Tuesday, August 18, 2020

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 AddressDemocracy 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 PlatformThe Humanist Report (August 18, 2020).
“I Cannot Vote for This Platform”: Rep. Ro Khanna on Why Democrats Must Support Medicare for AllDemocracy 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 PlatformNPR News (August 22, 2020).
Two Weeks of Conventions, Dozens of Speeches, So Many Videos. What Just Happened? – Jim Newell (Slate, August 29, 2020).


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