“Before our party promises health care coverage to undocumented immigrants — a position not even Ted Kennedy took — let’s help the more than 30 million Americans who are a single illness away from financial ruin,” said former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) in an oped.

The former Chief of Staff of Barack Obama, implored democratic candidates to deliver a message rather than just trying for Twitter praise, adding, “fefore we start worrying about whether the Boston Marathon bomber can vote, let’s stop states that are actively trying to curtail voting rights of citizens. And before we promise a guaranteed minimum income to healthy adults who prefer to stay home and play video games, let’s increase the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit to benefit the millions of people who work hard and still live near poverty.”

Here is an excerpt of his oped:

First, remind people that our country has always won when we’ve invested in America. When the Russians launched Sputnik, we answered with Apollo. Fifty years later, Moscow is still looking at our flag. When the Soviets tried to spread repressive authoritarianism, we successfully championed democracy and free enterprise to close out the “American century.”

People understand that what’s past is prologue — so apply that wisdom.

Today, China is practicing the worst kind of industrial espionage, stealing ideas from every sector of the economy. There’s a reason they’re so fixated on the U.S.: Our system is uniquely equipped to unleash the power of entrepreneurial innovation. But Trump isn’t about investing — much of his 2017 tax cuts went to foreigners. In the meantime, American taxpayers have spent the last 20 years both in blood and treasure building roads, schools, and hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan. All the while, American wages continued to stagnate. People are tired of being treated as chumps. It’s time to invest in America again.