To the editor: The daily emails I receive from the Democratic Party asking me to renew my membership by sending money demonstrate the party’s continuing failure to understand that the days of people affiliating and voting by affiliation are long over (“California’s role in shaping the fate of the Democratic Party and combating Trump on full display,” Dec. 14).
As it contemplates 2028, the party should advance for the presidency those whose experiences have proven them most likely to have the requisite administrative skills and political savvy to stand a chance of leading and succeeding: governors. But not Gov. Gavin Newsom. And not Kamala Harris, who twice failed to convey any sense of why she should have the job, and who today carries the additional character handicap of having allegedly kept silent in the face of President Biden’s declining health.
More importantly, all candidates seeking to win back those who voted their “feelings” in the last three elections must make the first paragraph of their standard stump speech an acknowledgment that the party’s focus on the rights and entitlements of certain Americans has caused us to lose sight of the duties and responsibilities of all Americans. Acknowledge that a lot of Americans feel like things are going to hell in a handbasket, and that those people are not the problem.
Only then can Democrats hope to move back to the front seat and start fixing our larger problems.
David Van Iderstine, Los Angeles
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To the editor: I hope Newsom and Harris do not run for president in 2028. Instead, I urge them to support an electable Democrat with a good track record.
According to a 2024 survey for the Los Angeles Times, 50% of U.S. adults believe California is in decline. Many who could be won to the Democrats’ side are convinced that, under Democratic leaders, the basics of good government are sorely neglected. There are many Democrats in the state who do not solely blame the likes of Newsom for the glaring inability of our cities to solve the problems of homelessness and housing. But, because he and others are leaders, they are inextricably associated with that failure. Nor is this the only issue where California’s reputation is in bad shape.
It is essential for us to go forward with a frank recognition of why our party’s approval ratings are quite low. That a candidate as loathsome as Donald Trump could have won the presidential election twice tells us all we need to know.
We shouldn’t try to persuade the MAGA fanatics, but our presidential candidate can and must be able to win back large cohorts of voters whose interests we Democrats really do stand for. Neither Newsom nor Harris is that candidate this time around.
William L. Winslow, Santa Monica