Mediaboss Marketing

Miami is not where Jon Cowan expected to be on Inauguration Day.

He was certain he would be toasting the nations first female president at Elephant and Castle, a pub smack on the inaugural parade route. It was this unbelievable space where we were going to have this large gathering of Democrats, said Cowan, who runs the left-of-center think tank Third Way.

But instead, he found himself at a South Florida resort, offering straight talk about the state of the Democratic Party to elite donors and strategists who were also driven by the election results to cancel long-held bookings in Washington. Instead of celebrating a new Clinton era, they were hundreds of miles away, picking apart where they went wrong and plotting a comeback.

Friday was a reality check for Democrats and progressives, still shell-shocked it is Trump who is taking power. His failure to so much as shake Hillary Clintons hand as he strode to the stage riled them. The images of her stoically watching Trump assume the role that nearly 2.9 more million Americans voted to give Clinton were like a gut punch.

There comfort to be had in the sparse attendance at the event as compared with President Obamasfirst inauguralwas cold comfort.

He has no kind of decency left in him, said Beritu Haile-Selassie, a 62-year-old retiree from Washington holding a sign that said Fake President. You have no idea what he is going to do.

Disgust Trumps actions through the transition drove many Democrats opted to deny him the usual grace period given a new president. They seized on the inauguration as a galvanizing moment, assembling in Washington and around the country to send a loud message of resistance and map their resurgence. The huge Womens March anti-Trump forces have planned for Saturday was preceded by pockets of protest on the streets Saturday. Some windows were broken. Arrests were made.

All the while, the soul-searching intensified, as Democrats wrestle with the collapse of their coalition on election day and the realization that their troubles extend beyond Hillary Clintons performance. While arguments will persist over whos to blame and the best direction for the Democratic Party, Friday marked a moment to harness the resilience and unity that Trumps rise has helped foment among the left.

We must not despair, Sen. Kamala Harris tweeted Friday morning. We must not be overwhelmed or throw up our hands. It is time to roll up our sleeves and fight for who we are.

Speaking up was more complicated for some than others. Dozens of members of Congress struggled to find the appropriate form of protest. They anguished over the idea of boycotting, which threatened to undermine a pillar of democracy lawmakers hold sacred: the peaceful transfer of power. Harris joined all the other senators in attending the swearing in. More than 60 Democratic in the House stayed away.

I am sad not to be attending this ceremony, said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael),who was among the first lawmakers to announce a boycott. It takes an extraordinary set of circumstances for someone like me to say they cant be part of this. If any other Republican who ran were being sworn in, I would be there.

But, Huffman said, Trumps pattern of scorched earth, chaosand boorish behavior persuaded him to spend the week volunteering with his Northern California constituentsand presiding over a citizenship ceremony for hundreds of immigrants.

Democratic Rep. Tony Cardenasof Los Angeles spent the swearing-in hour elsewhere, meditating. Fellow Angeleno Rep. Ted Lieu decided to serve his Air Force Reserve duty in California.

Union leaders who went to both of Obamas inaugurals instead mapped out their message for taking on Trump. At Service Employees International Union, an organization representing a large numberof Latinos, leaders worked on redoubling their advocacy for undocumented workers, in defiance of a new president planning to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexicoborder and restrict Muslims from entering the country.

We are not going to allow extremists to divide us with their mythology that immigrants are taking away our jobs, said Mary Kay Henry, president of the union, who attendedObamas second swearing-in. As with other progressive advocacy groups, the union has seen interest surge since election day. Earlier plans to increase the number of members contributing $10 monthly to half a million have been revised. Now SEIU is confident itll reach the 1-million mark.

Others grabbed the moment in their own way. Estefania Garcia, wrapped in a Mexican flag, took advantage of the free marijuana getting passed out by pot legalization advocates as she protested Trumps immigration policies. "Wanted to see history, have my voice heard and get some free pot," said Garcia, who became a US citizen two years ago.

Democratic mayors who had planned to hang around and hit the inaugural party circuit after this weeks U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington instead packed up and left. Many went back home to begin the work of countering the incoming Trump administration.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg says officials in his city will explore how to update their decades-old sanctuary city law to provide protection to immigrants in the U.S. illegally who could be targeted by the new administration. We will stand with people who feel threatened, Steinberg said in an interview as he prepared to fly home.

Another disappointed Northern Californian, business mogul Susie Tompkins Buell, hopped a flight heading in the other direction. Buell, a longtime friend of Clinton and one of her biggest donors, is still registering the shock of Trumps win. Its so crazy,she said. It is hard to believe what is happening. I said to my husband this morning, This is worse than it would have been to lose to a legitimate candidate.

Follow this link:
Democrats once dreamed of Inauguration Day. Now they're soul-searching instead - Los Angeles Times