Why the Democrats Won't Wake Up

"In this long, slow march, the first step is to stop expecting the Democratic Party to "wake up" and run candidates who challenge the very interests that undergird--and in fact inhabit--the party's infrastructure and identity." (Credit: blickpixel)

Why the Democrats Won't Wake Up

Moments after rightwing Republican Karen Handel won America's costliest congressional race ever in Georgia's sixth district, the de rigueur post-election quarrelling erupted: Why did Democrat Jon Ossoff lose, and what does it mean for the Democrats and American politics?

Many on the left bemoaned the defeat as yet another sign that the Democratic Party refuses to "wake up" to the populist moment.

Moments after rightwing Republican Karen Handel won America's costliest congressional race ever in Georgia's sixth district, the de rigueur post-election quarrelling erupted: Why did Democrat Jon Ossoff lose, and what does it mean for the Democrats and American politics?

Many on the left bemoaned the defeat as yet another sign that the Democratic Party refuses to "wake up" to the populist moment.

Longtime sixth-district resident and scholar Billy Michael Honor nailed it in Huffington Post, observing that Ossoff's comfortably centrist and noncommittal message "lacked any compelling progressive vision for the future. It also lacked any way to substantively convince the average politically uninterested citizen why they should give a damn about the Democratic Party. The message simply says, 'vote for us, we won't be as bad as the other group.' "

There is no evidence that a progressive populist would have fared better than Ossoff, who came closer than any recent Democrat to winning the solidly Republican district. But that doesn't mean the Democratic Party shouldn't be running bold unapologetic progressives in every district, win or lose, to shift the electorate and help mobilize a massive grassroots movement.

Beyond the particulars of the Ossoff race and the politics of Georgia's 6th district, there's a deeper reason why this won't happen.

It's not that the Democratic Party can't "wake up" to Americans' surging support for a bold challenge to the corporate stranglehold over our economy and politics. It's that it won't.

The Ossoff loss isn't the clearest illustration of the Democrats' addiction to centrism and neoliberalism--one could argue his brand of politics, like it or not, was a close fit for the center-right district. Still, what happened in Georgia is yet another blaring signal of the party's endemic refusal to embrace progressive populism. It's not that the Democratic Party can't "wake up" to Americans' surging support for a bold challenge to the corporate stranglehold over our economy and politics. It's that it won't.

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