I appreciate this diary by Kos, which celebrates that Joe Biden is turning out to be a much more progressive President than any of us thought he would be. However, it leaves a out a lot.
No one is or should be surprised to see Joe Biden align himself with the middle of the Democratic Party. That’s what he’s done his whole career.
It’s the middle of the Democratic Party that has changed. And that is what most of us didn’t see coming--or more likely, didn’t think through.
Here’s what really changed: the demographics of the Democratic Party base reached a tipping point. After a generation of having to tippy-toe around issues of social justice and inclusion, national politicians realized they could win by jettisoning white bigots (who have now moved wholesale into the Republican fold) and embracing the collective aspirations of Black and Brown people.
It took a dozen years, but we’ve finally rejected the doomed (and morally unsupportable) Thomas Frank strategy of throwing the most loyal and motivated parts of the Democratic base under the bus, and we’ve embraced the Steve Phillips strategy of building a real (and progressive) Democratic majority.
Hillary Clinton, another “moderate,” had already made this move during her 2016 run, embracing the Mothers of the Movement, promising criminal justice reform, and labeling the future Capitol invaders and other seditionists as “deplorables.”
In 2020, with further demographic change, and with Trump’s incompetence having undermined his own fascist movement, the opportunity was open for Biden to go even further.
Sure, it looks like one man making a big left turn. But it’s actually the onset multi-racial democracy in the U.S., after 244 years of white rule. And it’s still fragile, and could be overturned for a generation or more if we let the fascists out-organize us.
What won’t happen is a return to “moderation” aimed at holding on to old-time Democratic-voting whites who now get all shaky about living in a majority-minority America. That time is past. Well, except maybe in West Virginia.