Part of charting that course is defining the goal a little bit more clearly than tends to follow a narrow look back at the 2024 election.

And again, Joe Biden won the 2020 primary. Most Democrats really dislike Donald Trump and do not share leftist intellectuals’ antipathy to Clinton and Obama. Most Democrats are highly motivated by their desire to preserve the social safety net, to protect abortion rights, and to defeat the MAGA movement. It would require at this point a certain boldness of thought — and certainly a thick skin — to run against the party establishment with a moderate rather than leftist inflection. But I think the pathway is relatively clear. Because the 2018 and 2022 cycles went well for Democrats, there is plenty of talent on the bench. And because the senior party leadership discredited itself with its handling of Biden’s age, there is plenty of openness to outsider figures. People keep asking me who I think is the favorite for 2028 or who is my personal favorite. The answer is, it depends.