Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) offered a critique of the Democratic Party nearly a year after its loss in the 2016 presidential election.
When asked by co-host Willie Geist if he thought his party had learned the right lessons from the 2016 defeat, Moulton said he was “not sure” and described the party as being in its worst position since the 1920s.
“I’m not sure we have,” he said. “I think we have to take a hard look at ourselves in the mirror and recognize that we’ve lost, not just in 2016, but in several elections before that. We’re in the worst position we’ve been since the 1920s — in the House, the Senate and the White House. We’re not in a governing position at all. And if we don’t realize that we are partly to blame for that, that we’ve lost touch with a lot of American voters, we’ve lost touch with voters who used to be on our side, then we’re not going to be able to move forward. So rather than just opposing the Trump administration and telling everybody about how awful the Republicans are, let’s show a vision for our own future. Let’s talk about what Democrats can do for the country. Let’s talk about a Democratic tax reform plan, a Democratic national security plan, a Democratic plan to build infrastructure. That’s what we should be talking about — a real vision for the future.”
Going forward, Moulton argued his party needed new leadership.
“Well look, I think we’re focused on a lot of things that just don’t really matter to the voters that we’ve lost,” Moulton said. “You know, some people call it identity politics. There is nothing wrong with identity politics. That’s sort of a false dichotomy. Some of the fights that we have over the right to marry whom you love and whatnot, that’s really important. I mean, I want my own brother to marry who he loves, right? But that doesn’t mean you can’t talk about the economy. That doesn’t mean that Democrats shouldn’t have a plan to move this country forward. And I think what we need in the Democratic Party more than anything is just some new leadership — a new generation of leadership.”
Moulton went on to add he had been recruiting that new generation of leadership and he highlighted some of the military veterans among those recruits. As for a run for the White House, Moulton said he tells people he is focused on the 2018 midterm elections and that he is not running in 2020.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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