The time for political pablum is over

Denying America's intractable partisanship is not a winning message

Democrats.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Spencer Platt/Getty Images, PAUL RATJE/AFP/Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty Images, saenal78/iStock)

If Democrats want to unify the country, they should stop talking about wanting to unify the country.

That's one of the paradoxes of living in a highly polarized political culture. What once might have sounded uplifting and public spirited now sounds banal and naïve. Democrats need to propose a distinctive account of the country's past and present and an alternative vision of its future — one that contrasts sharply with the one emanating daily from the White House and the president's Twitter account. Positioning themselves above it all, as ready and eager to work and compromise with the party of Donald Trump, can't help but make them sound weak and defensive. It certainly won't defeat the president and win back the Senate from the GOP in 2020. The time for such pabulum is over.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.