Who are we? Why are we here?

The Democratic Party has no idea what it is for.

Shattered is sourced almost entirely to figures inside the Clinton campaign who were and are deeply loyal to Clinton. Yet those sources tell of a campaign that spent nearly two years paralyzed by simple existential questions: Why are we running? What do we stand for?

If you're wondering what might be the point of rehashing this now, the responsibility for opposing Donald Trump going forward still rests with the (mostly anonymous) voices described in this book.

The problem here is that most of the people in charge of the Democratic Party figure the thing runs just fine the way it is. It doesn't really matter how many elections they lose as long as they are supporting the right, corporate friendly candidates to keep the donor money rolling in, everything is fine.  This is a machine that can run forever. If the elites running the show raise enough money to keep themselves ensconced in their roles, nothing has to change. 

Washington politicians tend to view everything through an insider lens.

Most don't see elections as organic movements within populations of millions, but as dueling contests of "whip-smart" organizers who know how to get the cattle to vote the right way. If someone wins an election, the inevitable Beltway conclusion is that the winner had better puppeteers.

It's fine with them that the party doesn't really stand for anything. That's actually kind of bad for the brand, frankly. 

Also, the Clintons are so nice. Can't imagine why people get such a negative impression...

This traced back to 2008, a failed run that the Clintons had concluded was due to the disloyalty and treachery of staff and other Democrats. After that race, Hillary had aides create "loyalty scores" (from one for most loyal, to seven for most treacherous) for members of Congress. Bill Clinton since 2008 had "campaigned against some of the sevens" to "help knock them out of office," apparently to purify the Dem ranks heading into 2016.

These people are still running things. And they have clearly learned nothing. 2018 should be lots of fun.