"When they go low, we go high." Nine years on, that lofty, politics-as-usual impulse is out of date. Playing nice didn't work then. It's not working now.
Proposition 50 is not playing nice. It requires temporary use of new congressional maps and creates five new Democratic seats in California. Put plain, it's gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is fighting dirty, and under normal circumstances, I'd say it's wrong. Right now, I say fighting fair while the people in power break all the rules is plain foolishness.
When it comes to gerrymandering, one-sided renunciation is a great way to feel good about ourselves, and a great way to lose. The White House knows its violent, invasive policies are unpopular. However if we turn our noses up at this fight, that won't matter.