WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate Democrats’ top message man is urging the party leftward in the wake of crushing midterm election losses, saying working Americans want a robust government that will promote education access, labor bargaining rights, progressive taxes and more.
At a Washington news conference, New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer said his party erred five years ago by putting health care reform ahead of economic priorities. The vast majority of Americans were relatively happy with their employer-provided health insurance in 2009, he said, and the health care overhaul’s message was aimed at about 5 percent of the electorate: those who lacked insurance and who voted.
“To aim a huge change in mandate at such a small percentage of the electorate made no political sense,” Schumer said. He said he expressed such concerns at the time. His office later said he “expressed those concerns privately to fellow Democrats.”
Schumer’s remarks came a few weeks after Republicans won control of the Senate and boosted their House majority in the midterm elections. He said the way back to influence on Capitol Hill is to appeal to voters who support “an active and forceful government” to help them cope with globalization, technology and other forces keeping middle incomes stagnant.
Schumer said Democrats made it easier for Republicans to paint government as bloated and inept with “the rollout of the Obamacare exchanges, the mishandling of the surge in border crossers, ineptitude at the VA (Veterans’ Administration) and the government’s initial handling of the Ebola threat.”