PBS NEWSHOUR: David Brooks of The Atlantic and Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including the president’s influence over the midterm elections and how Democrats are campaigning. <\/p>\n
GEOFF BENNETT, PBS NEWSHOUR: And, David, Republicans won in 2024 in part by promising to bring prices down. Two years later, affordability is still a major concern. Of course, now you have got the war in Iran. How difficult is it for the GOP to tell voters, just stay the course? DAVID BROOKS, THE ATLANTIC: It’s pretty difficult. The country has not been happy with where the country is going for a long time. The Democrats have made it so much — a little easier by all these DSA candidates in states like Michigan. But I have to say, when I look at the Democratic side, I do see the more — the more progressive sides, they are campaigning ardently to win, and they have big ideas. When I look at the mainstream establishment Democrats, I think they have one really good policy which they’re talking about, which is the abundance agenda to change some of the regulation on how to make it more affordable so there’s more house-building. But they don’t have much beyond that. And what they don’t have is what mainstream Democrats used to have, which is a growth agenda, an economic growth agenda. We’re going to need a lot more new jobs because A.I. is going to disrupt a lot of jobs. We need to produce new ones. And the Democrats do not have an agenda about that. And then finally, frankly, with the exception of Rahm Emanuel, they are not talking about education. And test scores are collapsing. They’re collapsing especially in blue states. The red states are doing better in education than the blue states. And Joe Biden did not have an education agenda. Kamala Harris did not have an education agenda. And I don’t see too many Democrats having an education agenda, with the exception, I guess, of Rahm Emanuel. And so these are areas where the mainstream Democrats are not really being as aggressive on policy terms as the more progressive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n