Dems, don't bring a briefing book to a culture war

If Democrats hope to do something extraordinary next fall — keep their slim majorities in Congress — their best chance is to do something extraordinary now and pass the bold, popular, paradigm-shifting infrastructure projects and safety-net programs they believe in.

That is the clear lesson, as I read it, from Tuesday's election results. In historical terms, the outcomes were well within a range that should be considered normal. The party that wins the White House almost always, the following year, loses the Virginia governor's race and fights strong headwinds in New Jersey. And with former president Donald Trump relatively muffled and not on the ballot, Trump-phobic Republicans and right-leaning independents throughout the country came home to the GOP.

A return to normality may be good for the national blood pressure but is bad news for the Democratic Party's hopes of maintaining its razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate. With rare exceptions, newly elected presidents suffer a setback — what President Barack Obama once called a "shellacking" — in their first midterm election cycle. In 2010, under Obama, Democrats lost 63 House seats. Next year, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., can afford to lose maybe four.

I don't see how Democrats could look at such prospects and conclude that their best course of action is to be timid. I believe their only hope is to be bold — to try to change the political odds by changing the political landscape.

Nobody understood in 1932 what a transformational figure Roosevelt would prove to be or how dramatically his New Deal would change the nation for the better. The greatest leaders don't get buffeted by political winds. They find a way to make their own weather.

The two massive bills Democrats are trying to pass would give tangible help to all American families that include small children (with two years of pre-kindergarten schooling) or seniors (with increased access to home care). They would offer health care to millions presently uninsured. They would lower prescription drug costs for seniors. They would make the biggest single investment in affordable housing in the nation's history. They would — if Pelosi gets her way — guarantee for all workers four weeks of paid family leave.

They would bring broadband Internet access to communities that don't have it now. They would make huge strides toward transitioning the economy to clean energy.

And while "go big or go home" may be a cliche, it is advice Biden and the Democrats should heed.

Once Democrats pass Biden's big bills, they should sell them to voters — trumpeting what's in the legislation rather than lamenting what had to be left out. And they should rediscover their lost genius for bumper-sticker shorthand. "New Deal" and "Great Society" are masterpieces of the genre; "Build Back Better," not so much.

If, as I suspect, Republicans find that attacking this transformational down payment on America's future proves counterproductive, they will surely resort to Trump-style demagoguery.

My advice to Democrats: Don't bring a briefing book to a culture war. Be loud and be proud.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Commentary: Democrats should pass their big plan and sell it to public