John Heilemann: Dem Party Needs To Know What They Stand For, It’s Not About the Language

BRZEZINSKI: “John Heilemann, what do you make of that effort, these moves by party leaders?”
Heilemann: “Well, Mika, I would say that the focus on language is something we’ve seen in a lot of political parties when they get into trouble. This is something, you know, you can think back to the periods where the Republican Party has been out of favor. People think, ‘Oh, well, how do we how do we talk differently? How do we — we have to reach this group, we have to reach that group. And the way to reach this group or that group is to tailor our messaging to try to reach those groups.’ And it turns out, at least in our lifetimes, that the way that you start to reach groups that you have lost favor with or that used to support the party, but now don’t and you’re losing traction with them, is partly a language thing, but really it’s more of a substance thing. It’s a thing of, like, what does the party believe in? And so when I hear Rahm, enormous respect for Rahm Emanuel, he’s accomplished a lot, I said this literally on the show last week, Elissa Slotkin is another person who’s been saying the same sort of thing, ‘weak and woke,’ that phrase is a phrase that various people who want to moderate the party have been throwing around. What I think is important here is that it’s not the question of what the party’s image is, but is what does the party stand for. If the party takes positions on issues that are weak and woke, it will seem weak and woke. If it takes positions that are strong and not woke, that is the way to go forward. It’s not about language, it’s about where are you going to deviate from what has become Democratic ideological conformity. And again, I’m sure Rahm has examples, Elissa Slotkin probably has examples, but that’s the conversation, that’s the debate, that’s the work the Democrats have to do right now, is not thinking about their language. The language will follow the positions. The language will follow the substance. And what I am not hearing so far in this first six months after November 6th, after the big loss last year, is that kind of work, the kind of reform work that goes to what does this party want to believe in, that will lure working class voters of all races back to it.”