What Democrats can learn from Trump

Stoke voter passions, don’t let them ebb

Better late than never, was my first thought when I saw former President Barack Obama kicking off his midterms activism with 81 endorsements, half of them in state legislative races. But my second thought was wow, he is very late to this party. His own.

No one appreciated Obama’s presidency more than I did. At the same time, no one could have been more puzzled as to how and why he let the Democratic Party fade in state capitals and congressional districts across America.

Obama is, after all, a former community organizer whose career started in a neighborhood battered by steel mill closings and peaked with a grassroots presidential campaign that became a juggernaut. He is also a former state senator who spent eight years in a legislature before winning a U.S. Senate seat. He of all people should have understood the importance of enduring infrastructure built from the ground up.

The inspirational qualities Obama demonstrated in 2008 did not translate into gains during his two terms. Democrats had a 257-178 House majority when he took office in 2009 and were a 188-member minority by his last two years. They hovered close to a 60-vote Senate majority in 2009; Republicans controlled the chamber 54-44 by the end. In the states, Democrats fell from controlling 59 percent of legislatures to 31 percent, and from 29 governors to 16. The long decline culminated with the disastrous 2016 presidential campaign.

There was much chatter about the Obama for America campaign becoming Organizing for America. About how the action would be there, not at the Democratic National Committee. But the action apparently was nowhere. Nobody was minding the legislatures, governor’s mansions or Congress.

Obama could not, of course, have staved off all of these losses. But the history of the Obama-era DNC is dispiriting. First, Obama essentially fired former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and his “50-state strategy,” and named his friend Tim Kaine as DNC chairman. The senator, at that time Virginia’s governor, had won with a cross-party appeal much like Obama’s. He even wore a blue-and-red-striped tie when Obama announced his appointment.

But the point of a party leader isn’t outreach; it’s winning. Kaine, a misguided choice, stepped down after two years. His successor, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was another misfire. But Obama left her in place for more than five years as the party lost ground. Maybe he didn’t want to seem sexist. If so, why not find another woman to lead the party — or just suck it up? She finally resigned over the embarrassing WikiLeaks email dump.

As much progress as Obama made on issues central to Democrats, his political passivity was a dereliction of duty. It was epitomized by his refusal to go big on the Russia intervention during 2016 because Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell wouldn’t sign a bipartisan repudiation. No doubt that is among Obama’s many regrets as he sees President Donald Trump trying to dismantle his achievements and the legacies of presidents back to Harry Truman.

This will sound like sacrilege, but Trump’s rallies — pugnacious performance art that bears no relation to reality, dignity or truth — are teachable moments. Trump revels in revving his base. He never gives the passion time to die down. He stokes grievances where he knows he can find them. He is blatantly, offensively political, and it’s working. His approval rating among Republicans is close to 90 percent. His endorsement is often a potent booster for primary candidates. Almost all Republicans running for re-election this year toe the Trump line. Yet Trump’s party is shrinking. Slightly more than a quarter of the electorate now identifies as Republican. The opportunity is there for Democrats, if they will take it.

It is encouraging that Obama plans to campaign extensively, less so that he plans to avoid taking on Trump. One hopes that he and other Democrats will summon fire and fury this year, maybe not against Trump but certainly on behalf of America. And that party leaders of the future will remember what happened when organizing and infrastructure, motivation and passion were allowed to wither on the vine.

Jill Lawrence is commentary editor of USA TODAY and author of “The Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock.“