Carefully Choreographed Convention Confirms Progressive Policies Not Central
to Biden Bid
The key message from this year's DNC is the emphasis the Biden campaign is
putting on reaching out to so-called "moderate Republicans," presenting
Trump as an aberration and Biden as the cure.
by Alan Macleod
August 21st, 2020
By Alan Macleod
The Democratic National Convention continued for a fourth night last night,
as the party coronates former vice president Joe Biden as its nomination for
November. Originally scheduled to be held in Milwaukee, the current pandemic
meant that it is mostly taking place virtually, allowing the DNC to hold a
more carefully choreographed celebration than would otherwise have been
possible.
One key message from the proceedings is the emphasis the Biden campaign is
putting on reaching out to so-called "moderate Republicans," presenting
Trump as an aberration and himself as the cure (Biden himself floated
picking a Republican as a running mate). The convention features a number of
GOP speakers, chief among them John Kasich, who Donald Trump asked to become
his vice-president in 2016, offering him substantial control over both
domestic and foreign policy. "I'm a lifelong Republican, but that attachment
holds second place to my responsibility to my country," Kasich said. "We're
being taken down the wrong road by a president who has pitted one against
the other." George W. Bush's secretary of state Colin Powell made a similar
plea to voters to "restore [decent] values to the White House" by electing
the former Delaware senator. Other Republicans featured included former
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and
former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. There were fewer
progressives speaking, undermining Trump's claim that "Sleepy Joe" is a pawn
of the "radical left."
Perhaps the star of Thursday evening's events was a 13-year-old boy with a
stutter that Biden, who formerly suffered from the same condition, had
helped. "Without Joe Biden I wouldn't be talking to you today," said Brayden
Harrington, to the delight of journalists and political commentators.
Massachusetts Senator, Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, spoke from an empty
classroom, where she displayed the letters "BLM" prominently behind her -
clearly a symbolic message. However, breaking convention, Hawaii
congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was not invited to speak, despite winning more
delegates than Biden's VP pick Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez was given just one minute to speak.
Progressive policies or platitudes?
Biden was able to overcome the progressive challenge and beat out Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders for the nomination. But Sanders' and other
progressives' marks are clearly seen in the party's platform, formally
adopted on Tuesday. The platform calls for universal free COVID testing,
treatment and vaccination, making state and community college tuition-free
for most people, comprehensive criminal justice reform, including
decriminalizing marijuana usage, a $15 minimum wage, and an end to what it
calls the "race to war with Iran." However, it did not adopt
Medicare-For-All nor a Green New Deal, leading many on the party's left-wing
to vote against it. The embarrassing visual shot of large numbers of voters
on the convention floor voting against it was spared due to the pandemic.
Progressive as it is, the platform is in no way binding and represents only
a symbolic "wishlist" of party proposals. Even if the Democrats championed
all the legislation, it is far from clear whether it would survive
negotiations with Republicans, and could potentially be filibustered even if
they had a majority in both house and senate. Moreover, Biden himself
refused to say he would lift sanctions on Iran if president, and insisted
that "nothing would fundamentally change" under his administration.
Furthermore, the platform also includes the line "Democrats believe the
Western Hemisphere is America's strategic home base," and promises to
continue to "rescue" - i.e. "overthrow" - Venezuela, a section which sounds
eerily familiar to the Reagan era of dirty wars in Latin America. John
Negroponte, the Republican diplomat infamous for his role in the region's
genocides of the 1980s, recently endorsed Biden, stating that he was, "just
not sure the country can withstand another four years of the presidency with
a man who has shown such disregard to the office."
The Democratic establishment has also assiduously avoided discussing its
progressive platform, focusing on Biden's values and Trump's lack of them,
Biden's wife Jill asking, "How do you make a broken family whole? The same
way you make a nation whole. With love and understanding. And with small
acts of kindness. With bravery and with faith." While poll aggregators show
Biden with a relatively healthy lead, this time in 2016 Hillary Clinton also
ran on a policy-light ticket and presented Trump as an aberration, not a
symptom of a wider problem in American society. Clinton had a larger lead
than Biden does and lost decisively. Furthermore, Biden is suffering from an
enthusiasm gap, with most Democratic voters viewing their ballot as one
purely against Trump, with less passion for President Obama's former running
mate. And with Trump actively trying to undermine the postal voting process,
determination might be a prerequisite just to cast a ballot in November. The
race is on.
Feature photo | Democratic presidential candidate former