You read my tea leaves. In the series future I am going to bring up the shortcomings of both Clinton and Obama which made future Democratic failures possible.
I’d point more to MAYBE Carter for supporting the shift to neoliberal policies, which set Reagan up to implement them aggressively.
But if not Carter, then Clinton of course deserves much criticism, as he further alienated the working class, leaned into conservative rhetoric on things like welfare, and continued US foreign policy in the direction it still marches today. The biggest failure of all these democratic leaders was the failure to use the absurd abundance the US had accumulated through its hegemonic role in a way that reimagined what life could be here. Presidents came and went and let this opportunity pass - electing instead to continue feeding the military industrial complex and the corporate ruling class, the latter especially at the expense of the American middle class (the former, along with institutions like the IMF and World Bank, at the expense of human beings in what some call the Global South).
Obama continued the trend. Entering office amid financial collapse, he prioritized protecting the status quo. Knee bending to finance for fear of the whole system unraveling. Obama also accelerated the hollowing out of domestic manufacturing (though that job was already almost done), and never directed his power towards stifling the out of control and growing wealth divide. Tried w a half way sort of healthcare reform which failed to facilitate the change he supposedly wanted. He continued in lockstep americas foreign policy track, giving orders to execute drone strikes…never closed Guantanamo as he promised, instead telling Americans not to get too sanctimonious about their government brutally torturing “folks” without due process, often “folks” who were entirely innocent of any wrong doing. He had a Netflix show about what working looks like in America today and it was hilarious that he was confronting an economy that he helped create. The show suggested this was sort of lost on him or at least he failed to address it directly. How could he, I’m sure he asked himself, for what would it do to the legacy he seems so keen on preserving and building up. “Hope” and “change” was what he ran on, but he forgot to do the latter, I guess.
Biden, of course, was awful. But he just continued the trajectory of his predecessors and no one should have been surprised by his foreign policy - vile as it was Biden had always been that guy. Economically he has always served the interests of the donor class, and obviously he continued policy to transfer more and more wealth to their coffers. His rhetoric on culture war issues was always, transparently to many, a means to avoid having to confront the very real deterioration of workers’ material conditions. Healthcare industry, dominated by private insurance, continued to behave as the parasite it is. Perhaps worst of all, like the democratic presidents before him, he never even attempted to implement changes that would not just address a critical issue, but also come with guardrails to prevent the immediate clawing back of any progress. Oh, and he facilitated genocide. He also set the precedent of vilifying the protesting of said genocide by treating non-violent expressions of horror as worthy of state repression. Look where that went - trumps more vile approach seemed like an obvious next step to Biden’s in my view.
Because democrats align with republicans on the “core” issues (foreign policy, protecting capital and accumulated wealth over middle class interests, tax wise, etc.) they have to argue on being the more reasonable or slightly less outwardly prejudicial in tone party. But they don’t imagine let alone attempt to implement real structural change that would benefit most Americans because they don’t serve the interests of most Americans. The above democratic administrations didn’t even make a meaningful attempt to argue for reform, which wouldn’t have been enough anyways as we have seen time and time again that whatever is gained will be clawed back.
Jim I remember on the Len Osanic show you said after the 01/06/2021 riots which my daughter had to hide under the steps with the Senate members for 6 hours,that this was the death of the Republican Party.Now we have come to this disaster. The Democrats had it in their hands.Instead we got Hillary part 2.This party needs a Newsom Sanders Butige anyone other than the old guard
You can blame that on Merrick Garland not indicting Trump once he got in office. If everything Trump did about that day and the support he had would have been exposed, I think my original prediction might have been correct. Sorry to hear about your daughter. As far as the Dems go, I would settle for AOC and Newsom.
You read my tea leaves. In the series future I am going to bring up the shortcomings of both Clinton and Obama which made future Democratic failures possible.
Looking forward to it
It should also be mentioned that 29% of 2020 Biden voters who didn't vote in 2024 cite Gaza as the leading cause of their break with the Democrats. https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/kamala-harris-gaza-israel-biden-election-poll
Thanks, was not aware of that one.
I’d point more to MAYBE Carter for supporting the shift to neoliberal policies, which set Reagan up to implement them aggressively.
But if not Carter, then Clinton of course deserves much criticism, as he further alienated the working class, leaned into conservative rhetoric on things like welfare, and continued US foreign policy in the direction it still marches today. The biggest failure of all these democratic leaders was the failure to use the absurd abundance the US had accumulated through its hegemonic role in a way that reimagined what life could be here. Presidents came and went and let this opportunity pass - electing instead to continue feeding the military industrial complex and the corporate ruling class, the latter especially at the expense of the American middle class (the former, along with institutions like the IMF and World Bank, at the expense of human beings in what some call the Global South).
Obama continued the trend. Entering office amid financial collapse, he prioritized protecting the status quo. Knee bending to finance for fear of the whole system unraveling. Obama also accelerated the hollowing out of domestic manufacturing (though that job was already almost done), and never directed his power towards stifling the out of control and growing wealth divide. Tried w a half way sort of healthcare reform which failed to facilitate the change he supposedly wanted. He continued in lockstep americas foreign policy track, giving orders to execute drone strikes…never closed Guantanamo as he promised, instead telling Americans not to get too sanctimonious about their government brutally torturing “folks” without due process, often “folks” who were entirely innocent of any wrong doing. He had a Netflix show about what working looks like in America today and it was hilarious that he was confronting an economy that he helped create. The show suggested this was sort of lost on him or at least he failed to address it directly. How could he, I’m sure he asked himself, for what would it do to the legacy he seems so keen on preserving and building up. “Hope” and “change” was what he ran on, but he forgot to do the latter, I guess.
Biden, of course, was awful. But he just continued the trajectory of his predecessors and no one should have been surprised by his foreign policy - vile as it was Biden had always been that guy. Economically he has always served the interests of the donor class, and obviously he continued policy to transfer more and more wealth to their coffers. His rhetoric on culture war issues was always, transparently to many, a means to avoid having to confront the very real deterioration of workers’ material conditions. Healthcare industry, dominated by private insurance, continued to behave as the parasite it is. Perhaps worst of all, like the democratic presidents before him, he never even attempted to implement changes that would not just address a critical issue, but also come with guardrails to prevent the immediate clawing back of any progress. Oh, and he facilitated genocide. He also set the precedent of vilifying the protesting of said genocide by treating non-violent expressions of horror as worthy of state repression. Look where that went - trumps more vile approach seemed like an obvious next step to Biden’s in my view.
Because democrats align with republicans on the “core” issues (foreign policy, protecting capital and accumulated wealth over middle class interests, tax wise, etc.) they have to argue on being the more reasonable or slightly less outwardly prejudicial in tone party. But they don’t imagine let alone attempt to implement real structural change that would benefit most Americans because they don’t serve the interests of most Americans. The above democratic administrations didn’t even make a meaningful attempt to argue for reform, which wouldn’t have been enough anyways as we have seen time and time again that whatever is gained will be clawed back.
Jim I remember on the Len Osanic show you said after the 01/06/2021 riots which my daughter had to hide under the steps with the Senate members for 6 hours,that this was the death of the Republican Party.Now we have come to this disaster. The Democrats had it in their hands.Instead we got Hillary part 2.This party needs a Newsom Sanders Butige anyone other than the old guard
Bill
You can blame that on Merrick Garland not indicting Trump once he got in office. If everything Trump did about that day and the support he had would have been exposed, I think my original prediction might have been correct. Sorry to hear about your daughter. As far as the Dems go, I would settle for AOC and Newsom.
All true, but a generic Biden would be better than Trump today by a long shot.
Chris, with Whitmer and Pritzker, Trump would have been vanquished forever.