OPINION | Democrats: Time to wish Hillary Clinton good luck and goodbye

If the 2016 presidential election were held today, Hillary Clinton would still lose the election.

Despite her continued effort to cast blame, Clinton’s loss should not have come as such a surprise. Her lack of a clear, focused agenda, distasteful attacks on Republicans, and apathy toward stagnating wages among middle class Americans all contributed to her defeat.

{mosads}Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer this week spoke bluntly on this issue, telling The Washington Post that “when you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame other things — Comey, Russia — you blame yourself.”

Clinton should recognize that her time has passed. She will soon be 73 years old and her home state of New York has two others strong prospective 2020 candidates in Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

For these reasons among others, Hillary Clinton should not run again.

The Democratic Party must move on from the 2016 loss and find both a new strategy and a new leader.

To be sure, the party’s new narrative must move beyond resistance to President Trump and suspicion that the election was somehow stolen from Clinton.

In a poll conducted by The Washington Post earlier this month, only 37 percent of Americans said that the party “currently stands for something,” while 52 percent said it “just stands against Trump.”

Resistance has been an ineffective strategy for Democrats in special elections, and there is no indication that it will help win back seats during the 2018 midterm elections.

Instead of dwelling on the 2016 election, the Democrats need to push forward.

Rather than turning to Hillary Clinton for answers, Democrats can trust Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is both qualified and has bipartisan support, to conduct a thorough investigation into the Trump campaign and its alleged collusion with Russian officials.

Through Mueller’s investigation, the American people will get the answers they deserve.

In the meantime, the constant speculation into these matters detracts from focusing on critical issues that hardworking Americans face daily.

The Democratic Party is finally seeing this, prompting the launch of “A Better Deal,” the party’s new policy agenda.

“A Better Deal’s” proposed mission is “to help build an America in which working people know that somebody has their back.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Schumer, and other top Democrats have rolled out this plan in an effort to present a strong and clear message to voters.

Schumer has described “A Better Deal” as “not about moving the party left or right,” nor “about appealing to one coalition or another.” Pelosi has followed by clarifying that the new focus “is not a course correction, but it’s a presentation correction.”

The Democrats are doing exactly what Hillary Clinton failed to do throughout her campaign. A change in message is imperative to the Democrats turning their failing strategy around.

In certain areas, such as the economy and job creation, election polls showed Clinton beating Trump with large margins. However, when she shifted her focus to unsubstantiated calls for “unity and opportunity,” she lost crucial support.  

“Unity” did not bring the same sense of security as her economic plan. The shift in focus from a concrete plan to an abstract concept was lethal for the Clinton campaign.

With this “Better Deal,” the Democrats are being careful not to make the same mistake.

This agenda signifies a focus on policy and strategy.

As Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York put it, “Republicans talk in headlines,” but under this new plan, “Democrats speak in fine print.”

“A Better Deal” has the potential to be exactly what the Democrats are looking for in their effort to convince the American people that they are the party of the working class. It will also remind the country that they are a party of substance, and not simply a resistance movement.

Democratic Senator Al Franken says, “we have to move on by proving we are the party that cares about a lot of the people who voted for Donald Trump.”

By having some of Congress’ most established Democrats finally admit to the party’s shortcomings in 2016, they are signaling that they are ready to move past some of last year’s deadweight in Democratic politics and pursue an agenda that benefits hardworking Americans.

Douglas E. Schoen (@DouglasESchoen) served as a pollster for President Bill Clinton. A longtime political consultant and pollster, he is also a Fox News contributor and the author of 11 books. His latest book is Putin’s Master Plan: To Destroy Europe, Divide NATO, and Restore Russian Power and Global Influence (Encounter, 2016).