UNITY!!! Or Maybe Not? Can The Democratic Party Be Reformed?

This week, Bernie and Status Quo Joe named leaders of their "unity task forces" in the hope of bringing progressive voters back into the Democratic fold by November in the worthwhile attempt to dislodge Trump, albeit with the utterly worthless Biden. Quint Forgey, reporting for Politico yesterday, wrote that the purpose of the task forces are "to advise the Biden campaign on six key policy areas: climate change, criminal justice reform, economy, education, health care, and immigration. The task forces’ membership consists of a stable of prominent Democratic leaders and public policy experts, but its most notable appointee is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive New York congresswoman and superstar of the party’s left wing who backed Sanders during the primary contest and has evinced skepticism toward Biden’s more moderate ideology." Do you think that will help? Obviously that will be up to Biden. If he actually follows through, it may. First problem: her co-chair is sold-out establishment hack John Kerry.

The other co-chairs include Chiraag Bains, director of legal strategies for the liberal think tank Demos; California Rep. Karen Bass; Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge; Dr. Heather Gautney, a sociology professor and former Senate staffer; Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center; Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal; former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy; union activist Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA; California Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard; and Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott. Sara Nelson, Pramila Jayapal, Heather Gautney, and Chiraag Bains are progressives. Biden and Sanders also named Carmel Martin of Biden for President and Analilia Mejia of Friends of Bernie Sanders as their respective campaign representatives "to coordinate and support the work" of the task forces.

The incorporation of Ocasio-Cortez and other high-profile progressives on the task forces in leadership capacities is certain to help assuage concerns from left-leaning Democrats that Biden will not heed their counsel when mounting his general election campaign against President Donald Trump. The groups are certainly not stocked with the party yes-men and shrinking violets that some liberals feared would fill out the advisory panels.

In a news release, the Biden campaign said the task forces “will meet in advance of the Democratic National Convention to make recommendations to the DNC Platform Committee” and to Biden directly. “Building upon the work of the Democratic campaigns to date, the ultimate goal of the Unity Task Forces is to develop the most successful possible agenda for Democrats in 2020,” the campaign said.

Biden said in a statement that a “united party is key to defeating” the president in six months, as well as “moving our country forward through an unprecedented crisis.” The task forces “will be essential to identifying ways to build on our progress and not simply turn the clock back to a time before Donald Trump, but transform our country,” he said.

“In the midst of the unprecedented economic and pandemic crises we face, the Democratic Party must think big, act boldly, and fight to change the direction of this country,” Sanders said in his own statement, adding: “I commend Joe Biden for working together with my campaign to assemble a group of leading thinkers and activists who can and will unify our party in a transformational and progressive direction.”

However... there is this:





This letter went out to Our Revolution groups from Jerry Perez on Monday:

My name is Jerry Perez and I am the field director of Our Revolution Los Angeles. Today, we announced that our members voted overwhelmingly to support forming a new party that is free from corporate interests and is accountable to the people. We are joining the Movement for A People's Party, and we'd like to invite other Our Revolution groups to join us with founder and executive director of MPP, Nick Braña for an informational call on Thursday at 5:30pm PST for a conversation about the People's Party.

We are building a mass movement that seeks to stop the exploitation of our communities, reject the money of wealthy special interest groups, educate and empower our constituency, train uncorrupted candidates accountable to the people's platform, and provide everyone with the tools to take control of their local politics. We will organize through electoral politics, nonviolent direct actions, and educational programs that further our movement and work toward our policy goals.

We are free to meet with you before Thursday's call so we can connect and address any questions you have. Please consider joining us.

This is going to be pretty awkward.