Let me preface this by saying that I’m so stoked that Trump is out. Biden was the nominee, I’m glad the party rallied behind him and got this done.
With that said, the Democratic Party needs a reckoning as much or likely more than the republicans. Democrats absolutely ate shit down ballot, ESPECIALLY when they tried to play themselves off as moderate and “friend of the conservatives”. The myth of flipping republican voters by being wishy washy on key issues and not taking a firm stance was repeatedly disproved by election results. If a republican has to choose between republican and almost-republican, they’re just going to pick their candidate. On top of this, potential voters on the left lose enthusiasm, can’t be bothered to vote/organize for their candidate, etc.
Meanwhile, “progressive” ballot initiatives (15$ minimum wage, decriminalization) and “progressive” candidates who stuck to their message and explicitly noted what they would be doing for the public cleaned up.
Finally, this election showed that there are no predetermined parties based on race anymore (nor should their ever have been), and that just assuming that you’ll receive the black, Asian, Latino, or any racial group’s vote without doing any work for their community just because of the D next to your name is an awful strategy.
It sucks, but these are conversations that need to be had on day one, rather than waiting until 2021/22 when it’ll be too close to the midterms and we can’t critique candidates or strategy because “party unity” and “important election”.