The losing politics of contempt

Aron Nimzowitsch, among the chess greats of his day, didn’t take well to losing badly. Knowing that he was about to be beaten by an inferior opponent in a 1925 tournament, he jumped on the table and yelled, “Against this idiot I have to lose?”

Democrats must know the feeling.

There are many ways to interpret — and over-interpret — Democrat Jon Ossoff’s not-sonarrow loss last week to Republican Karen Handel in the race for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. It’s been in Republican hands nearly 40 years. Tom Price, who vacated the seat to become secretary of Health and Human Services, won in November by more than 20 points. The district is nearly 70 per cent white and relatively affluent. This was always going to be an uphill climb for any Democrat, even one as fresh and ideologically moderate as Ossoff.

Then again, this election was supposed to be for Democrats what Scott Brown’s 2010 Senate victory in Massachusetts was for Republicans: the first ripple of a midterm wave, in a state dominated by the other party, prompted by an overreaching incumbent president bent on radical health care reform.

But it wasn’t to be, despite a huge Democratic voter-turnout effort. Nor did it make any difference that Ossoff had a $23.6 million war chest, and Democrats have a 6.7 percentage point lead in the generic congressional ballot, and Donald Trump is relatively unpopular in the district and even more unpopular nationwide.

Whatever else might be said about the race, Democrats didn’t lose for lack of political talent, campaign financing and organization or enthusiasm among their base. They lost because of their brand.

What is that? Democrats may think the brand is all about diversity, inclusion and fairness. But for millions of Americans, the brand is also about contempt — intellectual contempt of the kind Nimzowitsch exuded for his opponent (grandmaster Fritz Samisch, who, in fairness, was no slouch); moral contempt of the sort Hillary Clinton felt for Trump (never more evident than last year when Hillary Clinton wondered, “Why aren’t I 50 points ahead?”).

That contempt may be justified. But in politics, contempt had better not be visible. Voters notice.

That seems to have been what happened in the 6th District the