AOC: Backlash from the Middle While Dem Neo-liberal Makes Case for Left

The policies [DeLong] supports depend on a responsible center-right partner to succeed. They’re premised on the understanding that at least a faction of the Republican Party would be willing to support market-friendly ideas like Obamacare or a cap-and-trade system for climate change. This is no longer the case, if it ever were.

“Barack Obama rolls into office with Mitt Romney’s health care policy, with John McCain’s climate policy, with Bill Clinton’s tax policy, and George H.W. Bush’s foreign policy,” DeLong notes. “And did George H.W. Bush, did Mitt Romney, did John McCain say a single good word about anything Barack Obama ever did over the course of eight solid years? No, they fucking did not.”

The result, he argues, is the nature of the Democratic Party needs to shift..... Bernie Sanders news: a Clinton-era Democrat makes the case for the left - VOX
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/4/18246381/democrats-clinton-sanders-left-brad-delong

When a politician -- or, really, anyone -- becomes a star overnight, there's an inevitable backlash that grows in opposition to the rise. And less than three months into her first term in Congress, the AOC backlash has begun in earnest.

The spark came last week when, in a closed-door meeting of House Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez warned colleagues that if they continued to vote with Republicans on procedural motions in the chamber they could wind up "on a list" of incumbents ripe for a liberal primary challenge.....The AOC backlash begins - CNNPolitics

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/04/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-democratic-party-ideology/index.html

Two interesting and contrasting articles.

I get so many great articles on the listserves. (By the way, MORE has killed most of its listserves or is moderating them to keep evil thoughts out of the hands of its members.) Abby, my buddy from Newark sends a great trove of stuff. Here are two articles from counter points of view.

First a neo-liberal, market-based Democrat makes some interesting points about why the left needs to take over the main theme of the party. Why? Because Dem neo-liberals like Obama and Clinton require some level of cooperation from the liberal wing of the other party - and that wing of the Republicans has been decimated.

And then the backlash from Democrats against AOC. And though I like a lot about her, I am finding it a bit too much at times. A long-time leftist friend of mine is convinced she is flying too close to the sun and ego will triumph and lead to crash and burn which will ultimately harm the movement. I can see it in some of the comments from liberal and left friends -- older women in many cases who are annoyed at what they see a level of arrogance.

People compare AOC and Bernie - Bernie doesn't attack people. He tries to win them over. The threats to primary people who are in areas where they are hanging by a thread is a threat to getting rid of Republicans. Even if the party tacks left, if it becomes a tea party type of party and pushes out center Dems, we will see a possible center new party -- neo-liberal with social justice themes -- sort of like the rise of the Republican Party in the 1850s -- anti-slavery, pro-business.

I see a major difference between AOC and Bernie in their approach. Lumping them together is missing some level of differentiation.

Read both articles.