Workin the Refs

I note some unintentional irony in a recent post by Kevin Drum --
Republicans Prove They’re the World Champs of Working the Refs

In a political context, “working the refs” usually refers to the press. It’s an effort by one side or the other to complain so loudly about unfair coverage that reporters start bending over backward to provide positive coverage instead. 

But it doesn’t apply only to the press. The same tactics can be used to muffle, say, the FBI. The New York Times reports today that this is exactly what happened during the 2016 campaign, when James Comey went out of his way to publicly berate Hillary Clinton over her emails while deliberately staying mum about the agency’s investigation of Donald Trump...  

The press played along eagerly with both Benghazi and Hillary’s emails, while the FBI cowered in a defensive crouch over fear of Republican attacks on them. 

The irony is that Drum and the mainstream Dems he supports have been similarly played for years, cowering defensively as the Republicans smear ACORN, for example, or dismissing single payer health care for fear of Republican attacks on socialized medicine, or supporting war in the Middle East because of the latest "Hitler" in power in one of the Arab/Muslim countries.  Nobody's perfect and most of us have been played by such P.R. campaigns of frightening intensity.  Even the estimable Jon Stewart got taken in by the Republican attacks on ACORN and the IRS. 

Nevertheless, enough is enough and that is why many of support the Sanders wing of the Dem party.  Sanders was notable in supporting ACORN in the face of the Republican slander, standing up to the war hysteria and opposing the war in Iraq, and advocating for better health insurance in the face of certain vicious opposition from Republicans.  Similarly, Sanders was able to resist jumping on the Republican inspired bandwagon by not making an issue of Hillary's emails, for example.

Again, there's no need to re-fight the 2016 election, except to learn from history and do better going forward.  With most Dems now supporting Bernie's policy proposals (higher minimum wage, Medicare for All, etc), it's time to recognize that Bernie has successfully worked the refs in the best way possible.  He stood up to the Republican noise machine when other Dems wouldn't. 

Lesson from ACORN -- The Facts Matter

My hopes for the future of our country and world have been buoyed by the unpopularity of Republicans and Trump.  But recent polling seems to suggest that I may have been overly optimistic in expecting a return to the majority for the Democrats in 2018.  The polls have stabilized for the Republicans and the 2018 elections seem to be wide open.

As a Bernie Sanders supporter, I've been hoping that the Democrats will unify around his vision and policy proposals.  This has happened to some extent with most Dem leaders now in favor of some version of Medicare for All and also a federal job guarantee, programs which are massively popular with the general public.  Nevertheless, there is a still hesitancy to adopt the socialist label that Sanders so proudly wears.  There is an understandable hesitancy for Dems to give the Republicans such a fat target.

Republicans have a strong track record of tearing socialist Dems to shreds, going back to George McGovern's disastrous 1972 presidential campaign.  Only Carter, Clinton, and Obama have been able to win the presidency since then, and this has been accomplished by moving away from the radical left.  The limits to this strategy were confronted in 2009 when Republicans, led by James O'Keefe and Andrew Breitbat, successfully destroyed one of the most effective grass roots organizations supporting ostensibly Democratic goals.  They did this through lies and racist allusions, but the Democrats acquiesced to the slander and voted with Republicans to defund ACORN, in effect conceding that the untrue accusations were valid.

From How The ACORN Scandal Seeded Today’s Nightmare Politics:

But Washington didn’t wait around for the facts to come out. On Sept. 14, 2009, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted 83 to 7 to block some federal grants to ACORN... On Sept. 17, the House followed suit, with 172 Democrats joining 173 Republicans in voting to defund ACORN... (this) exposed a Democratic Party establishment unprepared for dirty tricks in the Digital Age and unwilling to defend many of the black voters and activists it claimed to represent... The illegal voting accusations never panned out. But within 18 months, Lewis would be forced to close ACORN’s doors ― exhausted, short-staffed, out of money and, most important, out of allies... ACORN registered more than 865,000 voters for the 2008 election. While other groups have tried to pick up the slack, there’s a reason Republicans haven’t selected a new organization to serve as the voter fraud boogeyman: nobody is doing the same caliber work on the same scale that ACORN did.

In retrospect, it is clear that Democrats were timid in 2009, and not without reason.  Although the Dems controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress, they had achieved these gains largely due to the failures of Republicans with both Iraq and the economy.  While Obama was an inspirational representative of the need for change, Dems were also aware that Republicans would be merciless in using his blackness to their advantage.  Thus, they felt they had to pick their battles, and they chose not to defend ACORN (Bernie Sanders being a notable exception).

Other battles the Dems chose not to fight included:

• Prosecution of Republicans for malfeasance (including torture) in Iraq, and in the run-up to the war.
• Letting the big banks fail.  Even the The Economist magazine thought they should be nationalized. 
• Prosecution of various financial sector firms and/or individuals for breaking the law (accounting control fraud).

My opinion is that the Dems should be less timid going forward and try to do what is right, without being cowed by Republican slander.  In other words, the treatment of ACORN by Democrats was morally and politically disastrous and should not be repeated going forward.  Judge each person and organization on their own merits and stand up for one another in that spirit. Do the same for policy proposals, whether they be from the democratic socialist (fundamental change) or from the social democracy (reform) camp.  Instead of identity politics (label-based as in ACORN being black and poor, Iraq being Arab and Muslim, Sanders being socialist, white, and male), practice value-based politics (what's best for people overall regardless of identity).

We don't need to re-fight the last election.  We do need to learn from the last 18 years and beyond.

• Lessons from McGovern 1972 -- Ditching VP candidate was a mistake.  Dem reason was "OMG -- He had been to a psychiatrist.  Republicans will have a field day."  McGovern would have lost anyway, but perhaps Dems could have come back as did Republicans after Goldwater loss if they had stood their ground.  Also, perhaps a job guarantee would have been a more popular economic platform than a negative income tax.  (The negative income tax was McGovern's version of a universal basic income.)
• Lessons from Carter -- Fiscal austerity is a losing proposition.  "Deep state" (military, intelligence agencies) will sabotage foreign policy "doves".  Be prepared for that and call it out when it happens.
• Lessons from 1980s -- Fiscal deficits win (Reagan success).  Fiscal conservatism loses (Mondale calling for tax hikes).  Staying true to values wins (Reagan success).  Pragmatism wins (Reagan success in eventually raising some taxes and negotiating with USSR). Reaganomics started decline of middle class (labor), while providing boost to capital (stock market).  Many of us in middle class were co-opted by 401k plans and greater stake in capitalism.  Short term success of Republicans in Reagan era undeniable, Dems occasionally have to hang in as minority until tide changes.
•  Lessons from 1990s -- Sometimes it is advantageous to concede ground in order to overextend enemy.  Pragmatism wins.  Good to have friends with money (Dem alliance with Goldman Sachs and others on Wall St paid dividends.)  Voters like those receiving benefits from govt to work for them (Clinton's welfare reform popular).  Voters like politicians who are tough on crime (increased incarceration during 1990s).  Dems were lucky (as Republicans were in 1980s with short term success of reduced taxes and regulations), with end of Cold War paying dividends for U.S. as sole surviving superpower.
• Dubya era (2001-2008) -- Dems start out millennium on wrong foot by joining Republicans in Patriot Act and Iraq War.  Iraq War in particular was massive failure.  Economy crashes, yet Dems late to realize the collapse of "ownership society" dating from Reagan era.
• Obama era (2009-2016) -- Dem fecklessness exemplified by ACORN betrayal, weak use of bully pulpit to advocate programs which would genuinely help working class.  Fiscal responsibility again fails politically and economically.  Many Dems are bad losers in 2016, blaming others as opposed to their own mistakes.  

Democrats have a chance to accomplish great things in the coming years if we can learn from the past.  Identity politics has failed.  MLK succeeded with value politics.