Democrats Drifting and Headed for Defeat

Democrats are in trouble. To get a feel for how big that trouble is all you need do is watch about ten minutes of Bill Moyers' interview with Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren this past Friday.

Warren was first tapped by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to chair an oversight panel on the implementation of the federal stimulus bill in the wake of the stock market meltdown before being selected by Obama to get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau up and running; she then beat Republican Scott Brown in the 2012 Massachusetts senate race. Warren is the only politician that the national Democrats have left to offer as a somewhat credible progressive voice that speaks for the working class.

And that voice, based on the Bill Moyers interview, is pretty weak.

Warren bangs the drum for increasing the federal minimum wage. Moyers says that is all well and good but why is it that the Democrats who control both the Senate and the executive branch can't do anything about it. Might it have something to do with all the corporate money they take?

BILL MOYERS: --that first talk, and the middle class is still struggling. In fact, their income, adjusted for inflation is lower than it was five years ago, and they’ve lost about three percent of their purchasing power since then. Yet stocks are soaring, the economy is expanding, and the benefits are not going to the middle class families. Why can't Washington do better by them? 

SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN: So I think Washington doesn't do better by them because Washington isn't trying to do better by them. If you look at Washington as a whole, I think this is the fundamental problem in our system right now. Washington works for those who can hire armies of lobbyists, armies of lawyers, and get just the rules they want. It doesn't work so well for American families. 

Look, we know the things we need to do. Raise the minimum wage. Nobody should work full time and still live in poverty. Minimum wage nationally hasn't been raised in over seven years. We need to make sure that we have real rules on equal pay for equal work. We need to lower the interest rate on student loans. 

In every case, we in the United States Senate have a majority. All of the Democrats have voted in favor of this. And occasionally, we even pick up a Republican. The Republicans have filibustered in the Senate. They won't even bring things to a vote in the House of Representatives. This is really a case where one party has said, the usual rules of governing, you know, we'll come together, we'll try to talk about these things, we'll try to work something out, their answer is no, no, no. They're not there to help middle class families. 

BILL MOYERS: But isn’t part of the problem that the Democratic Party is divided between its corporate Democrats, I mean, right now, more corporate and business associations, PACs, Political Action Committees, are contributing to Democrats in seven states, where the race is close this fall, than they are to the Republican challengers. Isn't the Democratic Party so divided between its progressive wing and its corporate wing that it can't really act in concert? 

SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN: Well, actually, I disagree.

BILL MOYERS: Okay. 

SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN: Am I unhappy with the influence of money in Washington? You bet I am. But look at these issues. We had every single Democrat who said, it's time to raise the minimum wage. Every single Democrat who said, and listen to this, it is more important to cut the interest rate on student loans than it is to protect tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires. Every single Democrat who said, equal pay for equal work matters. I should throw in one more. Every single Democrat who said, your employers, it's none of your employers' business what kind of birth control you're using. So it's-- we've got to build on our successes. And these are successes. Not in the sense that we've gotten them through yet. 

But in the sense that we've pulled together, we've focused on them, and we've said, these are the things that Democrats stand for. We're going to make sure Americans get a fair shot. We're going to get out there and fight for America, and these are ways that we can do it. And we've all stood up behind that. 

BILL MOYERS: But if Democrats really had their act together, if they weren't, as so many people think, apparently feckless, wouldn't that message be in every speech, every ad, every campaign across the country right now? Couldn't, shouldn't they be running a national campaign on raising the minimum wage? Which is supported by 70 percent of the public? 

SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN: Well, all I can say is we got every Democrat to vote for it. I'm certainly out there talking about it. And I think there are a lot of folks who are talking about it in their races. You know, we need people to get engaged in this election. And to say to those who voted against the minimum wage, you're not representing me. And that means I'm not going to vote for you anymore. 

If that happens in this election in 2014, we start to see real change. I think we've got a lot of Democrats lined up to do this. You know, you ask us to get organized. I do want to be clear. We got this bill out there, we made them vote on it, all of the Democrats lined up for it, and most of us have given speeches across this country on it. 

We need more engagement. Should we find more ways to engage? You bet. That's why I come here and talk to you. It's why I go all around the country when I can. Yes, we need more engagement. But the point is, I know who's standing for working people. It's the Democrats who are voting for the minimum wage, not the Republicans who are blocking it. 

BILL MOYERS: You read the numbers. Three-quarters of Americans don't feel confident their children's lives will be better than theirs. And almost that many say their problems are largely due to Washington's elected officials. So explain to me if 70 percent of the people want the minimum wage, and if three-quarters of the people don't think the future looks very bright, how can there be such a gap between official Washington and the lived experiences of people like your parents? 

The interview goes on like that. Finally I had to switch it off. It was too depressing.

Whether Elizabeth Warren is going to run for president is not important. What is important is that the Democratic Party realizes that it has a problem with the informed progressive voters it needs in order to be competitive, and Elizabeth Warren is the party's answer to that problem. She is being sent out on the hustings to keep progressives, the pointy edge of the spear, engaged and on the Democratic Party reservation. Warren is fulfilling a role similar to Dennis Kucinich when he ran for president in the 2004 Democratic primaries. His candidacy was designed to keep progressives from straying over to Ralph Nader.

But Warren's message is too tepid and conflicted. All she can promise is that Democrats will vote on legislation like the minimum wage and equal pay for equal work; she won't say that they will actually pass any of it. Progressives are not going to be motivated to turnout in November.

Obama's turnabout on immigration is going to hurt Democrats with Latinos, who represent the foundation of the party's future growth.

Then there is Obama's announcement to the nation this Wednesday that the Global War on Terror is going to require a sustained commitment; Americans at the same time are being asked to back a new Cold War against Russia. Couple this with the dire condition of the economy -- the official unemployment rate of 6.1 percent is actually closer to the recession-era high of 10 percent if you include the estimated 5.9 million jobless who have given up looking for work -- and you have a guarantee for a low-turnout election, which benefits the Republicans.

No matter how much Dems scream about the GOP bogeymen, this will not motivate enough of their voters to go to the polls. The Democratic Party does not inspire; it is a hollow shell controlled by the same corporate plutocrats who have hollowed out the nation as a whole. Democrats will lose and Republicans will gain. Things are going to go from bad to worse.