Why 'it’s the economy, stupid' alone won’t defeat 'the antidemocratic right'

12 December 2024

During the United States' 1992 presidential election, Democratic strategist James Carville popularized the phrase, "It's the economy, stupid."

While incumbent President George H.W. Bush promoted a message of "family values," Democratic former Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was heavily focused on the economy and the recession the U.S. was experiencing. The Clinton/Carville message worked: Clinton won the popular vote by roughly 6 percent and picked up 370 electoral votes.

Thirty-two years later, Carville still believes that "it's the economy, stupid." And he has argued that Democrats need to avoid "woke" culture-war politics and heavily emphasize an economic message.

In a think piece/essay published on December 12, however, Mother Jones' Jacob Rosenberg argues that in U.S. politics, economic conversations are never really separated from cultural politics.

"Amid the inevitable Democratic identity crisis this post–presidential election winter," Rosenberg explains, "there have been exasperated calls for the party to return to 'the economy.' The op-ed writers, angling for their future role, are painting the usual scene. The party must sit once again at the kitchen table and talk pocketbook issues. It is a long-held idea. For years, whenever voters have rejected Democrats — say, after the 2004 election — leaders explained the catastrophe by nostalgically invoking the mantra of former President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign: 'It's the economy, stupid'…. Importantly, the phrase often clarifies the villain in every Democratic defeat since the 1960s: the 'culture.'"

Rosenberg continues, "In 2004, commenters groused at those who dared support gay marriage and abortion. In 2016, the problem was so-called identity politics. And this year, there has been frustration with 'wokeness,' focusing on the defenses of trans rights and those who pushed on fear of migrants."

Rosenberg stresses that the economy and "culture" is not an "either/or" proposition.

"This illustrates a dynamic that occurs with alarming frequency: those who want to talk about 'the economy' often move to culture as soon as the discussion lands on our nation's poverty," Rosenberg writes. "We can talk about the economy, but not like that! At the same time, the tactic subverts the conversation about critical social issues."

Democrats, Rosenberg argues, "will have to learn how to convince people to vote for them" —and "it's the economic, stupid" alone, he says, will not do the trick.

"Sure, it's the economy, stupid," Rosenberg writes. "But since the economy is — can be — just about everything, Democrats won't find a way to beat the antidemocratic right's dominance by returning to (Bill) Clinton. If anything, this election proved that era is finally gone forever."

Jacob Rosenberg's full article for Mother Jones is available at this link.

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