“It’s important that these voices become much louder,” Rosenberg told me. “Democrats have to stop allowing the debate to be dominated by Republicans and extremists.”
Dear Friends,
Despite our deep, collective desire to return to normalcy, it appears that 2023 is going to be another eventful year of politics. Some observations, insights, events:
Tomorrow NDN Hosts Leaders of 4 Increasingly Important Pro-Democracy/Center-Left Media Organizations - Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, at noon ET for a remarkable live gathering of innovative media leaders. Along with our friends at Future Majority, we are bringing together four organizations we think are doing exemplary work, and need greater attention in DC and across the country. Joining us for this discussion about the new media landscape are:
- Ben Meiselas, The MeidasTouch
- Tara McGowan, Courier Newsroom
- Joe Trippi, Resolute Square
- David Rothkopf, DSR Network
You can learn more, get streaming info here. Simon has also posted a new essay about why this event is important, and why Democrats need to really focus now on getting louder. This is going to be a great event - join us, invite others, all are welcome!
A Real Economic Debate Has Begun - Democrats Must Win It - In a new post, Simon discusses the need for Democrats to win the economic debate with Republicans this year, and reminds us just how strong the economy has been under Biden and Democratic Presidents more broadly. Some key points:
- 5 times as many jobs have been created under Biden as last 3 GOP Presidents combined
- US at lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, lowest poverty/uninsured rates ever
- GDP growth is 3.4% - 3x what it was under Trump
- US economic recovery from COVID better than any other G7 nation
- Almost 2 jobs for every unemployed person, new business formation at very elevated levels
- Deficit and trade deficit lower, energy prices and inflation also continuing to drop
- Of 47m jobs created since 1989, 45m- 96% - have been created under Dem Presidents
Related material - January Jobs Report - Economy Remains Strong, 10.7m Biden Jobs, Video: With Democrats Things Get Better (12/06/22), Some Economic Questions for House Republicans
Biden Heads To Mexico, Kicks Off Important Immigration Debate Here in the US – On his way to meeting with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, President Biden offered an intelligent new plan to address the unprecedented flow of migrants to the our southern border. It would accept an elevated level of asylum seekers with fiscal sponsors from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, while using temporary authorities to turn back those who don’t fit these new requirements. An important new debate about immigration and the border has begun, and NDN is hopeful, given the GOP’s obvious concern about these issues, that a bi-partisan legislative package to modernize our immigration system could get to the President’s desk this year.
Two new op-eds, Farah Stockman in the NYTimes and David Ignatius in the Washington Post, provide helpful context. In a Washington Post essay, Greg Sargent cites Simon on how the President should approach this debate:
As Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg points out, the four border states are represented by five Democratic senators and only two Republican ones — and by three Democratic governors. Big gains in the Southwest are one of the party’s biggest political success stories. Shouldn’t the immigration debate reflect this?
Simon's Video Briefing on the New Congress, New Election Cycle– A week ago Friday Simon held a live Zoom based discussion with the NDN community where he offered his early take on the new Congress and the relative strength of the two parties as we enter a new election cycle. You can watch it and get additional resources here. His top takeaways:
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Dems head into the 2024 cycle the stronger party, GOP still too MAGA
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Dems have 3 big priorities now – keep economy growing/prevent GOP sabotage, win the war in Ukraine/defend democracy, fix the immigration system
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McCarthy has yielded to extremists, MAGA still far too powerful in the GOP
In the briefing Simon also discusses the new front page NYT story, The ‘Red Wave’ Washout: How Skewed Polls Fed A False Election Narrative, which chronicles NDN’s battle against right-wing election narratives in the 2022 election.
Understanding the Nature of the Conflict We Are In – 2023 has already provided several vivid reminders that despite the 2022 election being a very good one for Democrats, the threat of MAGA and its allies, here and abroad, remains a very real one. Creating a far better understanding of the nature of this new conflict America and pro-democracy forces find themselves in, and forging a long-term plan to ensure democracy prevails here and abroad has become one of the center-left’s most important responsibilities now.
Our defense of democracy in WWII and the Cold War was one of the Democratic Party’s most important achievements. It appears history is calling on us once again. In a new Spanish language essay in Mexico's El Universal, Univision anchor Leon Krauze quotes Simon extensively about the dangers of the GOP's descent into illiberalism.
Onward - The NDN Team
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