I don't get the 'What do Dems stand for' gripe in the article. What did the GOP stand for under Obama or the Dems under Bush? Of course most of the party is going to be against the opposing President and policy issues are going to be secondary.
Except Dems barely stood for anything when we were governing...
Say what you want about the Conservatives, but they have a coherent policy and cultural identity, even if they don't have a filled out platform. When you think Conservative, you've at least got God Guns Grits n Gravy (or whatever that Huckabee book was) to turn to when figuring out what they want to do with the country.
Most people couldn't name what Clinton was running on or what Democrats wanted to do in power during the 2016 election. Because we never decided, and never told them.