Speaking in Berlin, Germany, former President Barrack Obama critiqued quarrels within the Democratic Party, saying they should avoid a “circular firing squad”.
It is no speculation that Obama was hinting at members of the Progressive Caucus. Unity is always pledged in such high regard, but its application never seems to relate to more, centrist Democrats.
The 44th president’s call for unity is one among the many denunciations of more liberal democrats by their party leaders.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “its not about the Twitter followers” smear— hinting at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as well as the constant attacks on Ilhan Omar’s “anti-Semitism”— are a few of the big ones.
The progressive freshman Congresspeople have also voiced their disagreements with Democratic leadership, citing universal healthcare, sweeping environmental reform and corruption in campaign finance. Case in point, their criticisms are full of substance.
But aside from sheer political attacks these bold ideas are often labeled as “pie in the sky” and unreasonable. Sen. Chris Coons’ while addressing the Green New Deal, has said “we need to be bold and practical at the same time,” while providing no substantive rebuttal.
Instead of arguing specific logistics, progressive policy often is dismissed as unrealistic dreams.
“We’ve become so cynical that… we view cynicism as an intellectually superior attitude and we view ambition as youthful naiveté,” says AOC in reference to political moderates. “When we think about the greatest things we have ever accomplished as a society, (they) have been ambitious acts of vision.
“Establishment Democrats” have argued that the far-left politics of the party’s newcomers will stand no chance against President Trump in the 2020 general election.
It is posed that an America that elected Trump will only elect a more-centered democrat. Unfortunately, this philosophy was debunked in 2016 with Hillary Clinton.
Additionally, many of these populist ideas rolled out by Sanders-like Dems have been polled with positive approval ratings by the public and they address many of the nation’s growing issues.
Barack Obama believes that this divide of the left will be a detriment. But progressives argue that this “concern-trolling” is the real damage— disengaging the public from much-needed policy debate.
And if you’re really split on which politicians to support, just go by the Twitter followers.
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