The Opinions - James Carville on How Democrats Can Win on the Economy

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

In 1992, James Carville, the longtime political strategist, coined the phrase that helped win Bill Clinton the presidency: “The economy, stupid.” In this episode of “The Opinions,” he shares what he thinks Vice President Kamala Harris should do to capture American voters on the issue that he says is “first and foremost on people’s minds”: the cost of living. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is The Opinions, a show that brings you a mix of voices from New York Times opinion. You've heard the news. Here's what to make of it. I'm James Carville. I've spent most of my professional careers of domestic and international political consultant. And I coined a phrase, the economy stupid. Now it's called, it's the economy stupid, but not being a real stickler for detail, it's fine with me. And I'm looking forward to the next days here at the Democratic National Convention. What I find particularly exciting about this convention is there's been just a complete change of attitude in the party. I've never quite seen anything like this where you're kind of cruising along at 25 miles an hour and then somebody floors it and you've got an hour going 75.

I mean, it's been a real change in attitude, particularly among Democrats. I don't think that's, no one would say anything different than that right now. But if you ask me, what is it that I think that the highest people want to accomplish is, they want people to have some kind of context of who she is. People need to learn more about her. So that's what this convention is about. In 1992, we were not doing very well. And I broke off and with Stan Greenberg,

and we did something called a Manhattan Project. And what we discovered, much to our surprise, was that people thought Bill Clinton was kind of a rich kid, Dillotard, never went through much in his life. Yeah, he was real smart and articulate, but, you know, he had soft hands. So the entire 92 convention was about the man from Hope. I was born in a little town called Hope, Arkansas. I grew up in a very ordinary place where I was raised by South. single mother. It was a wonderful little small town where, you know, it seemed that everybody knew everybody else. And entire attitudes about him changed. So what you have to do is signal to

people, hey, I get you. I know what you're going through. I want to be on your side. And I'm sure that they have very good research. And hopefully they're looking about for two or three things in the Vice President's bio that indicate she's had some real experiences in life and has dealt with consequential things that affect real people. And I think they'll be able to find those things pretty easily. The economy is always first and foremost on voters' minds. There's Vice President Kamala Harris and Raleigh, North Carolina, making a speech in which she laid out really her vision for the American economy.

And I think that she's correctly identified. the thing that is on most people's minds, which is the cost of living. Today, I will focus on one element that's on the minds of many Americans as they pay their bills at the kitchen table or walk the aisles of a grocery store. And that is lowering the cost of living.

And it's real. But I do think there is some improvement. And I don't think that views the economy is static. I think between non-election day or not, hopefully there'll be a rate cut and attitudes will improve. So let's stop and see what she already has. She already said that she's going to go after price gouging, which is really important. A loaf of bread cost 50% more today than it did before the pandemic. Ground beef is up almost 50%. Many of the big food companies are seeing their highest profits in two decades.

And I see these economists that say, oh, this is not really a big deal. What world do you live in? You really don't think that these airlines, or pharmaceutical companies, don't have cutouts, or these got insurance. You can't believe what's going on there. So I think that's the biggest issue we have. I was very glad to see the vice president come out

say that. All right? She's proposed a $6,000 child care credit. To leave to families during the first year of a child's life. Now think what that means. Think what that means. Which is really important to people who are raising children. When you tell people that, people say, that woman gets me. She understands my life. She understands the challenges. And not just women with children are going to say that. Employers are going to say that. All right? And people in general are going to see that. I grew up in a middle-class household. For most of my childhood, we were renters. My mother saved for well over a decade to buy a home.

I was a teenager when that day finally came, and I can remember so well how excited she was. I think the ultimate distinction in this campaign is she's thinking about 28 and Donald Trump's thinking about 2018. In any words that she uses, any slogan, any name for economic policy should include some reference to forward-looking future, tomorrow, anything like that. So do you have to have something that passes muster with the All-Times editorial board in terms of its depth and nuance? No, she's just getting started. She's been in this not even a month.

And I'm sure she'll have other things coming forward. People want to know who she is when she's about, how she was shaped. And if they see somebody who's led a life who understands these issues, then I think that's going to help a lot. This show is produced by Derek Arthur, Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Vichaka, Phoebe Lett, Christina Samuelski, and Jillian Weinberger. It's edited by Kari Pitkin, Alison Bruzek and Annie Rose Strasser.

Engineering, mixing, and original music by Isaac Jones, Sonia Herrero, Pat McCusker, Carol Saburo, and Afim Shapiro. Additional music by Amin Sahota. The fact check team is Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker, and Michelle Harris. Audience Strategy by Shannon Busta and Christina Samuoski. The executive producer of Times Opinion Audio is Annie Rose Dresser.