Stop being 'bedwetters' about Biden's 2024 chances: Dem strategist
September 06, 2023
More polling released this week cast fresh doubts on the viability of President Joe Biden's reelection campaign, and in particular highlighted voter anxiety about the president's age.
But Politico's Playbook reports that Democratic operative Jim Messina, who helped lead former President Barack Obama's successful 2012 reelection campaign, thinks Democrats need to chill out with panicky missives about Biden's 2024 chances.
“Historically, we’re f*cking bedwetters,” Messina tells Playbook. “We grew up in the ’80s and ’90s when Republicans won elections all the time. Democrats had their hearts deeply broken when Hillary lost and people didn’t see that coming. And so, you know, we continually believe every bad thing people say.”
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In fact, Messina has even put together a slide deck designed to allay Democrats' fears of former President Donald Trump winning another term in the White House despite being impeached twice during his first term and despite having been indicted in four separate jurisdictions.
Among other things, Messina thinks Biden and his team are right to talk up the current state of the economy, which features historically low unemployment and has seen inflation consistently fall over the last year, despite the fact that polls show voters are still rating the economy negatively.
Additionally, Messina believes Democrats have found a big electoral winner when it comes to protecting abortion rights, which took on new urgency when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
The biggest job for Biden and other Democrats will be to draw a contrast between themselves and Republicans, Messina argues.
“It’s a choice between two parties, two ideologies, between two people,” he says. “And that choice matters... People didn’t see the Democratic turnout in 2022 coming.”