Branko Marcetic on the DNC: “Progressive Symbolism and Empty Rhetoric in Place of Real Political Vision”

For a while now, the modern Democratic Party, captured by big business and cowed by the Right, has tended to emphasize the symbolic and rhetorical, the great speeches and history-making milestones that The West Wing mistaught a generation was the essence of politics. And the Democratic National Convention is its four-yearly apotheosis, a purely symbolic and rhetorical affair briefly ensconcing American liberals in an imagined version of what their country could one day look like, but – as their party continually insists the other 361 days of the year – never will.

. . . [E]ven as Democrats continue selling themselves as the party of the people, the 2020 DNC speakers’ roster is one overwhelmingly made up of the superrich. Of the thirty-five scheduled speakers (not counting “the Biden family”), at least twenty-three are worth more than a million dollars, with nineteen worth more than $4 million, and thirteen worth upwards of $10 million. That includes the nominee himself, with the Bidens having made $15 million off book deals and speaking fees in 2017–18 alone, as well as the billionaires Bloomberg and Whitman, and multimillionaires like the Obamas, Clintons, Kasich, and Pelosi.

Meanwhile, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the thirty-year-old progressive insurgent popular among both Democrats and young people, is being given only sixty seconds to speak, in a prerecorded message. This, despite polling showing Democrats are more excited to hear her speak than to hear Kasich and the Clintons.

. . . [T]he modern Democratic Party under Joe Biden [is] a party dominated by figures who have spent their entire careers opposing what they claim to fight for now, and more concerned with building a coalition with well-off conservatives than its own young, progressive, and increasingly diverse voting base.

– Branko Marcetic
Excepted from “The Democrats’ DNC Plans
Show They Aren’t Even Pretending Anymore”
(Jacobin
August 17, 2020

Related Off-site Links:
The Convention’s First Night Was Filled With Sorrow – as It Should Be – William Rivers Pitt (TruthOut, August 18, 2020).
The Democratic Convention Put the Party’s Contradictions Front and Center – Branko Marcetic (Jacobin, August 18, 2020).
The New York Times Urges Biden to Shun His Party’s “Left-Leaning Brand” – Julie Hollar (FAIR, August 18, 2020).
Julián Castro Ran for President on a Police Reform Platform But Wasn’t Invited to Give DNC Address – Democracy Now! (August 18, 2020).
The Democratic Platform Heads in Right Direction on Criminal Justice, but Still Misses the Moment – Jessica Corbett (ACLU.org, August 18, 2020).
Progressive Lawmakers Openly Reject Democratic Party Platform – The Humanist Report (August 18, 2020).
“I Cannot Vote for This Platform”: Rep. Ro Khanna on Why Democrats Must Support Medicare for All – Democracy Now! (August 17, 2020).
The Democratic Platform and Medicare for All: A Nod Is as Good as a Wink (To a Blind Horse) – Mark Dudzic (Common Dreams, August 18, 2020).
Ocasio-Cortez Welcomes Help From Anti-Trump Republicans in Defeating President – But Rejects Kasich's Attempt to Define Party – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, August 17, 2020).

UPDATES: DNC's Uplifting Moments Paper Over Contradictions and Hypocrisies – David Smith (The Guardian, August 19, 2020).
Five Problems with Michelle Obama's Speech No One Is Likely to Talk About – Azad Essa (Middle East Eye, August 19, 2020).
In DNC Remarks, Dying Medicare for All Activist Ady Barkan Delivers Powerful Indictment of “Broken” US Healthcare System – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, August 19, 2020).
Greenpeace Gives Democratic Platform C+ on Climate, Calling for “Action at the Scale That Science and Justice Demand” – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, August 19, 2020).
“Immoral, Criminal, Inexcusable”: Climate Groups Furious as DNC Drops Support for Ending Fossil Fuel Handouts From Platform – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, August 19, 2020).
If Joe Biden Rejects His Progressive Base, Trump Will Win – Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan (Common Dreams, August 20, 2020).
What Young DNC Delegates Want From Their Party's Platform – NPR News (August 22, 2020).
Two Weeks of Conventions, Dozens of Speeches, So Many Videos. What Just Happened? – Jim Newell (Slate, August 29, 2020).