ArcaMax

On trade, Democrats want to have it both ways by supporting free trade agreements since it helps them court Wall Street and appear more business-friendly, while also winking at Trump's anti-China tariffs because nothing says you're "pro-organized labor" like embracing protectionism to give U.S. workers a leg up in the globalization game.

On crime, Democrats are the architects of mass incarceration. In the 1990s -- while they were still smarting from the pummeling that Michael Dukakis got in the 1988 presidential race for appearing soft on crime -- they overcorrected and dropped the hammer on the folks that then-first lady Hillary Clinton called "super predators" by pushing the 1994 crime bill.

And finally, on race, Democrats must walk the line between marketing themselves as defenders of people of color who are ready to call out racism whenever they see it while also being careful not to alienate white voters who are sick of everything always being about race and who think that the Democratic Party no longer speaks for them.

Those divisions are real, and they run deep. They're helping define the 2020 presidential race, especially the scraps between Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. -- both of whom, ironically, have tried to have it both ways on race.

Biden was the author of the Senate version of the 1994 crime bill, and Harris made her bones as a prosecutor who incarcerated her share of Latino and African American inmates.

What a perfect pair. One minute, they claim to be looking out for Latinos and African Americans. The next, they're trying to lock them up.

If Democrats want a ticket that illustrates its conflicts and contradictions, the clear choice is Biden-Harris. They might even change the party mascot, from the donkey to something more suited to the times: the chameleon.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.

(c) 2019, The Washington Post Writers Group