continued,,,
But with people awakening to the consequences of neoliberalism, Biden is the wrong man at the wrong time.
Ryan Cooper summed up his record succinctly,
here:
His economic policy career has been one disgrace after the next — sponsoring or voting for multiple rounds of financial deregulation, trade deals that savaged the American manufacturing base, and bankruptcy “reform”that made it much harder to discharge consumer debt (and nearly impossible to get rid of student debt).
Remember Clinton’s rational about “evolving” on issues as she attempted to veer leftward in 2016? Well, Biden will have to do more than evolve—he’ll have to shed his entire skin like a snake in August. Trump will have a field day running against him.
Meanwhile, Pelosi, Schumer, Hoyer and crew are spewing centrist Pablum about capitalism and the power of free markets; they’re embracing austerity (remember Paygo, their very first initiative?); they’re preaching the gospel of small government and small bore policies; they’re eschewing the idea of a bold platform based on sweeping programs designed to meet the immense challenges facing us; they’re refusing to do what must be done to salvage a future worth living for our children and those yet to be borne.
Their entire strategy seems to center on showing everyone how bad Trump is, and the central debate within the party is whether to impeach or not.
People are tired of bickering, however justified. Impeach or not, Democrats will have to develop a values-based platform that addresses the ills of their neoliberal past if they want to win. If they don’t do this—and so far, the leadership is fighting hard to avoid doing it—voter turnout will be less than 60 percent, a number that would guarantee a Democratic victory. The more they embrace their neoliberal past, the lower the turnout will be; embracing a candidate like Biden or some other centrist will also drive turnout lower.
And yet here they are—holding fast to the philosophy, policies and candidates that turned them into a minority party, even as the world sends them lesson after lesson.
And this is how Trump will win. The 2020 election will be all about turnout, just as the 2016 election was. And as I said in the years leading up to 2016, Hillary Clinton would depress turnout and that would enable a Republican victory—even if they ran a buffoon.
Now the Democrats are gearing up for an instant replay, complete with the inevitable surprised forehead slaps and embarrassed pundits asking, on November 4, 2020 “How could this have happened, again?”
How, indeed.
