U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) at the Lubber Run Community Center on July 22, 2021 in Arlington, Virginia. President Biden joined McCauliffe to help campaign, marking the President's return to the campaign trail since he entered the White House. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Corporate Democratic So-Called "Centrists" Lost These Races, But They'll Never Admit It
Instead of representing a party that had scored some wins for working people, Democratic candidates ran as members of a party that had squabbled for ten months and accomplished little while controlling all three branches of the federal government.
Terry McAuliffe ran Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2021, but the Virginia voters who went for Clinton in 2016 weren't buying it this time around. McAuliffe's attempt to make the election a referendum on Donald Trump was a failure since Trump wasn't on the ballot. After ten months of Democratic government in Washington, voters saw little action that improved their lives.
Vague platitudes and promises weren't enough to carry the day, not in a time of economic crisis and in the absence of real achievement in Washington.
McAuliffe counted on the tired Democratic, identity-based neoliberalism of the last thirty years, and voters are tired of it.
When it comes to voters and their needs, these kinds of Democrats just didn't seem to care. Those few voters who read McAuliffe's web page, for example, were promised: "targeted investments in workforce training and development, partnering with businesses and our educational institutions to re-skill and retrain Virginians, and reimagining our K12 education system so that every child has access to a world-class education and is workforce ready upon graduation."
Blah. Blah. Blah.
People need real help navigating the current economic crisis. A plurality of Virginia voters said their primary concern was the economy and jobs, and here we find an important result: McAuliffe's voters overwhelmingly said that the state of Virginia's economy was good (by 71 percent), while Glenn Youngkin's voters overwhelmingly said it was not so good or poor (75 percent).
In other words, it seems that Democrats are increasingly becoming the party of the comfortable, not the afflicted
McAuliffe counted on the tired Democratic, identity-based neoliberalism of the last thirty years, and voters are tired of it. McAuliffe's margin among women voters, a group on which Democrats rely, was eight points lower than Biden's in 2020. His margin was 9-10 points lower among younger voters.
News flash: generational and identity voters are working people, too.
That's not to say that Virginia's results were a total failure for identity politics. Virginia elected its first Black woman as lieutenant governor and apparently has elected its first Latino as Attorney General.
They are both Republicans.
Maybe McAuliffe had no chance, given the broader forces working against him. As of this writing, Phil Murphy is also struggling to pull of an expected win in New Jersey.
Here, too, so-called Democratic "centrists" (who aren't really "centrists," since their views on these issues are far to the right of the general public) tanked their own party's chances. Two senators and a handful of representatives--some of them elevated by the party mechanism Terry McAuliffe once ran--blocked the passage of drug price reform, paid family leave, and several other popular provisions. Instead of representing a party that had scored some wins for working people, Democratic candidates ran as members of a party that had squabbled for ten months and accomplished little while controlling all three branches of the federal government.
Imagine how different this week's races might have been if McAuliffe and Murphy had been able to campaign on the fact that their party was about to lower drug prices, a popular and important measure among all voters.
Imagine how different this week's races might have been if McAuliffe and Murphy had been able to campaign on the fact that their party was about to lower drug prices, a popular and important measure among all voters. Ironically, the party apparently reached a compromise on that issue the day before the election, when it was too late to change the outcome.
Despite this string of failures, liberal pundits and Democratic leaders will continue to extol the virtues of an ideology they call "centrism." That ideology is the product of an arrogant detachment toward the needs of working people and a dependence on corporate and big-donor funds.
Now, these pundits and leaders will probably insist that voters are "angry." That brings to mind a line John Lennon speaks in the movie Backbeat when someone asks him why he's so angry. "I'm not angry," he says, "I'm desperate."
Millions of voters are desperate, too, and the platitudes of the past won't sway them anymore.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. In a few short weeks, US voters will have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
Richard (RJ) Eskow is a journalist who has written for a number of major publications. His weekly program, The Zero Hour, can be found on cable television, radio, Spotify, and podcast media.
Terry McAuliffe ran Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2021, but the Virginia voters who went for Clinton in 2016 weren't buying it this time around. McAuliffe's attempt to make the election a referendum on Donald Trump was a failure since Trump wasn't on the ballot. After ten months of Democratic government in Washington, voters saw little action that improved their lives.
Vague platitudes and promises weren't enough to carry the day, not in a time of economic crisis and in the absence of real achievement in Washington.
McAuliffe counted on the tired Democratic, identity-based neoliberalism of the last thirty years, and voters are tired of it.
When it comes to voters and their needs, these kinds of Democrats just didn't seem to care. Those few voters who read McAuliffe's web page, for example, were promised: "targeted investments in workforce training and development, partnering with businesses and our educational institutions to re-skill and retrain Virginians, and reimagining our K12 education system so that every child has access to a world-class education and is workforce ready upon graduation."
Blah. Blah. Blah.
People need real help navigating the current economic crisis. A plurality of Virginia voters said their primary concern was the economy and jobs, and here we find an important result: McAuliffe's voters overwhelmingly said that the state of Virginia's economy was good (by 71 percent), while Glenn Youngkin's voters overwhelmingly said it was not so good or poor (75 percent).
In other words, it seems that Democrats are increasingly becoming the party of the comfortable, not the afflicted
McAuliffe counted on the tired Democratic, identity-based neoliberalism of the last thirty years, and voters are tired of it. McAuliffe's margin among women voters, a group on which Democrats rely, was eight points lower than Biden's in 2020. His margin was 9-10 points lower among younger voters.
News flash: generational and identity voters are working people, too.
That's not to say that Virginia's results were a total failure for identity politics. Virginia elected its first Black woman as lieutenant governor and apparently has elected its first Latino as Attorney General.
They are both Republicans.
Maybe McAuliffe had no chance, given the broader forces working against him. As of this writing, Phil Murphy is also struggling to pull of an expected win in New Jersey.
Here, too, so-called Democratic "centrists" (who aren't really "centrists," since their views on these issues are far to the right of the general public) tanked their own party's chances. Two senators and a handful of representatives--some of them elevated by the party mechanism Terry McAuliffe once ran--blocked the passage of drug price reform, paid family leave, and several other popular provisions. Instead of representing a party that had scored some wins for working people, Democratic candidates ran as members of a party that had squabbled for ten months and accomplished little while controlling all three branches of the federal government.
Imagine how different this week's races might have been if McAuliffe and Murphy had been able to campaign on the fact that their party was about to lower drug prices, a popular and important measure among all voters.
Imagine how different this week's races might have been if McAuliffe and Murphy had been able to campaign on the fact that their party was about to lower drug prices, a popular and important measure among all voters. Ironically, the party apparently reached a compromise on that issue the day before the election, when it was too late to change the outcome.
Despite this string of failures, liberal pundits and Democratic leaders will continue to extol the virtues of an ideology they call "centrism." That ideology is the product of an arrogant detachment toward the needs of working people and a dependence on corporate and big-donor funds.
Now, these pundits and leaders will probably insist that voters are "angry." That brings to mind a line John Lennon speaks in the movie Backbeat when someone asks him why he's so angry. "I'm not angry," he says, "I'm desperate."
Millions of voters are desperate, too, and the platitudes of the past won't sway them anymore.
Richard (RJ) Eskow is a journalist who has written for a number of major publications. His weekly program, The Zero Hour, can be found on cable television, radio, Spotify, and podcast media.
Terry McAuliffe ran Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2021, but the Virginia voters who went for Clinton in 2016 weren't buying it this time around. McAuliffe's attempt to make the election a referendum on Donald Trump was a failure since Trump wasn't on the ballot. After ten months of Democratic government in Washington, voters saw little action that improved their lives.
Vague platitudes and promises weren't enough to carry the day, not in a time of economic crisis and in the absence of real achievement in Washington.
McAuliffe counted on the tired Democratic, identity-based neoliberalism of the last thirty years, and voters are tired of it.
When it comes to voters and their needs, these kinds of Democrats just didn't seem to care. Those few voters who read McAuliffe's web page, for example, were promised: "targeted investments in workforce training and development, partnering with businesses and our educational institutions to re-skill and retrain Virginians, and reimagining our K12 education system so that every child has access to a world-class education and is workforce ready upon graduation."
Blah. Blah. Blah.
People need real help navigating the current economic crisis. A plurality of Virginia voters said their primary concern was the economy and jobs, and here we find an important result: McAuliffe's voters overwhelmingly said that the state of Virginia's economy was good (by 71 percent), while Glenn Youngkin's voters overwhelmingly said it was not so good or poor (75 percent).
In other words, it seems that Democrats are increasingly becoming the party of the comfortable, not the afflicted
McAuliffe counted on the tired Democratic, identity-based neoliberalism of the last thirty years, and voters are tired of it. McAuliffe's margin among women voters, a group on which Democrats rely, was eight points lower than Biden's in 2020. His margin was 9-10 points lower among younger voters.
News flash: generational and identity voters are working people, too.
That's not to say that Virginia's results were a total failure for identity politics. Virginia elected its first Black woman as lieutenant governor and apparently has elected its first Latino as Attorney General.
They are both Republicans.
Maybe McAuliffe had no chance, given the broader forces working against him. As of this writing, Phil Murphy is also struggling to pull of an expected win in New Jersey.
Here, too, so-called Democratic "centrists" (who aren't really "centrists," since their views on these issues are far to the right of the general public) tanked their own party's chances. Two senators and a handful of representatives--some of them elevated by the party mechanism Terry McAuliffe once ran--blocked the passage of drug price reform, paid family leave, and several other popular provisions. Instead of representing a party that had scored some wins for working people, Democratic candidates ran as members of a party that had squabbled for ten months and accomplished little while controlling all three branches of the federal government.
Imagine how different this week's races might have been if McAuliffe and Murphy had been able to campaign on the fact that their party was about to lower drug prices, a popular and important measure among all voters.
Imagine how different this week's races might have been if McAuliffe and Murphy had been able to campaign on the fact that their party was about to lower drug prices, a popular and important measure among all voters. Ironically, the party apparently reached a compromise on that issue the day before the election, when it was too late to change the outcome.
Despite this string of failures, liberal pundits and Democratic leaders will continue to extol the virtues of an ideology they call "centrism." That ideology is the product of an arrogant detachment toward the needs of working people and a dependence on corporate and big-donor funds.
Now, these pundits and leaders will probably insist that voters are "angry." That brings to mind a line John Lennon speaks in the movie Backbeat when someone asks him why he's so angry. "I'm not angry," he says, "I'm desperate."
Millions of voters are desperate, too, and the platitudes of the past won't sway them anymore.