12/14 News Roundup & OT
Bernie Sanders and Our Winter of Progressive Discontent
Bernie Sanders is not in a good political position right now. Yes, he continues to speak vital truths to—and about—power. His ability to reach a national audience with progressive wisdom and specific proposals is unmatched. And, during the last several decades, no one has done more to move the nation’s discourse leftward. But now, Sanders is in a political box.
After a summer and fall dominated by the imperative of defeating Donald Trump, progressive forces are entering a winter of discontent. Joe Biden has offered them little on the list of top personnel being named to his administration. While Sanders wants to maintain a cordial relationship with the incoming president, he doesn’t like what he’s seeing.
Sanders has tried to call in some political chits, but Biden—probably figuring that Sanders won’t really go to the mat—does not seem to care much.
“The progressive movement deserves a number of seats—important seats—in the Biden administration,” Sanders said last week. “Have I seen that at this point? I have not.”Sanders foreshadowed the current situation back in mid-November, when he told The Associated Press: “It seems to me pretty clear that progressive views need to be expressed within a Biden administration. It would be, for example, enormously insulting if Biden put together a ‘team of rivals’—and there’s some discussion that that’s what he intends to do—which might include Republicans and conservative Democrats—but which ignored the progressive community. I think that would be very, very unfortunate.”
At this point, Sanders and avid supporters of the Bernie 2020 campaign have ample reasons to feel frustrated, even “enormously” insulted. It’s small comfort that Biden’s picks so far are purportedly “not as bad as Obama’s” were 12 years ago. That’s a low bar, especially to those who understand that Barack Obama heavily corporatized his presidency from the outset. And given the past decade’s leftward political migration among Democrats and independents at the grassroots, Biden’s selections have been even more out of step with the party’s base.
Reporting on Biden’s overall selections as this week began, the Washington Post found that “about 80 percent of the White House and agency officials he’s announced have the word ‘Obama’ on their resumé from previous White House or Obama campaign jobs.”
Biden conveyed notable disregard for Sanders by nominating an OMB director with a long record of publicly expressing antagonism toward him. The Post just reported that “the transition team never reached out to” Sanders about “Biden’s decision to tap Neera Tanden as director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to a person familiar with the lack of communication, despite Sanders’s role as the top Democrat on one of the committees that will hold Tanden’s confirmation hearings.”
Away from Capitol Hill, many progressive organizations are regrouping while “the Bernie movement” evaporates. Coalescing in its place are a range of resilient, overlapping movements that owe much of their emergent long-term power to his visionary leadership.
Nationally, Sanders became a shaper of history in unprecedented ways. Unlike almost every other major candidate for president in our lifetimes, he has always been part of social movements. For 30 years, Sanders not only continued to have one foot in the streets and one foot in the halls of Congress; somehow, he often seemed to be relentlessly in both places with both feet.
Bernie Sanders has fulfilled what the legendary progressive activist and theoretician Saul Alinsky described as a key goal of political organizers—to work themselves out of a job—so that other activists will become ready, willing and able to carry on.
At this juncture, while Sanders is ill-positioned and uninclined to push back very hard against the evident trajectory of Biden’s decisions, many progressives are starting to throw down gauntlets against the corporate and militaristic aspects of the incoming presidency. While the lunacy of the Trumpian GOP is nonstop and corporate Democrats have control of party top-down power levers, the broad democratic left is now stronger, better-funded and better-networked than it has been in many decades, with greatly enhanced electoral capacities as well as vitality of its social movements.
Those electoral capacities and social movements have long been intertwined with the tireless work of Bernie Sanders. But a crucial dynamic going forward into 2021 and beyond will be the resolve of progressives to methodically challenge the Biden administration. Senator Sanders is unlikely to have the leverage or inclination to lead the fight.
Sanders has tried to call in some political chits, but Biden—probably figuring that Sanders won’t really go to the mat—does not seem to care much. Days ago, Sanders said in an interview with Axios: “I’ve told the Biden people: The progressive movement is 35-40 percent of the Democratic coalition. Without a lot of other enormously hard work on the part of grassroots activists and progressives, Joe would not have won the election.”
Bernie Sanders was the catalyst for galvanizing the grassroots progressive power that propelled his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. His deep analysis, tenacity, eloquence and bold actions created new pathways. As this century enters its third decade, the torch needs to be grasped by others to lead the way.
More news, views, videos, and tweets in the comments. See you there!
Fire away…
sadly, I agree with your opening article from Common Dreams.
The path has to be individual victories in villages towns and cities which place Progressives on school boards and Council seats, in Courts and State Senate and Assemblies. That’s the only way I think we can build power.
That is what Bernie would also advocate, and why DSA is much better on a local level for organizing.
Norman Solomon. Well, I disagreed with him mostly about needing to vote for Biden, but he is right on here, I think.
I disagree with Solomon here – Bernie is not boxed-in or ill-suited to push back against Biden’s shitty nominations. If Sanders played nice in the primary to get a say in the administration, then Biden is reneging on the deal. Bernie’s position of leadership dictates that he stand up and hold Biden accountable.
There is no tinder to keep dry in this case. The choice is between getting rolled or drawing up the battle lines for the next four years.
Our politics is at a cross roads, The Retrumpcorplican wing is fighting with the old school neocons, The Neolibs got their wish and Trumpcorp is out!!! If they dont throw a few bones to progressive it will be a blood bath for the Neolibs as well between now and 24. The major difference is progressives care about mankind and the planet. the other 3 factions only care about greed and power. The battlelines are set, progressives have time on our side.
I so hope you are right, wi! but I don’t know. They will solidify their power through voting machines and the MSM and Facebook and whatever else. I don’t know that any progressive will have a chance ever again.
but if we keep building the squad another down ticket races and get people in wherever we can now, then we still have a chance although even those people most of them don’t understand about the machines. And I’m not sure they have a strategy for the MSM either.
Electoral College is voting now. Vermont was first, with three electors voting for Biden and for Harris. (They have to submit separate ballots for each candidate on the ticket). Bunch of paperwork they have to fill out…copies for VP of the US, one copy for archives, one for the state house, etc.
List of electors is in wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2020_United_States_presidential_electors
CNN reports that electors in Pennsylvania and Michigan have police escorts due to security concerns.
CNN also reports that Biden will deliver an address this evening after the votes have been cast.
Should hospitals reuse medical supplies? A new study says yes.
Couldn’t agree more, the waste must be beyond imagination even W/O covid.
It will be ignored by Biden, of course, other than lip service of rejoining the Paris accord. We know Trump would have.
Good stuff!
👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾❤. Shared the video on fb.
As NY becomes the first state to obtain the vaccine today, Juan Cole offers some food for thought.
My fear is that too many of us will learn nothing from this pandemic, and the system will continue to limp on. Yes, we can glass-half-full it, note that many people will be forever changed by this catastrophe, and we will have more people than ever before actively fighting for a more equitable, more moral society. But will it be enough to tip the balance, as it most definitely should?
I’m having trouble with that too it’s like people are buying that the government shouldn’t help and that we should go out and put our lives at risk to keep the economy going and that makes me very sad.
There are a lot of them, but there also a lot of us who see the insanity in that kind of thinking. We just have to be willing to get uncomfortable and push back against the laziness of inertia.
I’m just over the border from Delgado’s district in Poughkeepsie. I’m hoping that in NY’s redistributing we get moved into his district. He’s no
progressive but he’s not a corporate tool like our current Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney
Agree that Sean Patrick Maloney is the worst of the worst. That’s why he’s been richly rewarded by Dem leadership.
I’ll never forgive him for his spoiler campaign against Zephyr Teachout.
https://aflcio.org/2020/12/2/local-union-president-elected-new-york-state-senate
Sure wish we had something even close to possible down here in FL.
I know what IG is. What is OG?
original gangsta. someone who’s authentic or old school urban dictionary.
TY!
awww. warm fuzzies.
A grateful T and R, Ms. Benny!!☮️😊👍
Stephen Miller is trending on Twitter
Here is his FOX appearance this morning in which he claims that there will be alternative electors and they have until Jan 20 to get the election correct.
Stephen Miller: ‘Alternate’ electors will keep Trump election challenge alive
In the meantime count is up to 60!
oy vey What next?
At what point do we jail these bastards for treason? How many more people have to be hurt unnecessarily?
One for 60 and the batting average rolls on
Fox news host Juan Williams describes his Covid.
Will Fox realize that Covid is real?
Remember that Fox went after Obama when 4 died from a flu when he was president
Juan Williams: My battle with COVID
You mean Juan Williams? I don’t see Juan Cole being a Fox host. 🙂
yes mistake
wish could edit the comment and fix the mistake
sorry
I edited it for you
Wish a few of them would croak.
It was Ebola. I remember that.
I do remember that Obama send out teams to help fight it in Africa
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lindsey-boylan-cuomo-sexural-harassment-claim_n_5fd63ce1c5b690d5d304eed8
“working class”
Is Bernie offering a compromise on means-testing? 🙁
I hope not, but he’s always used working class.
https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-stimulus-bipartisan-plans-in-2-parts-2020-12?utm_source=reddit.com
That liability BS is a no deal and no brainer. It’s long past time that Beijing Mitch got kicked in his worthless corrupt FRightwing teeth By chickenshit Pelousy and Hoyer. Manchin needs to change parties. Who is he kidding?
I’m sorry, but fuck this framing. To equate giving blanket immunity to any employer to endanger their employees with saving the livelihoods of struggling Americans is both-sidesism at its absolute worst.
if only he felt the same way about the GND
i wish they’d join Bernie and hawley (sp)