Arlen Specter has been ousted in Pennsylvania and Bill Halter has dragged Blue Dog Blanche Lincoln into a runoff election in Arkansas.
Yesterday’s election results were a slap in the face to Barack Obama and Rahm.
The results are a clear indication that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is not only fed up with Obama’s centrism/corporatism, they were ready, willing and able to do something about it.
As usual, the mainstream media got just about everything wrong. Have a look at this pathetic story from the Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut.
She wrote an article (or typed out a handout given her by Rahm) on May 19th called “Obama and Primary Candidates Kept Each Other at Arm’s Length”. She claimed that Obama made just one trip in support of Specter and that he “played a limited role.”
Comments written by readers almost uniformly rejected her column and said it was little more than an apologia. In fact, Obama raised almost $3 million for Specter, helped cut TV ads for him, helped channel Democratic party money to him, twisted arms by way of telephone, and sent his VP three times to campaign for Specter in addition to making a personal appearance last September at a fundraiser.
Blanche Lincoln was also the party favorite in Arkansas and the recipient of lots of money from the Democratic Party.
None of the above helped Specter or Lincoln largely because the Obama administration has repeatedly dissed its progressive base and yesterday was, in part, pay back time.
To avert huge losses in November, Obama would be wise to do the following:
- Begin to fight for and implement the progressive agenda he outlined as a candidate (rather than trashing it).
- Fire Rahm. Rahm hurt the party back in the 1990’s in almost the same way as he is now. He doesn’t realize that you cannot diss the people who voted and put you into office without suffering consequences.
- Not only start talking in a populist fashion (for instance about “fat cat bankers”) but actually do something that is progressive. Push a financial reform package that has real teeth in it. It’s interesting today that two leading Democratic liberals (Russ Feingold and Maria Cantwell voted against the bill being pushed by Dodd and found it “inadequate”. Good for them). Reinstate the Glass Steagall Act, the demise of which Bill Clinton has himself admitted was a huge mistake in his administration.
- Get rid of the incompetent Ken Salazar at Interior and actually bring a strong environmentalist in at Interior. Crack down on repeat offenders like BP (and don’t take their campaign contributions).
If Obama and the Obama Administration take to heart the message sent to them by voters yesterday, November need not be a blood bathe for the Democratic Party. BUT, if they continue “business as usual” expect progressives in the party to work only for progressives and not Republicans with a (D) next to their name.
UPDATE:
Here’s a link for the Kornblut article. html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/18/AR2010051805155.
