You’d think I’d be more interested in the campaign of Joe Sestak to defeat Arlen Specter and win the Democratic nomination for one of Pennsylvania’s two senate seats. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to muster a whole lot of enthusiasm for the race. With the president, the governor, and key representatives of the black community like Chaka Fattah all supporting Specter, it doesn’t look like anything pleasant is going to come out of this contest. Progressives are going to be increasingly infuriated with the blind stupidity of our party leaders and so-called progressive representatives. The harder the Establishment puts their thumbs on the scale for Specter, the more disgusted and distraught and demoralized we will become.
I might be geared up for such a battle, if only I thought of Joe Sestak as a sincere progressive. But, I don’t. I can almost assure progressives that if he wins a stunning upset and becomes the next senator from Pennsylvania, we’ll wind up preferring Bob Casey on every issue that isn’t related to reproductive rights and stem-cell research.
I don’t want to do a hit piece on Sestak, and I won’t. He’ll be a much better senator than Arlen Specter for the country and over the long term. In the short-term, Pennsylvania would take a major hit. Specter was denied his seniority when he switched parties, but if he succeeds in winning reelection as a Democrat, his seniority will be restored. That would make him a cardinal on the Appropriations Committee, where he would steer untold amount of benefits to the people of Pennsylvania. It’s uncertain if Specter would win a chairmanship, but he’d have enough seniority to take over the Veteran’s Affairs, Aging, or Environment & Public Works committee. Sestak, by contrast, would take a seat behind Al Franken.
Because I put the county’s needs above any parochial concerns, I will unhesitatingly vote for Joe Sestak over Arlen Specter. He’d definitely fits into the more and better Democrat framework. But, not by enough to make me want to take part in a blood-feud pitting true progressives against fake ones, and the netroots against the Establishment.
My guess is that Specter and his enablers will infuriate me enough in short order to get me engaged in this race in opposition to them. But I’ve watched Sestak closely since he was elected. I don’t think he’s a progressive, and I think he’ll prove that if he wins.
I hope I’m wrong, because the Netroots is going into this with the petal to the metal, and they’re going to be telling you that Sestak is twice the progressive that Ned Lamont ever was.
