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The Clinton-Obama era ends as US Democrats seek a radical new voice

  

Category:  Op/Ed

Via:  johnrussell  •  5 years ago  •  23 comments

The Clinton-Obama era ends as US Democrats seek a radical new voice

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T





The Clinton-Obama era ends as US Democrats seek a radical new voice

The party owes a debt of gratitude to Donald Trump as it sweeps away a cautious mindset

Edward Luce

Listen carefully and you can hear the retreat of the Democratic establishment. Incrementalism served its purpose: it made Democrats electable again and safe for Wall Street. But it has had its day. The generation of Democrats that downplayed concerns about inequality and embraced global markets is being replaced by a far bolder political voice. No matter who takes the Democratic nomination in 2020, they will speak for a radicalised party in quest of the new New Deal. They owe a debt of gratitude to Donald Trump. However much resurgent liberals detest America’s 45th president, they can thank him for sweeping away the mindset of systematic caution that has mesmerised Democratic leaders for a generation. It began with Bill Clinton’s New Democrats in the late 1980s. It ended in 2016 when Hillary Clinton lost to Mr Trump. In between it spanned Al Gore, the losing 2000 nominee, John Kerry, who lost in 2004, and Barack Obama, whose eight-year legacy is now being destroyed by Mr Trump. Mr Trump has served both as a call to arms and as an example of how establishments can be defeated.

  ...Regardless of your ideology, today’s numbers paint a stark picture. Ten years into the US recovery, median household incomes are, in real terms, still much what they were they were in 1999. The top one per cent of households own more wealth than the bottom 90 per cent. America’s average life expectancy has started to decline. Mr Trump has made inequality worse. .

....“The false doctrines of the neoliberal priesthood are losing their hold,” writes Nick Hanauer, the entrepreneur who made his fortune with Amazon. America’s left is turning into a factory of new ideas.  ... for the first time in decades, America’s intellectual energy is now on the left.


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JohnRussell
Professor Principal
1  seeder  JohnRussell    5 years ago

The future should be bright for the Democrats, as long as they stick together.

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
1.1  Greg Jones  replied to  JohnRussell @1    5 years ago

 Ten years into the US recovery, median household incomes are, in real terms, still much what they were they were in 1999. The top one per cent of households own more wealth than the bottom 90 per cent. America’s average life expectancy has started to decline. Mr Trump has made inequality worse. 

How has Trump made it worse,  and how can the radical left make it better?

But they are not sticking together. The far left policies being touted by the likes of Bernie and AOC will not be accepted by the average American. Most citizen's politics cluster near the center and the extremes on either end of the spectrum cannot be expected to prevail. Excitedly waiting for all those new and wonderful ideas!

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
1.1.2  Jack_TX  replied to  Greg Jones @1.1    5 years ago
The far left policies being touted by the likes of Bernie and AOC will not be accepted by the average American.

This. 

But nobody seems to be able to get the far left to believe this.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
2  Bob Nelson    5 years ago

The Socialist Party in France triumphed, with Mitterand's victory in 1981... and then gradually forgot its popular roots. There's nothing left, today.

The Democratic Party absolutely must maintain its anchor on the left.

There are no ideas on the right, only hatred for "the others" and tax cuts for the rich. The Democratic Party absolutely must occupy the "idea space", where humanity and generosity can only go their way.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
2.1  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Bob Nelson @2    5 years ago

The most progressive voices in the mainstream media , someone like the gang at The Young Turks, tend to try and make the case that the progressive message can win in 2020 and if the Democrats don't embrace the progressive message they will lose, presumably because the most progressive will stay home on election day.  It is potentially a big dilemma. Maybe an all out progressive agenda's time has come, but we can't be sure until the votes are counted.

Which will be sure of getting rid of Trump in 22 months, a middle of the road Democratic message, or the progressive message?  We can't let Trump get re-elected because Democrats have a mixed message. It is a challenge. Let's trust that Mueller will pre-empt.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
2.1.1  Bob Nelson  replied to  JohnRussell @2.1    5 years ago
Let's trust that Mueller will pre-empt.

I'm all for impeachment.

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
2.1.3  Jack_TX  replied to  JohnRussell @2.1    5 years ago
The most progressive voices in the mainstream media , someone like the gang at The Young Turks, tend to try and make the case that the progressive message can win in 2020 and if the Democrats don't embrace the progressive message they will lose, presumably because the most progressive will stay home on election day.

The party that seizes the center will win.  They always do.  

 
 
 
Nowhere Man
Junior Guide
3  Nowhere Man    5 years ago

Well, they haven't been the party of ideas since the '60's so that would be a refreshing change.

But it looks like they are still claiming the last bastion, the uber elite intellectual class....

Give it time, that will change also.......

Funny that your side claims that there is nothing but hate for everyone on the other side. yet it is still your side that divies up everyone into their "place"......

The telling tale? is the calls for dissonance that has always populated the left's version of utopia. That hasn't left the left's playbook. I mean who wants to live in a world where everyone has to have an enemy? That is what utopia is?

No thanks.

Everyone has the same rights and the same responsibilities. Someday, those on the left will come to understand that.

Rather than advocating their hate us into submission mantra....

Of course, when a red, white & blue jackass can fly, they will have found the star-spangled unicorn, the epitome of their dreams. 

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
4  Sean Treacy    5 years ago

The Democrats embrace of the far left isn't new and predates Trump. Hillary spent 2016 rebuking her husband's policies and still almost lost to an out and out socialist. The 2000 VP nominee was run out of the party for being too moderate by 2006, which is crazy when you think about it.

 The problem is Democrats will run out of rich people's money really quickly if they try and follow through on their big plans. The idea that an 80 or 90% marginal rate on high incomes will magically fund medicare for all idiocy of the highest magnitude, yet that's how they pander to their illiterate voters.   

A 100% tax rate on incomes of 1 million dollars and more won't even balance the current budget, let alone finance a socialist utopia.  Guess where those extra trillions they are so eager to spend have to come from?  

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
4.1  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Sean Treacy @4    5 years ago

AOC is not proposing high tax rates on the rich to solely fund health care for all.  She has proposed a 70% and up tax on income over 5 million dollars a year as a way to help pay for initiatives to fight climate change.

A tax to fund universal health care would hit everyone.

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
4.1.1  Sean Treacy  replied to  JohnRussell @4.1    5 years ago
  She has proposed a 70% and up tax on income over 5 million dollars a year as a way to help pay for initiatives to fight climate change.

That's chicken scratch and won't even come close to convert our power sources to 100% renewable.  She talking about spending trillions and raising billions.

A tax to fund universal health care would hit everyone.

Since you've already taken the millionaires'  money to not fund her green initiative, just how high can you raise taxes on the middle class?  How popular do you think a 40% marginal rate on $40,000 will be? With a 20% VAT on all purchases?  That's a starting point.  But hey, "free" health care!  

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
4.1.2  Jack_TX  replied to  JohnRussell @4.1    5 years ago
A tax to fund universal health care would hit everyone.

No it wouldn't.  Huge numbers of people will still pay nothing.

 
 
 
bbl-1
Professor Quiet
4.1.3  bbl-1  replied to  Jack_TX @4.1.2    5 years ago

Too often those with nothing have nothing to pay.  Even in these prosperous 'Happy Times' of the Trump Era---even nothing has a value.

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
4.1.4  Jack_TX  replied to  bbl-1 @4.1.3    5 years ago
Too often those with nothing have nothing to pay.  Even in these prosperous 'Happy Times' of the Trump Era---even nothing has a value.

Meh.....almost half of us don't pay income tax, and a large percentage of us get income tax credits that refund all the other taxes paid during the year.  Those people are not penniless.  

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
4.2  Jack_TX  replied to  Sean Treacy @4    5 years ago

Math is a tiresome, inconvenient thing.

 
 
 
bbl-1
Professor Quiet
4.2.1  bbl-1  replied to  Jack_TX @4.2    5 years ago

And that is why the congress tries to stay away from it.

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
4.2.2  Jack_TX  replied to  bbl-1 @4.2.1    5 years ago
And that is why the congress tries to stay away from it.

You are not wrong.  

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
5  seeder  JohnRussell    5 years ago

This is an interesting article about why there isn't going to be any wall and it ties into the theme of this seed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/14/democrats-cannot-give-trump-what-he-wants-just-look-incentives-demographics/?utm_term=.a86e35193662

Democrats cannot give Trump what he wants. Just look at the incentives and the demographics.

JANUARY 14, 2019

One of the most frustrating aspects of the whole government shutdown fight is that it’s not clear that President Trump has even a rudimentary grasp of one of the most fundamental dynamics underlying what’s happening.

That dynamic is as follows: It’s very likely that Nancy Pelosi cannot give Trump the $5.7 billion he wants to fund the wall he craves.

By “cannot,” I mean that the House speaker may literally be incapable of giving it to him. It’s not at all clear that there are any circumstances under which such funding could pass the House at this point.

There are a few reasons for this. The first is that among Democratic voters, support for the wall has dropped into the single digits — again, literally. A new Quinnipiac poll finds :

  • 55 percent of American voters oppose building the wall, while only 43 percent of them support it. Among Democrats, 92 percent oppose the wall while only 6 percent support it.
  • 63 percent of American voters oppose shutting down the government to make sure the wall gets funded, while only 32 percent support it. Among Democrats, 95 percent oppose it while only 3 percent support it.

Now, it’s true that very large majorities of Republicans are aligned on the other side with Trump. But more Republicans than you might expect oppose the shutdown over the wall (24 percent). And among the broader public, you cannot overstate how thoroughly Trump is losing this argument. The Quinnipiac poll also finds that large majorities do not believe the wall is a good use of taxpayer money (59 percent); do not believe it would make the U.S. safer (55); do not believe it’s an effective way to protect the border (56); and believe that immigration is good for the country (73).

Meanwhile, 63 percent support funding the rest of the government while continuing to negotiate over the wall, and 56 percent blame Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, while only 36 percent blame Democrats. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), more now trust congressional Democrats than Trump on border security by 49 to 44.

Under these circumstances, it’s very hard to see how any House Democrats — or more than the barest handful — could support $5.7 billion for Trump’s wall at this point.

The demographics of the new House majority

The unlikelihood that Democrats could give Trump the wall money he wants is also underscored by the demographic makeup of the new House Democratic caucus. Ron Brownstein published an important analysis that concluded most House districts, relative to national averages, are either more nonwhite, or have higher shares of four-year college degrees, or have higher average incomes, or are younger, or have higher shares of immigrants.

That’s a change from the last time Democrats won a majority in 2006 and expanded on it in 2008, after which many House Democrats still represented more rural and small-town districts. By contrast, the new Dem majority was assembled by racking up wins in Trump districts (or Hillary Clinton districts where Republicans had long dominated, such as those in Orange County, Calif.) that are more suburban, educated and affluent. Also, as a recent Brookings Institution analysis showed , the seats that Democrats flipped are less dependent for employment on manufacturing and more on information-oriented professional and digital services.

Basically, the new House Democratic majority is concentrated in areas where the story that Trump has told about the economy and the country is just less likely to resonate . One big surprise of this cycle is the backlash against Trumpism in the professional white-collar suburbs that had leaned Republican, which helped fuel the massive Democratic victory — creating an unprecedentedly diverse majority — in the face of Trump’s virulently xenophobic closing message. And it seems clear that the Democratic caucus broadly speaking now inhabits areas that are more comfortable with diversity, immigration, information-driven economic change and globalization.

To be sure, this creates challenges for Democrats as well. Because many lingering Republican districts in Trump country are areas have been economically left behind, due to territorial inequality created by forces such as corporate concentration, globalization and digitalization, Democrats should develop an agenda to address those trends, both to expand into those areas and for substantive and moral reasons as well.

But for now, these deep divides between the two parties’ caucuses — which is also illustrated by the woefully low support for the wall among Democrats — also make it less likely that Democrats could ever give Trump the wall funding he wants.

Finally, there are incentives. As Roll Call reports , Democrats are keenly aware that if they give into Trump’s extortion this time, it will only get worse, and there are battles looming over fiscal priorities and the debt ceiling.

But it’s not clear that Trump understands any of these things. Trump recently claimed many Democrats are calling him and saying, “We agree with you,” which is almost certainly a lie, and the White House is reportedly trying to persuade Democrats from Trump districts to back the wall, which is silly, given that many are in suburban areas alienated by Trump. So the fundamentals are plainly of no interest to him. Perhaps his plan is to keep the government shut down indefinitely, or until a supermajority in both chambers puts his flailing non-strategy out of its misery.

 
 
 
bbl-1
Professor Quiet
6  bbl-1    5 years ago

Two things.

1.  US healthcare is expensive, impersonal and poorly delivered.  Find out why and fix it.

2.  How political campaigns are funded and conducted is...………...dumb.  Do something.

Democrats with republicans must have both of these on their active agendas.

 
 
 
Jack_TX
Professor Quiet
6.1  Jack_TX  replied to  bbl-1 @6    5 years ago
2.  How political campaigns are funded and conducted is...………...dumb.  Do something. Democrats with republicans must have both of these on their active agendas.

It is unlikely that those in seats of power will tear down the system that put them there.

 
 
 
livefreeordie
Junior Silent
7  livefreeordie    5 years ago

There are now two wings of the Democratic Party, the Communist wing and the Stalinist wing.  Both are enemies of our Constitutional Republic 

the more we can limit there access to power, the longer our Republic can survive

Obama laid the groundwork for the radical left with his pledge to “fundamentally transform America”

now these radical anti American extremists that control the are dedicated to turn this country into Venezuela or Cuba

 
 

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