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Obama Is Wrong to Push Democratic Party Centrism

Charlemagne

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Tuesday, November 26, 2019

by

The Progressive

Obama Is Wrong to Push Democratic Party Centrism

Obama’s recent comments highlight an important division in the Democratic Party, one that’s prompted the recent emergence of two new candidates: Deval Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts and personal friend of Obama, and Michael Bloomberg.

by

Leland Nally

Former President Barack Obama recently offered some pointed criticism of the Democratic party’s “activist wing,” cautioning candidates to not move too far left and to remain “rooted in reality.”

“The average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it,” Obama told an audience in Washington, D.C. “This is still a country that is less revolutionary than it is interested in improvement.”

This is an odd take from a candidate who famously ran (and won!) on making major change, but it mirrors the feelings of establishment Democrats who remain uneasy of popular candidates including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and progressive policies like Medicare for All.

Yet Obama’s comments highlight an important division in the Democratic Party, one that’s prompted the recent emergence of two new candidates: Deval Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts and personal friend of Obama, and Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City.

Patrick says he entered the race over fears of a floundering Joe Biden, and Bloomberg was apparently prompted to run by his personal anxiety over the possible nomination of Sanders or Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

As much as the donor class is concerned with preserving old systems, voters are mainly funneling their energy towards building new ones.

These tensions come down to two competing theories of the Obama presidency. The first holds that Obama pushed the country too far left, causing a political backlash against a progressive administration that was out of touch with the American people. This is a favorite of the donor class and Democratic establishment, which urge a more moderate approach to win back Obama-Trump voters.

The other theory is almost exactly opposite. It holds that Obama promised “Hope and Change” but instead delivered boilerplate centrism that produced a disillusioned working-class, paving the way for a right-wing populist resurgence. Proponents believe the fabled Obama coalition is still out there, waiting to be ignited by a genuine leftwing platform, as shown by the enthusiasm for Sanders and Warren — candidates who have called for “political revolution” and “big, structural change,” respectively.

Obama’s call for incrementalism shows he clearly believes the former. I think the evidence proves him wrong.

The fact is, Trump’s voters did not crave centrism and moderation when they elected him in 2016. Trump, like Obama before him, was the candidate of big-time change. If anyone wanted to tear down “the system,” it was the 2016 Trump voter.

When asked whether Obama was right in saying that “the average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system,” Sanders replied, “Well, it depends on what you mean by tear down the system.” He went on to note that his political agenda, including raising the minimum wage to a living wage, and guaranteeing health care coverage for all, is “supported by the vast majority of working people.”

Which system is Obama worried about “tearing down,” exactly? Of the progressive policies on the docket this primary, the only systems I see endangered are insurance companies, corporate profiteers, flagrant threats to a livable planet, and whatever hellish system is the one that puts kids in cages on the U.S.-Mexico border.

As much as the donor class is concerned with preserving old systems, voters are mainly funneling their energy towards building new ones. In the case of health care, America doesn’t really have a “system” so much as a marketplace that sells health care services. Medicare for All is about finally building a system that works for everybody.

The Democratic establishment fails to properly recognize where the momentum lies, and Obama’s calls for incrementalism only stand to embolden the status quo and needlessly stifle the most energized portion of his own party.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/26/obama-wrong-push-democratic-party-centrism
 

onthebottom

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Let’s be clear, Sanders has a long career of accomplishing nothing.
 

Butler1000

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Let’s be clear, Sanders has a long career of accomplishing nothing.
1.....he is refered to as the Amendment King for his work in tempering the worst instincts of Congress.

2. That's because he, along with few others over the years, were the lone voices of dissent to the Military Industrial Complex and Wall St. bowing.

The fact that 4 years ago he was a nobody and quickly changed the the national conversation as well as inspiring a movement that continues to grow is his main legacy now.

I don't think you can close the book yet on what he will be responsible for.
 

kkelso

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Why wouldn't a centrist former President push for a centrist candidate?
He would. But, Obama was a consummate politician, he knows a slow-motion train wreck when he sees one. What he said was exactly what Democrats need to hear. they just don't like it.

KK
 

jcpro

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A three short years ago, Obama was on the cutting edge of progress...
 

Butler1000

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A three short years ago, Obama was on the cutting edge of progress...
Maybe to a few shills in the press. And a bunch of rich white suburbanites.

But his sheen was off on many minority and progressive circles by then.
 

Butler1000

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He would. But, Obama was a consummate politician, he knows a slow-motion train wreck when he sees one. What he said was exactly what Democrats need to hear. they just don't like it.

KK
Because running a centrist worked so well last time right?
 

onthebottom

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Butler1000

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I don’t think one hateful bitch should condemn all moderates
I'd say 2000 and 2004 also qualify. The 2008 primary was a rejection as well. Look what Obama campaigned on.

Why would going back to the same policies that made people think bitting for Trump is a good idea be a good strategy?

Why return to the same conditions that caused his rise?
 

K Douglas

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A three short years ago, Obama was on the cutting edge of progress...
The claim of Obama being a centrist now that's comical. He was the most liberal Democratic POTUS since Jimmy Carter.
 

bver_hunter

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So Liberals are not "Centrist". Who would you consider to be "Centrist" in your opinion??
 

Butler1000

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The claim of Obama being a centrist now that's comical. He was the most liberal Democratic POTUS since Jimmy Carter.
That's not saying anything because the only other one was Clinton who took the party to the right.

Obama ran as a progressive then....

Didn't bring the troops home
Didn't close Guantanamo Bay
Deported 3,000,000
Funded the private immigration centres
Increased the military budgets
Did more drone strikes (90% civilian casualty rate)
Implemented ACA, created by the Heritage Foundation and originally supported my Mitt Romney.
Went from two wars to seven
Didn't support gay marriage until the SCOTUS forced him to
Bailed out the banks while allowing them to foreclose on 5,000,000 homes
Allowed Wells Fargo to commit 2,000,000 acts of fraud while not looking at a single criminal charge (even Reagan sent over 1000 bankers in the S&L crises to prison)

Really?
 

Butler1000

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So Liberals are not "Centrist". Who would you consider to be "Centrist" in your opinion??
No centrists aren't liberal. It's a fake label. They moved the Overton window farther to the right. To the point the Dems are more right wing than the Conservatives in Canada.
 
O

OnTheWayOut

Obama wants to think he is still running the show. Thankfully he is not.
 

bver_hunter

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No centrists aren't liberal. It's a fake label. They moved the Overton window farther to the right. To the point the Dems are more right wing than the Conservatives in Canada.
That is your label, and the rest of the right wingers called them "lefties". You guys are really confused.

The vast majority of the Democrats are centrists like Obama claims!!
 

WyattEarp

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Because running a centrist worked so well last time right?
You know she wasn't a good candidate and that the party cleared the runway for her. I believe Obama gave his tacit approval to Hillary as a reward for her loyalty after the 2008 primary battle.
 

WyattEarp

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No centrists aren't liberal. It's a fake label. They moved the Overton window farther to the right. To the point the Dems are more right wing than the Conservatives in Canada.
Obama likely moved the Overton window to the Left. The Overton window moves gently not in great swings. In the U.S. it has tendency to reversion in the short-term. Let me say ACA was a monumental game changer in changing American's minds about universal healthcare.

(Butler, you just think that government can do a better job of managing the distribution of healthcare.)

The American electorate is likely more conservative at the median than the Canadian electorate. Our distrust of centralized government is inherent in our political DNA all the way to our founding.

Canada was more chill. Let's just stay under British rule for a longer time. You were originally more conservative than the U.S. In the early 1800s, we were the radicals.
 

WyattEarp

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But his sheen was off on many minority and progressive circles by then.
I bet you Obama still has a lot of pull with African-American voters. Isn't that really behind the African-American attraction to Biden? The appearance that Biden is an extension of the Obama Administration. Isn't that why Kamala tried to take down Obama with the busing issue and other's have criticized Biden's association with the old racist, Southern Democrats back in the 1970s?
 
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