Guest Post From David Sirota, Editor of The Lever

You literally have no idea who is “electable”. Stop pretending you do, and stop thinking you should calibrate your vote on who is “electable” rather than on who is pushing good policies that would help you and your community.

A flippant note from a political science professor reminds me of something I want to reiterate now and basically in every election cycle for the rest of my angst-ridden life: There is now an entire cottage industry of media elites, academics and aspiring online “influencers” who market themselves the all-knowing Understanders Of Electability™ — and who work to convince you, the Democratic primary voter, that you should condition your votes on candidates’ “electability”….when in reality, literally nobody knows who is “electable” and who isn’t.

Most of these purveyors of “electability” have never in their entire lives deigned to once do the difficult unglamorous work of actually toiling in politics or on a political campaign — and yet they waive around polls and pitch themselves as modern-day oracles. They are the political version of Jim Cramer, often flagrantly wrong and yet indefatigably confident.

That’s actually what they are selling – confidence, or really, a con game. They sell the idea that Democratic primary voters should be pundits who vote not for their own interests, but who vote for some mythical idea of “electability” that these elites alone determine…even though we’ve been shown over and over and over again that nobody has any idea who will be “electable.”

This class of geniuses told us that a freshman senator named Barack Hussein Obama could never be an “electable” candidate for president.

They were so convinced that Donald Trump wasn’t “electable” that they cheered when he won the Republican presidential nomination, and insisted there was no possible way he could win a swing state like Michigan.

Most recently, they sold the idea that Kamala Harris was the only “electable” choice for president, that she was running a “brilliant” campaign — and that her corporate centrism was working to win her the White House.

David J. Sirota is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, a reader-supported investigative news outlet focused on exposing the negative influence of corporate corruption on American society. He was a speechwriter and senior adviser for the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. Sirota served as a senior strategist for Brian Schweitzer’s unsuccessful 2000 Senate campaign and successful 2004 gubernatorial campaign. 

For more biographical information check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sirota