At the end of the day, identity politics reads as one-issue politics. It makes no difference that many issues are handled in ways that disadvantage certain groups. The politician who ties those issues in a bow with “identity” attached owns the packaging.
If Ms. Abrams believes the healthcare system and the electoral system and the criminal justice system work against blacks and women, she should make substantive reform of those issues her platform and not offer her identity as shorthand for the arguments. Neither should her supporters.
To me, identity politics is just like climate-change politics. I think the next Democrat President should make Jay Inslee Secretary of the Interior. I understand that climate change affects business and property values and the quality of life and just about everything we do. But it is one issue, one focus. What about North Korea? What about immigration? What about Russian interference in our elections? What about jobs for cis-white males without college educations? And what about beating Trump?
The time to elect the first demographically challenged President is not when the most important thing to do is beat the incumbent. Obama ran in 2008, at the end of Bush’s second term. There was no incumbent to unseat. Trump — the identity politician extraordinaire — ran in 2016, also when there was no incumbent to defeat. Biden should run, perhaps with a woman running mate, and he should declare his intention to serve one term (on account of his age), to right the ship, and pass the torch. That way, the 2020 campaign will be about policy, and the Veep will run four years later on her administration’s record rather than on her race or gender.
It will be good for our national self-esteem to prove that we can elect a woman, just as it was good to prove that we could elect a black man. 2024 is the year. 2020 is about unseating Trump, and only electability should matter. To argue that a woman is not unelectable is not enough. The candidate must be the one most likely to win in the general. That’s the price the Dems (and all identity pols) must pay for not beating Trump in 2016. To claim that identity matters is to imply that victory matters less. That alone is a disqualifying posture for any Democratic leader to assume.