Quote of the Day

[Barack Obama's recent statements reflect] the Beltway punditry consensus [that] dictates that Democrats must move center to appeal primarily to the white moderate swing voter or Trump supporter in the Midwest, rather than cultivate a multi-racial base and court non-voters.

Establishment and Wall Street Dems are misreading the winds of public sentiment if they believe moderation is a winning political strategy for 2020. There is no constituency for a presidential candidate who prescribes half-measures to put out a fire.

And polling indicates that. . . . The former president is mistaken if he believes that in appealing to the electorate, Democrats must tamp down their message and advocate for tweaks in the system rather than systemic reform.

– David A. Love
Excerpted from “Why Obama Is Just Plain Wrong
About Democrats Moving 'Too Far Left'”
Common Dreams
November 27, 2019

Related Off-site Links:
Obama Is Wrong to Push Democratic Party Centrism – Leland Nally (Common Dreams, November 26, 2019).
The Real Barack Obama Has Finally Revealed Himself – Luke Savage (Jacobin, November 27, 2019)
Amid National Surge, New Poll Shows Bernie Sanders Top Democrat in New Hampshire – Jon Queally (Common Dreams, November 27, 2019).
Obama Privately Considered Leading “Stop-Bernie Campaign” to Combat Sanders 2020 Surge – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, November 26, 2019).
Quit Saying That Bernie Sanders Can't Win — He May Be the Most Electable Democrat Running in 2020 – Matthew Rozsa (Salon, November 24, 2019).
Noam Chomsky: Democratic Party Centrism Risks Handing Election to Trump – C.J. Polychroniou (TruthOut, November 21, 2019).
“Majority of Americans Agree With Me and Bernie”: Michael Moore Makes Powerful Case for Medicare for All – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, November 21, 2019).
It’s Not Thanks to Capitalism That We’re Living Longer, But Progressive Politics – Jason Hickel (The Guardian, November 22, 2019).
Centrists Aren’t Political Realists. Leftists Are – Luke Savage (Jacobin, November 21, 2019).
OK Obama, It’s Time to Cancel Centrism – Sonali Kolhatkar (TruthDig, November 20, 2019).
New York Times Recycles Polling to Tell Dems Once More: Move to the Right – Julie Hollar (FAIR, November 14, 2019).
A Centrist Cannot Win in 2020 – Robert Reich (TruthDig, October 9, 2019).

UPDATE: Obama Looms Over Divided Democratic Primary – Max Greenwood(MSN News, November 29, 2019).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Quote of the Day – October 19, 2019
• Quote of the Day – April 24, 2019
• Quote of the Day – March 10, 2019
• Quote(s) of the Day – February 26, 2019
• Marianne Williamson on What It Will Take to Defeat Donald Trump
• Hope, History, and Bernie Sanders
• Progressives and Obama (Part 7)

Image: Julio Cortez-Pool / Getty Images.