Democrats certainly have key policies. Affordable healthcare for everyone. Billionaires should pay their fair share. Rights for everyone.

But a list of policies is not a substitute for building a brand. The brand should offer some overarching ideal within which candidates' policies fit.

Having done a fair bit of backpacking, I can say with absolute assurance that the most essential component of modern infrastructure is running water.

So yeah, toilets rock.

This is the question! Some weak answers:

-Accountability and affordability
-Workers, not corporations
-"We the People" means all the people

You might say these are so vague as to be useless, but Dems need a brand, not a policy platform. McDonald's spends billions on "I'm lovin' it" and it works!

The danger, of course, is that if Dems don't define their own overall brand, Republicans will do it for them. And this is precisely what has already happened. Which is one thing that makes every Dem candidate in Repub areas start at an unnecessarily large disadvantage

But I think part of restoring the "Democratic brand" will require talking about the Democratic brand, and not just about candidates.

I agree that's a challenge! I think there are common values, though. The challenge is to articulate those (perhaps in part by heightening contrast with the right) while allowing significant variation in candidates.

I feel like the Democratic Party needs to work on building a brand that is not solely based on the candidate of the moment. That is, the key responsibility of the national Dem groups should be to promote the party brand, while candidates promote themselves.

Clearly the only reason my (as yet unwritten) novel hasn't been made into a blockbuster movie is because I've dared to speak out against the "Democratic tribe."

Dems need to adopt a franchise model. The national groups (DNC et al) should promote the Democratic brand in general, while individual candidates should promote themselves and run gotv operations.

There needs to be more of a Democratic brand apart from specific candidates.