With The Democrats Offering Almost Nothing, The Wave Isn't Blue-- It's Just Anti-Trump

More like this would've meant an actual Blue Wave

I wish there was a Blue Wave coming. But as I've been saying for months, there's not. Oh, Democrats are going to win lots of House seats and gubernatorial houses and state legislative seats... but that's because of an anti-Red Wave or an anti-Trump Wave, not because of any Blue Wave. A Blue Wave would be much better. It would be all about millions of Americans marching to their polling places to standup for an inspiring agenda-- like Medicare-For-All, free state college, Job Guarantee. Instead, Pelosi is offering voters the exact opposite: PayGo. People hate Trump and his enablers so they'll vote for the lesser evil. And then in 2022, they'll kick the worthless Democraps out of office and bring back the Republicans.

Norman Solomon asked me to read something he and some colleagues had written for The Nation this week: Democratic Autopsy: One Year Later. "Progressive momentum," they wrote, "could lead to historic breakthroughs in the midterms and beyond. Realizing such potential will require transforming and energizing the Democratic Party." They know as well as all of us do what a pipe-dream that looks like now. Their Autopsy update evaluates how well the Democratic Party has done in charting a new course since the autumn of 2017-- and, if you follow internal Democratic Party politics at all-- you probably know already. The only thing that keeps them from being the worst political party in the country is that that space is already occupied. They rate the "progress" on seven broad categories:

• Corporate Power and the Party-- somewhat worse
• Race and the Party-- mixed bag
• Young People and the Party-- mixed bag
• Voter Participation and the Party-- somewhat improved
• Social Movements and the Party-- mixed bag
• War and the Party-- somewhat worse
• Democracy and the Party-- somewhat improved

Sound to you that any of this is going the spark an actual Blue Wave? This sums it up appropriately: "How did the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee react to this grassroots energy? Often by intervening on behalf of establishment primary candidates against progressives, as in Colorado’s sixth district and in Texas’s seventh district (where the DCCC publicly attacked progressive candidate Laura Moser). Social movements have the ability to energize the Democratic Party, but not if blocked by party leaders.

Today, less than a month before the election, the DCCC wants progressives to get behind their bag of crap candidates from the conservative Republican wing of the Democratic Party, for the sake of the unity needed to defeat the Trump bogey man. OK, fair enough. But is the DCCC getting behind progressives who won primaries and are now representing the party against the GOP candidates? Nope; they're-- at best-- ignoring them, and in some cases actively undermining them based primarily on an intense hatred from progressives and progressive ideas. Blue Wave-- not while Pelosi and her DCCC are in power. And, I'm afraid, every realistic alternative to her and her cronies is even worse.

More from the report that goes to show why this cycle is an anti-Trump wave, not the Blue Wave we all crave:

• “The Democratic Party still isn’t offering a bold vision that can excite young adults, a demographic known for not voting much... The Democratic leadership is still using a 1990s-era playbook of technocratic half-measures that don’t inspire-- or bring out to the polls-- America’s youth.”
• “The party could dramatically boost voter participation by mobilizing around progressive proposals that are broadly popular, such as higher taxes on the wealthy, Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, stronger environmental protections, public transportation and criminal justice reform.”
• Corporate power continues to dominate the party... A crucial disconnect remains between rhetoric about corporate influence and subservience to it.”
“The depressed turnout that cost Hillary Clinton the 2016 election was due to both voter suppression efforts by Republicans and the Democratic Party’s own inability to mobilize its base. The party has made some progress on both counts.”
• “Few Democrats in Congress are willing to strongly challenge the unaccountable military budget, which soaks up most discretionary spending that could be redirected toward the party’s proclaimed domestic agenda.”
• On matters of war and peace... the 17-year war in Afghanistan and the Trump team’s extremely one-sided Israel-Palestine policy, top Democrats have offered few alternative policies.”
• “To get closer to living up to its name, the Democratic Party should rely on a broad base of small donors and refuse donations from corporations, particularly those with interests adverse to the party’s platform.”