As usual, in Sunday's open
"
Democrats
Work the Factory Floor" (sorry, it's on the other side of the Select
wall) David Brooks is about 1/10th insightful, and 9/10th disingenuous.
Yet, he is on to something: many Democrats are running campaigns that
include a great deal of
economic and
cultural populism including John Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in
Ohio, Jim Webb in Virginia, Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, Claire McCaskill in
Missouri, and Harold Ford in Tennessee, though he "forgets" that Ned Lamont
is campaigning on
universal
pre-school, massive investments in transportation
infrastructure
and
fair trade. Brooks
believes that these and other positions demonstrate that while Hillary may
still be the front-runner in the polls for the next Democratic presidential
nomination, "this is John Edwards's party."
Brooks discusses the ways in which these candidates do not come out of the
"values politics of the 1960s and 70s," but, rather "are more Mines and Mills
than Towns and Gowns" and thus aren't "singing the hymnal of the highly educated
coastal elites." Of course, by calling them "factory-floor populists"
and using the "mines and mills" rhetoric, Brooks is trying to paint them
as stuck in the 1950s, but he ought to know better that these populists are
fighting for the middle-class in the new economies -- the service sector
and the technology sector (see the
Wake-Up Walmart campaign for
evidence). But, put aside the rhetoric, there is something to learn
here as Brooks goes on to discuss trade, immigration, religion and Iraq.
"candidates ... sound a lot more like [John Edwards] than [Hillary
Clinton]"
Trade
most of this years strong Democratic candidates rail like John
Edwards against outsourcing and trade agreements. Their core issue
is the economic resentment of the struggling middle class.
Now, the rich can't help but frame everything in terms of "class envy" as
Brooks does here, but again, he is onto something (in his twisted way).
The Democratic Party led by Edwards and Sherrod Brown have dropped
the "free-trade" orthodoxy of the Clinton-Gore years and are no resolutely
for a globalization that works for everyone (not just the investor class),
in part by making sure that a revised global trade system includes strong
labor, environment, union and safety protections inside the agreements
(not as unenforceable riders) and maybe includes a universal minimum wage.
Immigration
Many of this years prominent candidates are also surprisingly nationalist
on immigration, playing off concerns about declining wages.
Brooks sites a statement Webb made during a debate. FYI: Edwards
emphasizes "earned citizenship," so Brooks is wrong on this one.
Still, Democrats need to be wary of appearing to be too soft on "illegal
immigrants."
Still, we ought to be able to talk about Patriotism, but in a much more expansive
way than the republicans (for whom it only means hatred of fer'ners):
The truth is we are going to ask the American people to sacrifice.
We're going to have to ask them to be patriotic. What
we do together matters. It tells something about the character of this
country. -- John
Edwards
http://www.news14charlotte.com/...
http://www.youtube.com/...
Cultural Issues
I believe marriage should only be between men and women, Ford
declares on the stump. I dont know any better; thats how
I was brought up. We didnt have any choice. Where I grew up, when you
awakened on Sunday, you went to church. ... I learned the faith thing the
old-fashioned way.
Brooks makes the quick point that the populists in the party aren't afraid
to speak in the language of faith and values. They tend to de-emphasize
divisive cultural issues (they may vote pro-choice, but they don't go around
yelling the mantra at every campaign rally).
Nobody speaks the language of values better than Edwards:
"The American people believe in the dignity that comes from hard work. And
they understand that some people do everything right and the decks are still
stacked against them. They believe that this is wrong and they want to make
it right. Do you know why you have to end poverty in America? Because it's
wrong. In a nation of our wealth and our prosperity, to have millions
of Americans working full time and living in poverty, is wrong. They
are doing everything right and they're still struggling. This is what we
must change and this is what I am asking you to do today....
-- John Edwards, commencement
speech at William and Mary Law School, 18 May 2005
Iraq
most [populists] are leaning toward the Edwards position. Unlike Senator
Clinton, Edwards has disavowed his earlier support for the war. He calls
for an immediate withdrawal of 40,000 troops and complete withdrawal within
a year or so.
And it does appear that this is fast becoming the consensus Democratic position
on Iraq: gradual withdrawal over a year.
In sum, their message is a long way from the globalized Third Way politics
Bill Clinton and Tony Blair exemplified in the 1990s.
and is it working? Well, Brooks is a bit scared
Democrats are doing surprisingly well in rural America, where this economically
progressive, socially traditionalist populism goes down well.
Brooks then goes with his traditional bait-and-switch illogic, but I'll let
Judy below debunk that.
Recommended Reading
David
Sirota sees the Brooks piece as evidence that the elites are afraid of
the populist politics of the ordinary people and hope for a return to the
"'Third Way' nonsense that makes the cocktail party crowd comfortable."
Jude "Iddybud" Nagurney-Camwell
on the fact that
Edwards
understands the "modern realities of Islamic extremism and the skill-based
global economy," and doesn't "evade" them as Brooks asserts.
Brooks concentrates on candidates for the Senate, but lots of Democrats are
emphasizing economic populism in their races for the House. My favorite
is Larry Kissell, but their are
countless others.
The Photo: On last week's Webb-Edwards rally in Fredericksburg see
my diary.