So there is another of those defensive “How Dare You Ask Me About My Politics on Daily Kos?!?” diaries on the Rec List. For the most part, it’s the same old non-argument we’ve seen so often (“I plead the Fifth, so stop asking,” for those of you who have been smart enough to ignore the whole debate), but it contains one rather noteworthy claim: that the opposition among white progressives to black support for Hillary Clinton stems from resentment at the loss of white progressive power within the Democratic coalition. The diarist assures us that she “understands” that such a loss of power can feel bad. That’s very sweet of her.
Leave aside the ridiculousness of the claim that white progressives — the same ones who have been howling against voter suppression for years, who have spend decades working to increase and turn out the black vote, who have been gleefully citing for years the changing demographics of the American voter, who eagerly joined in an electoral coalition with the rising black vote to nominate Barack Obama — would suddenly decide they disliked black voting power per se. Let’s also not dwell on those same white progressives’ eager embrace of the book What’s the Matter With Kansas?, which expresses the same sort of disappointment and confusion about the electoral choices of white voters. Let’s look at the heart of the diarist’s claim — that there has been a decline in the power of white progressives within the Democratic coalition. Recent history shows us that exactly the opposite is the case.
In 2011, the mainly white-progressive Occupy movement took the issues of income inequality and oligarchy from the fringes of American political discourse and put them in the middle of the political map. They had so much success, in fact, that the incumbent, rather moderate Democratic President adopted that issue set as the core message of his successful reelection bid the next year. What the Black Lives Matter movement succeeded in doing with issues of racist police abuse, white progressives did with those issues.
In 2015-2016, Senator Bernie Sanders, an out-and-proud democratic socialist who began the race as a fringe candidate expected to almost match the electoral success of Dennis Kucinich, emerged as the principal challenger to the frontrunner candidate, rising into the 40%-50% range in national polling. This is an astounding over-performance, and an indication of growing, not declining, progressive power within the Democratic coalition. As so very, very many Hillary Clinton supporters are so very, very determined to always remind us, that progressive vote is mainly white.
If you want to find a sector of Democrats whose power is in decline, look at the blue dogs. Look at the conservadems. The increase in the voting power of PoCs within the Democratic coalition has most certainly not come at the expense of white progressives; quite the opposite, it has coincided with a substantial jump in the electoral power of white progressives. It isn’t the Bernie Sanders of the Senate and his supporters who are in decline; it’s the Mary Landrieus and her people.
There is no decline in white progressive voting power within the Democratic party; it is at its highest peak in decades, and continues to grow year by year. Therefore, the “resentment of declining power” thesis can't really explain the phenomenon of progressive disgruntlement at Hillary Clinton’s support in the black community. I bet it was a very satisfying line to write, though.