Fittingly, the two guests - Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA) - are individuals who seek the middle ground in policy and political discourse, the middle meaning more civil in the case of the latter. The discourse is where it all starts, as president of DEMOS Heather McGhee put it. That's true, but despite the rest of the panel dismissing Andrea Mitchell's assessment that it's all about the money, she's correct.
The And vs. The Or
Chuck Todd commented that sometimes you have to compromise, but actually politics is the art of compromising all the time - where no one gets everything they want but walk away satisfied with what they did get. As said before in this column, think of the United States has a huge, fully equipped cruise ship that's always moving forward. To always be moving in a positive direct you sometimes have to tack to right and sometimes to the left. However, if you turn too hard and too fast in either direction, you tip the boat over and take all of us down. It's just the way it is and the checks and balances of the government pretty much ensure that.
That's the And.
As for the Or...
Dan Balz of The Washington Post explained that there is a full-time political industry; that fact alone - that there is an industry - was noted by the panel. However, it's designed to demonize the other side instead of presenting ideas or a vision for the future, as Governor Brown described, a vision that we now know the Republicans don't have and that Democrats still need to find. Senator Flake said it himself, that Republicans were too busy trying to make President Obama a one-term president and not enough time constructing a ideological and legislative agenda.
To prompt the 'End Game' segment, Mr. Todd teased that the panel would take the problem with real solutions, but the problem was that no one could really come up with one. Instantly, it's evident by any conservation of this type that everyone knows the problem and does have a constructive solution by the nature of the problem itself is so big with so much money involved that it seems beyond fixing.
Case in point...
Chuck Todd used the Texas second congressional district as an example of our divided politics and how it's swung in political direction from Democrat to Republican. But take a look at this district...
Every ten years, when the census is conducted, the party in control of the state has the opportunity to redraw the congressional map. Do you think this one was draw so that it only included politically like-minded constituents? Here's one of those solutions: If you want to make the discourse more civil and possible negate some of the monetary interests, make all the congressional districts as square as possible and this way politicians have to respond to a broader set of ideas from the people they represent. Never happen.
It was notable that Governor Brown said the demographics are trending in a non-Republican direction, and not saying in a Democratic one. The Democratic party casts a wider net in terms of being more inclusive of different ideas, it's fair to say. But this once great strength of the party has become its Achilles' heal. They can not seem to be able to coral it into a cohesive vision. "A Better Deal?" Please. How about starting with "We Have A Plan!" As for the Republicans, who traditionally have such discipline in message as one of their strengths of party, factions of thinking a congealing and calcifying into three camps, as the panel explained. There's the Ted Cruz wing - the hardcore right wing, the Marco Rubio more inclusive or moderate group, and then there's the cult of personality Trump Republican, who brings with it a monkey wrench.
That last part someone could say disrespects supports of the president, but the fact is that this administration outside of an appointment, executive orders, and a bill that was veto-proof hasn't gotten much done. Before going on vacation, President Trump held a campaign-style rally in West Virginia, what Andrea Mitchell called 'ground-zero' for his support and where the governor, given that political reality, notably switched from Democrat to Republican. Deference should be given to these people and it's important to understand how they feel, most certainly, but... With all due respect to West Virginia, it should not be seen as the guiding example on how to move the United States forward when California has over 39 million people and is the world's sixth largest economy.
This brings to mind that unfortunate reality of the president being unwilling to reach out to Americans who don't see eye to eye with him - to lead us all, a president's responsibility after all. The optimistic view is that this presidential leadership deficit provokes people in both parties to step up, like Senator Flake, and call for some bi-partisanship instead of zero-sum, the and vs. or.
Panel: Andrea Mitchell, NBC News; Heather McGhee, president of DEMOS; David French, The National Review; Dan Balz, The Washington Post
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