As Democrats soul-search for a new message to meet the current Trump era, many lawmakers are pointing to the ideas at the center of “Abundance,” the much-hyped book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, as at least a partial solution to the party’s woes.
“This is one of the most important books Democrats can read — wake up!” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on his podcast during an episode with Klein. Newsom said he sent copies of the book to Democratic leadership in the California Legislature.
California Democrats like Newsom and Rep. Ro Khanna have endorsed the book as an accurate depiction of some of the most important issues affecting their party. Mainly, that a convoluted regulatory environment in reliably Democratic states like New York or California makes it impossible to build new infrastructure on time and under budget. In the book, Klein and Thompson argue the lack of timely and tangible results from Democratic administrations is part of the political blowback the party is facing.