Hillary has been holding forth on stuff lately. Chelsea has been photo-oped. You can’t keep Big Dog Bill down. And that’s the problem.

If the Democrats are ever to get their act together for the midterms let alone 2020, they have to leave behind the stench of Benghazi and email servers and even Monica Lewinsky. They have to cut the Clintons loose. She is “a two-time loser.” Sorry, that’s the narrative, like it or not. Just as the GOP blanched at the thought of another Bush presidency (even his mom), Democrats have to shut down any suggestion that the Clintons are still pulling strings. If they are, the Democrats might just as well pack up their toys and go home for the next eight years because even if (when) Trump implodes, they don’t have a viable alternative.

And it’s not Bernie Sanders. He’s smart and I really, really, like him, but he’s not palatable to the electorate at large, not to the people who don’t even want a government to provide basic health care. And isn’t it time for the Democrats to think about a Latino president? The optics would be perfect after The Wall, and ICE, and Dreamers being deported. There are candidates out there who could do it…who could articulate  what America is in 2018 or 2020.

That’s what the Democrats have to be doing- fashioning a narrative for America today. That’s why Trump won. Yes, he’s a lying buffoon misogynist, but he articulated a vision -in 140 characters and put it on a hat and called it a campaign. And it worked.

People today in countries around the world are wondering what happened to their communities. They see different cultures and clothing and religions and technology and they blame those things for the lack of jobs and a sense of not belonging.  Successful political parties, products, speakers have to acknowledge this void and fill it with…something. It could be fear and xenophobia.

It could be a new patriarchal society.

It could be one where women wear pearls and are seen and not heard.

Or it could, if we get our act together, be one where people learn to embrace differences while working toward a better future for our kids and our planet. You could put that in 140 characters or on a hat and actually win an election.