Paul Hackett’s decision to drop out of politics, neither running for Senator nor for congressman, has already rippled across the blogosphere leaving mayhem in its wake.
I think there are some pretty bad misperceptions going on. The biggest misperception is about Sherrod Brown. If you want to get to know Sherrod Brown, read this:
Brown lacks the national profile of colleagues like Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders, but for the duration of his six-and-a-half terms in office, he has been one of Congress’s most stalwart progressives. “I’ve known him for many years,” says Sanders. “What’s very clear is that Sherrod Brown knows which side of the struggle he is on.” And when Brown’s friend John Ryan, executive secretary of the Cleveland AFL-CIO, says, “Sherrod Brown is one of us,” he means it in the literal, familial sense.
The l’affair Hackett has validated my theory of Reid and Schumer. I have been arguing for months that Reid and Schumer cleared the field for Bob Casey Jr., not because they liked his positions on the issues but because they liked his name recognition and fundraising potential. The same appears to be true about Sherrod Brown.
And if my theory is correct, Paul Hackett was not pushed out of the Senate race because he had the wrong positions on the issues, or even because of his temperament, lack of experience, or position as a netroots champion. He was pushed out because he didn’t have enough money, because, netroots aside, he didn’t have that much name recognition, and because he had a good chance of picking up a very red congressional seat in the bargain.
In theory, this move made perfect sense. The problem was that Hackett gave his word to fellow Democrats running for OH-2 that he would not jump into the race if his senate bid fizzled. Schumer and Reid were effectively asking Hackett to act in a dishonorable way. They didn’t offer Hackett something worthwhile in exchange fro dropping out of the senate race. They offered him ignominy.
Paul Hackett has every justification for what he has done in response. And yet, he is still letting down his constituents. Hackett was a creature of the netroots. Ignored and abandoned by the DNC, the netroots took up his banner and carried it forward. His ardent supporters never gave a shit what Reid and Schumer wanted. That was half the point. The more he was pressured to step aside, the more Hackett should have taken it to them. “Get the fuck out my way, you’re screwing everything up.”
A true outsider, running a true insurgency campaign, cannot back down when Reid and Schumer and Emmanuel come calling. Think about it. Hackett should have stuck it out to the end just for spite. Even in losing to Brown, it would have been a victory for the netroots.
But it’s Hackett’s decision. And I don’t blame him for getting disgusted when dealing with people that have no honor.
But, back to Sherrod Brown. We lost Paul Wellstone. Sherrod Brown is a good person to pick up that banner and carry it forward in the Senate. Progressives should have a mixed feeling this morning. We lost a fighter, an articulate tough, handsome, up-and-coming politician with a lot of credibility on the war in Iraq.
But, we also improved the chances that a true progressive politician like Sherrod Brown might become a Senator in a truly purple state.
