From: NYTimes.com <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: The New York Times Magazine: Why Can't the Democrats Turn the Page? Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2017 21:07:10 +0000 View in Browser Add [email protected] to your address book. (The New York limes 2,The New York Times Friday, November 3, 2017 NYTimes.com » Barack Obama left office as one of the most popular presidents in American history — and left behind an underfunded, demoralized Democratic Party that, even amid a polarizing and clarifying Trump presidency, is struggling to articulate what, and whom, it stands for. "I love the guy, I miss him," Scott Peters, a Democratic congressman from California, tells Robert Draper, a writer at large for the magazine. "But organizationally, the party is in disarray. We're at the lowest level of elected officeholders since Hoover. We got a bit lazy and found ourselves relying on Barack Obama's charisma, and it left us in bad shape." In this week's cover story, Draper details the Democrats' efforts, on public stages and in YouTube ads and behind closed doors, to fix their problems before Election Day 2018, when an increasing number of political prognosticators believe the party might have a reasonable chance of capturing the House of Representatives — a victory that would throw President Trump's agenda into disarray. "Right now it's such a target-rich environment for us," one Democratic consultant tells Draper. But, "We're having trouble explaining why we're the heroes and the Republicans are the villains." Elsewhere in the magazine, Burt Helm writes about Facebook's oracular algorithm that determines the fates of start-ups. Christine Smallwood profiles Greta Gerwig, in her directorial debut. And Wyatt Mason writes about the first English translation of the "Odyssey" — by a woman. Happy reading, Jake Silverstein Editor in Chief EFTA00653048