have a feeling he will disappoint a lot of his supporters. I had that feeling before he was elected, and it seems to be getting confirmed based on the transition rumors. But guessing about how he will govern is kind of like reading tea leaves right now. So, I'm happy to wait out the Trumpsition, and see how things play out.

Another thing that's interesting in this time of second guessing among Democrats is the closeness of the election (