ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- It's like we're trying to lose.

That's how a friend put it to me over dinner recently. By "we," she meant her fellow Democrats.

She's a loyal member of the blue team, who has probably never voted for a Republican in her life. And at the moment, my friend has every reason to feel good about her party and its prospects.

For one thing, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that President Donald Trump's approval rating is at a record low of 33%. That's down 14 points from the start of his second term. Those numbers aren't likely to improve by the Nov. 3 midterm elections. But they could always get worse.

For another, Democrats -- who are already likely to re-take control of the House of Representatives -- might also have a shot at winning back the Senate. Democrats would need to hold the 47 seats they already control and pick up four more. That suddenly seems possible.

So with things looking up for Democrats, why is my progressive friend feeling so down in the dumps? It's because she is well aware of her party's miraculous ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Democratic establishment -- much of which is, ironically, made up of people who, in their youth, four or five decades ago, made their bones in politics by challenging authority -- is suddenly not so keen about their authority being challenged by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and other far-left progressives.

This is no fringe movement. According to a recent poll by public opinion research firm SSRS in conjunction with CNN, about one-third -- 34% -- of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults now identify themselves as "democratic socialists."

Meanwhile, those on the inside who used to throw rocks when they were on the outside are now shouting at a new group of change agents to stop throwing rocks. Also, you darned kids, get off their lawn!

One of the old fogies who wishes the DSA would just go AWOL is 81-year-old James Carville, a veteran of the war room that helped put Bill Clinton in the White House. After a succession of establishment Democratic candidates were beaten in congressional primaries by DSA candidates -- and others that the media has labeled "DSA adjacent" -- Carville suggested that the agitators go start their own party.

Now "the Ragin' Cajun" is going so far as to lecture the DSA candidates about how they should identify themselves.

"I wish they'd take the word Democrat out of their name," Carville said during a recent video news conference tied to an event promoting moderate Democrats.

"I have no idea why the democratic socialists -- if you hate the Democratic Party so much, well, then don't use our (expletive) name. Go think of your own name," he said.

You'd never guess that Carville helped break the stranglehold that the World War II Generation once had on the presidency. The guy who helped elect Clinton -- the first of four Baby Boomers to sit in the Oval Office -- used to feel differently about challenging the status quo.

Luckily, there appears to be at least one Baby Boomer politico out there who accepts the idea that -- to borrow a phrase -- the times, they are a changin'. No backbencher, she is a pillar of the Democratic Party establishment. And guess what? She is also named Clinton.

Speaking recently at an event organized by the Hamptons Institute, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to bless the mess within the Democratic Party. She noted that Democrats must connect with younger voters. Those between the ages of 18-34 find establishment choices boring, and DSA candidates more interesting.

Clinton put it like this: "The Democratic Party right now is, I think, going through a kind of experiment, like who can actually respond particularly to young people's very real concerns about where they are at this point in their lives and what kind of future do they have for themselves? I think that is healthy."

Political participation is also healthy. The SSRS/CNN poll found that democratic socialists are excited about the midterm elections. As much as 66% of democratic socialists were "extremely motivated" to vote compared to 57% of other Democrats.

See, I would have thought that, when a party is lucky enough to have extremely motivated voters, the idea is to pull them in and not push them away.

My friend was correct. It's like some Democrats are trying to lose. Those people deserve their fate, whatever it turns out to be.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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