Sensible, Centrist Democrats Realize They've Been Had

Kevin Drum writes today that Republicans Don't Care About Keeping Jobs in America.  He writes that Obama tried to create incentives for multi-nationals to keep jobs in the U.S.,  but were ignored by Republicans.

Will concern for the working class finally outweigh concern for put-upon American multinational corporations? It never did while Obama was president, and there's no special reason to think it will now.

 He ignores the fact that Trump won the Republican primary on this issue.

The larger consideration is that some of us have been trying to get the attention of the Democratic party leaders (Obama and Clinton in particular) to make these points for the last 7-8 years:

1. Dem leaders gave more credence to Republican nonsense than to  progressive opinions.  While the Republicans were clearly trying to obstruct governance by the Obama Administration, progressives were pleading for more worker friendly policies.  Obamacare is basically a Republican plan.  Progressive calls for single payer were ignored.  Similarly, the Obama Administration strove for a counterproductive grand bargain with Republicans on Social Security, and ended up getting the sequester (fiscal austerity).  Progressives arguments were ignored.
2. In spite of recognizing and calling attention to the middle class stagnation caused by austerity and Republican obstructionism, Obama and Hillary claimed the economy as their own and took credit for it.  Drum spent 2015 saying that the economy was strong, for example.

Now Drum realizes that efforts to keep jobs in the U.S. were thwarted by Republicans.  

It does make me wonder, though. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but why didn't Hillary Clinton make this stuff into a major campaign issue? It would have helped her against both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, but she barely ever mentioned these kinds of reforms. Odd.

That's what some of us were wondering before the election.  That why I voted for Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein.  Why would I vote for people who ignored me for many years in favor of Republicans.

UPDATE 12/7/2016:  Today Drum posts this:
Income Inequality Doesn't Have to Spiral Out of Control

Apparently you can run a thriving modern economy that benefits the working class as well as the rich. And note that this is pre-tax income. If social welfare benefits were included, the working class in France would be doing even better compared to the US

This from the guy who argued incessantly during the presidential campaign that the U.S. economy was doing great and therefore we should vote for Clinton over Sanders or Trump.