From the Left

/

Politics

The November Reckonings

Ruth Marcus on

WASHINGTON -- Now that the contours of the general election are reasonably predictable, it is time to start thinking about the tripartite institutional reckoning that should come in November's aftermath -- for the media, Republicans and Democrats.

For the media, the assessment is simple, and unsparing: We underperformed our constitutionally protected role. Sure, every campaign cycle features hand-wringing over the primacy of horse race over substance.

This one feels demonstrably worse. Mesmerized by the bright, shiny object that is Donald Trump, we collectively failed to plumb his gaping lack of policy knowledge and proposals. Not completely, just not enough, and way too late. And not just his: Distracted by Trump, we let the whole field off the hook.

The purely commercial explanation for this dereliction would be that the media, television in particular, didn't want to kill the golden goose of traffic. That's too simplistic -- and too sinister.

I think we also believed that exposing Trump's outrage du jour was doing our job, and would, eventually, sink him. Trump's bombastic imperviousness to serious questioning -- television hosts and debate questioners gamely tried, only to see him talk out the clock -- contributed as well.

The resulting paradox was that, until recently, Trump was a candidate who made himself more constantly available than any in modern memory, yet evaded serious questioning.

 

Would voters have cared, particularly those tempted by Trump? Perhaps not -- they aren't supporting him for his tax plan. But that isn't the test. Our role is, or should be, to provide the information essential for voters to make an informed decision. We fell short.

Republicans' November reckoning could be even uglier. The party has lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Given Democrats' inherent Electoral College advantage and Trump's unpopularity, Republicans appear headed to lose the White House again, along, perhaps, with control of the Senate. The party faces fundamental, interconnected decisions about what ideological path to embrace, how to attract voters in a changing America, and how to manage the angry, populist, anti-establishment forces unleashed by Trump.

To look back at the GOP's post-2012 autopsy report is to conclude that Democrats read the document and sent Trump as a Manchurian candidate to further alienate voters.

"Public perception of the party is at record lows," the report concluded. "Young voters are increasingly rolling their eyes at what the party represents, and many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or want them in the country."

...continued

swipe to next page

Copyright 2016 Washington Post Writers Group

 

 

Comics

Adam Zyglis Marshall Ramsey Chip Bok Peter Kuper Steve Benson David Fitzsimmons