'We Didn't Tell People What We Stood For' Says Sen. Chuck Schumer on Election Failure

The Democratic Party has struggled to accept fault in its postmortem assessment of the 2016 election. Excuses have largely dominated the party’s analysis, despite the overwhelming number of Americans who think that the Democratic Party is out of touch with the concerns of most people.

The party’s opposition to President Trump has mostly hindered on his personality and the possibility that Russian meddling swayed the election, rather than policy. On Monday, Democrats hope to change this with the announcement of its revised economic agenda, which aims to win back working class voters.

Sen. Chuck Schumer appeared on ABC News’s This Week to discuss a preview of the party’s new economic platform. During the conversation, Schumer offered perhaps the most candid analysis of the party’s failures throughout the 2016 campaign.

“It is in part our fault. When you lose an election to someone who is only at 40% popularity, you look in the mirror and say, ‘What did we do wrong?’,” Sen. Sen. Schumer senator told host George Stephanopolous on Sunday. “The number one thing we did wrong is we didn’t tell people what we stood for.”

In a transparent jab at Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal, the Democrats have titled their economic agenda “A Better Deal.”

“We’re going to raise people’s wages and create better paying jobs. We’re going to cut down on their everyday expenses they have to pay,” Schumer said. “And we’re going to give them the tools they need to compete in the 21st century. Simply put, what do Democrats stand for? A better deal for working families.”

Schumer also said that they were considering a single-payer healthcare bill, suggesting that the solution’s surging popularity was recognized by the party’s leadership.

“We’re going to look at broader things,” Schumer told Stephanopolous. “Single-payer is one of them. Medicare for people above 55 is on the table. A buy-in to Medicare is on the table. A buy-in to Medicaid is on the table.”

According to Sen. Schumer, a new Democratic party is on the horizon. I’m not sure what else the party plans to announce on Monday, or in the coming days, but the transformed party will be supposedly unfamiliar to Americans.

Sen. Schumer promised: “Week after week, month after month, we’re going to roll out specific pieces here that are quite different than the Democratic Party you heard in the past.”