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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didn't hold back in her critique of President Trump and the 2016 election she lost to him, while speaking at Women for Women International event on May 2. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Intheaftermathofanelectionloss,itismoreimportantthanevertokeepShakespeares admonition in mind to thine own self be true. Butso far, theDemocrats appear tohave rejected aself-aware, detached point of view.They cant seem to respect the legitimacy of their defeat.

Their denialcrescendoedyesterday when Hillary Clinton blamed her defeat on FBI Director JamesComeyand emails leaked fromWikiLeaks.Iwont belabor the point, but Clinton lost because she had no economic message at a time of great economic anxiety. And, 2016 was a change election and she was the opposite of change. Her candidacy embodied thestatus quo and celebrated more of the same.

Now she wants to bea leader of the so-called resistance? Yawn.

And,ohby the way,theDemocratsdefeat in November continues one of the most gruesome politicalslaughtersany Americanpoliticalparty has ever experienced. Specifically, since 2008, Democrats have lost62House seats, nine Senate seats, 12 governorships and959state legislativeseats.Anautopsy of theDemocratsperformancethrough theObama years reveals the deepproblems that thelefthaswithwhite voters. Relative to the 2012 election, Slate notes that Clintonlost nearly 1 million white votes in the Rust Belt statesof Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.And per aPoliticoreport, Clinton lost rural Americaby a 3-to-1 margin in 2016. But Democrats dont want to hear it.Rather than ask how they can win back the voters theyve lost, the left seems to be saying goodriddanceto white, working-class Americans.

Meanwhile, themost popular Democrat in the United States is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a socialist outsider who isnt even a true Democrat. He doesnt embrace the Democratic Party as thevehicle for his political movement but has nevertheless been welcomed by the intransigent new-left as its leader. And for members of the Democratic establishment, latching onto Sanders is their only hope for maintaining some semblance of party unity even if their change agent isnt a committed Democrat.

While Republicans stagger around legislatively andfitfullybuild an administration, the Democrats are stuck carping and pursuing conspiracies of their own. Even though we are six months out from the election and no evidence suggests collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, the left is still hopelessly looking for a silver email to strike and bring down this president. Their pursuit of a smoking gun is simply dishonest and distracting.

In Washington, it is hard being in the minority. You have competing agendas, jealousies and multiple leaders who are probing the possibility of running for president themselves.It is hard to have a spokesperson that others defer to, and it is hard to make your message heard when the majority party in the White House has superior resources at its disposal. To stand a fighting chance, the minority party must launch a forceful effort, presented by nimble and sharp, made-for-TV personalities. And above all else, a coherent agenda and party unity are required. So far,theDemocrats have none of these.

Excerpt from:
The Democrats haven't learned from their defeats - Washington Post (blog)