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Neoliberals’ pity party: Why an emboldened liberalism has corporate Dems running scared
http://www.salon.com/2015/06/20/neoliberals_pity_party_why_an_emboldened_liberalism_has_corporate_dems_running_scared/
Saturday, Jun 20, 2015 08:00 AM EST
Neoliberals’ pity party: Why an emboldened liberalism has corporate Dems running scared
Moderate Dems are reeling from their TPP defeat. Here's why it's a good sign that they're whining to the press
by Elias Isquith
Two weeks ago, after a clear majority of House Democrats Gandalf’d a crucial vote involving the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), no one was certain what the White House would do next. Press Secretary Josh Earnest did his best to spin the defeat as a victory, albeit one slightly marred by a “procedural snafu.” Those under no obligation to protect Obama’s image, however, felt differently. Vox’s Jonathan Allen reported that the president’s trade agenda was possibly already dead.
In the time since, the White House and its Republican allies in Congress have opted for a Plan B, which will require Obama to (arguably) break a promise and to muscle through the Senate a less-bipartisan version of a bill that had trouble passing already. Oh, and they’ll have to do this despite the fact that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks like she’s going to follow the Democratic Party’s base and remake herself as a free-trade skeptic. All that aside, though, I’m sure it’ll be a cinch.
But while the ultimate fate of the TPP is still unclear, there’s one element of this ongoing fight within the Democratic Party that you should expect to see more of in the years to come. It’s not the rise of a more combative labor movement, though that’s certainly part of it. And it’s not the decline of the party’s neoliberal wing, though that’s happening, too. No, it’s something much less important, but much more amusing: the wails of outrage and self-pity from moderate Democrats who resent the party’s once docile, but now ascendant, liberal base.
snip
For the kind of Democrat who worries more about the “business community” than workers, this is all terrible news. They already spend so much of their time trying to squeeze donations out of wealthy and corporate donors, who are naturally more inclined to support Republicans, the last thing they need is to have to simultaneously appease those on their left. So they’ll kvetch to Politico and wring their hands about a “left-wing Tea Party.” But unions and liberals should ignore them — or, if they must respond, laugh.
Saturday, Jun 20, 2015 08:00 AM EST
Neoliberals’ pity party: Why an emboldened liberalism has corporate Dems running scared
Moderate Dems are reeling from their TPP defeat. Here's why it's a good sign that they're whining to the press
by Elias Isquith
Two weeks ago, after a clear majority of House Democrats Gandalf’d a crucial vote involving the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), no one was certain what the White House would do next. Press Secretary Josh Earnest did his best to spin the defeat as a victory, albeit one slightly marred by a “procedural snafu.” Those under no obligation to protect Obama’s image, however, felt differently. Vox’s Jonathan Allen reported that the president’s trade agenda was possibly already dead.
In the time since, the White House and its Republican allies in Congress have opted for a Plan B, which will require Obama to (arguably) break a promise and to muscle through the Senate a less-bipartisan version of a bill that had trouble passing already. Oh, and they’ll have to do this despite the fact that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks like she’s going to follow the Democratic Party’s base and remake herself as a free-trade skeptic. All that aside, though, I’m sure it’ll be a cinch.
But while the ultimate fate of the TPP is still unclear, there’s one element of this ongoing fight within the Democratic Party that you should expect to see more of in the years to come. It’s not the rise of a more combative labor movement, though that’s certainly part of it. And it’s not the decline of the party’s neoliberal wing, though that’s happening, too. No, it’s something much less important, but much more amusing: the wails of outrage and self-pity from moderate Democrats who resent the party’s once docile, but now ascendant, liberal base.
snip
For the kind of Democrat who worries more about the “business community” than workers, this is all terrible news. They already spend so much of their time trying to squeeze donations out of wealthy and corporate donors, who are naturally more inclined to support Republicans, the last thing they need is to have to simultaneously appease those on their left. So they’ll kvetch to Politico and wring their hands about a “left-wing Tea Party.” But unions and liberals should ignore them — or, if they must respond, laugh.
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