The Obama Era is Over

The Democratic Party betrayed their own progressive base too many times. Progressives either need to control the future of the DNC or abandon the party altogether.

When Barack Obama ran for President in 2008 he campaigned on a Hope and Change progressive platform, promising to be the revolutionary reformer America desperately needed. In response to Bush’s unjust wars, financial collapse, and widespread political and economic corruption, America was ready for drastic change. Obama won overwhelmingly with a 365-173 Electoral College victory.

In Congress the Democrats won 257 seats in the House and 59 in the Senate. The Democrats received the strongest whole of government mandate from the American voters of this century. Voters wanted the Democrats to enact the revolutionary vision Barack Obama sold them. What the Obama Democrats delivered was something totally different; a continuation of the corrupt status quo. When Democrats had the chance to pull out of unjust, illegal wars Obama kept them going and engaged in numerous war crimes. When Democrats had the chance to Codify Roe-v-Wade, they chose not to do so and now that right was taken away. When Democrats could’ve created the universal healthcare system Obama sold us, they chose to instead create an individual mandate to charge Americans for not buying private insurance. When Democrats could’ve made the minimum wage a living wage and raise it yearly to keep pace with inflation, as Obama campaigned on, the party failed to deliver.

When the nation voted for radical transformation, they were given establishment centrism, status quo protectionism, and insultingly inadequate incrementalism. The Democrats had a whole of government mandate to usher in truly revolutionary change, but they squandered it all by moving to the Center and aligning with the Donor class.

Obama didn’t fight, instead he desperately tried to win over Republican approval by abandoning all the change he campaigned on. He betrayed the working class and aligned with the billionaire oligarchs of the Democratic Party, then prioritized their economic needs while in office. In response to the Great Recession, he sold voters on the idea that he would help those in need while making the greedy elite pay for it. The reality of his economic recovery was the exact opposite;

“during the first two years after…the recession, from 2009 to 2011, the…net worth of the richest 7%…increased by 28% while that of the lower 93% declined by 4%.

The richest 7% thus increased their share of the nation’s total wealth from 56% to 63%. Another study found that between 2010 and 2013 the…net worth of the richest 1% of Americans increased by 7.8%, representing an increase…from 33.9% to 35.3%.”

- Britannica

And when Wall Street drove our economy into the ground and caused a housing crisis, Obama rushed to the rescue of the Wall Street billionaires with bank bailouts. I highly recommend this Rolling Stone Article by

Matt Taibbi

explaining how Obama gave the banks hundreds of billions of dollars while falsely claiming that the money would be used to help struggling homeowners.

Obama delivered for Wall Street and the elite donors of the Democratic Party, and right after office he went on an extremely well compensated speaking tour for those same Billionaires. What Democrats saw with Obama was deceit and corruption, so they rightfully lost faith in the party. America bought the Hope and Change platform only for Obama to align with Wall Street and sell out the working-class. By selling progressivism but delivering establishment centrism, Obama disillusioned millions of voters.

So then in 2016 at the end of Obama’s 2nd term Bernie Sanders rightfully attacked Democrats and Republicans for being bought and owned by the elites. Bernie called out the corruption in both parties and garnered genuine widespread support all across the country. He had an incredibly popular platform and was on track to win the DNC nomination, so the DNC rigged the primary to favor Hillary Clinton who was chosen as the heir to the Obama Administration. America didn’t want more of the Obama Administration; Democrats wanted the future Obama promised but never delivered. Bernie was the best shot at getting it; Hillary represented more establishment incrementalism. Unfortunately the DNC was controlled by the centrist establishment and they used undemocratic tactics to steal the nomination away from Bernie while slandering him and stigmatizing his platform, thereby costing themselves the 2016 election. The reality is that the single biggest reason Donald Trump won 2 Presidential Elections is because of Oligarchy in the Democratic Party. As I explained in The Death of the Democratic Party,

the single biggest focus of the Democrats since 2016 has been to prevent Bernie Sanders from becoming President; even using undemocratic & corrupt means to do so. The Billionaire oligarchs that control the DNC decided to keep Bernie out of the White House at all costs, even if that meant giving the White House to Trump. Bernie represented legitimate anti-corruption political and economic reform, so the corrupt political and economic elite could not handle Bernie taking over the Democratic party. Never-Bernie Democratic elites made the choice that they’d rather lose to Trump with unpopular candidates than win with Bernie Sanders. Trump represented GOP oligarchs instead of DNC oligarchs so he never represented a true threat to oligarchy; because of that DNC elites viewed Trump as the tolerable alternative to Bernie Sanders. So the DNC rigged the 2016 and 2020 primaries against Bernie then refused to allow a primary in 2024. So when the same Democrats who repeatedly prevented democracy in their own nomination process complained that Trump was a threat to democracy, it was glaringly hypocritical.

The reality is that most of America wanted the revolutionary progressive policy agenda represented by Bernie Sanders. In a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, Bernie is advocating for the interests of the working class instead of the economic elites. In a time of runaway corporate greed, price-gouging, market consolidation, and anti-worker union-busting, Bernie is fighting to use government to enforce fair economic rules in our economy. In a time of extreme political corruption in America where oligarchs and lobbyists control our elected officials, Bernie is fighting for reforms to truly fix our democracy. In a time when Americans are paying far more money for healthcare than any other developed country for bad healthcare outcomes, Bernie is trying to create a Medicare-for-all system to prioritize health over profit. Unfortunately, Bernie and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party now face the same issue that MLK Jr. did with the White Moderates in Jim Crow America. Martin Luther King Jr. said;

“I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is…the white moderate…who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a more convenient season…”

-MLK Jr.

Those White Moderates were more committed to maintaining the status quo without causing tension rather than forcing progress no matter how uncomfortable it may be. MLK Jr. was confronting the deeply entrenched reality of racism and discrimination in America and it was uncomfortable. Many White Moderates like Joe Biden opposed ending race-based discrimination using things like school busing because it made white racists uncomfortable.

“Biden said he disagreed strongly with these Southerners’ views but needed to work with them to get things done.”

-NBC News

White Moderates like Joe Biden were more committed to working with segregationists and caving to their racism than they were to fighting against Jim Crow discrimination. Because of that White Moderates would tell MLK Jr.,

"I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods…wait for a more convenient season”

MLK Jr. realized there is no better time than right now to fight for a better future and those who work to perpetually delay or minimize progress are just as opposed to the fight as those who outright disagree. To confront evils in our society requires a phase of tension and a cultural reckoning born out of that discomfort in order to build a better future. The cultural norms, institutions, and people that perpetuated the Jim Crow era all needed to be rooted out, condemned by the public, and new norms, institutions, and leaders needed to be born out of the rubble.

“I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.”

-MLK Jr.

Bernie Sanders is taking on the societal evils of corrupt Capitalism, extreme wealth concentration, oligarchy destroying our democracy, and endless unjust wars. Exposing that evil and ridding ourselves of it is uncomfortable and establishment Democrats are Bernie’s White Moderate; forever delaying or minimizing progress. Establishment Democrats are more committed to maintaining the status quo because its comfortable rather than to fighting for what’s right. This is a longstanding deep seeded issue in the party.

The centrist faction has been solidly in control of the party for over 2 decades and the nation resoundingly rejected what they offer in 2024. The establishment chastised the extremely popular platform of the Bernie movement as too radical while chasing the fantasy of Enlightened Centrist Liz Cheney voters. The establishment shunned Bernie’s anti-corruption political and economic message to obsessively promote identity politics, political correctness, and fringe social justice issues. With zero self-reflection, the smug liberal elite repeatedly blame progressives for all of their own failures while coasting on the support progressives generate. The establishment is the cancer of the Democratic Party; they are selling a product nobody wants. Establishment Democrats are already trying to rewrite history to blame progressives for their loss in 2024 and use it as an excuse to pull the party further to the right. In response AOC said;

“There is a disease in Washington of Democrats who spend more time listening to the donor class than working people.

If you want to know the seed of the party’s political crisis, that’s it.” -X

She is right. But progressives repeatedly earned the reputation of caving to the establishment wing of the Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders had the 2016 nomination stolen by the corruption of Hillary Clinton and the DNC, then he turned around and endorsed her. Bernie Sanders had the 2020 nomination stolen by Biden, the DNC, and about 100 Billionaire oligarchs of the party, then he turned around and endorsed Biden. When Biden dropped out, progressives didn’t even put up a little bit of a fight. They immediately endorsed Kamala Harris without even getting concessions like they got in the Biden-Sanders Unity Taskforce. Progressives are not exerting their political power and because of that they are seen as sell outs. Instead progressives need to do a takeover of the DNC or abandon the Democratic Party altogether. The DNC will lose 2028 anyway if they fail to offer a Bernie Sanders inspired progressive platform. At the turn of the century Bernie basically stood alone as a progressive member of Congress, now the progressive caucus includes nearly 100 members. If progressives cannot take over the Democratic Party, they have the potential to launch a legitimate 3rd Party with real viability before the 2028 Presidential Election. If they do it now, elected members of Congress could be running for incumbency in 2026 as part of the Progressive Party of America, which would enable them to gain national recognition and legitimacy.

But before that step there is a battle for control of the DNC. The DNC is used to stand for two different things; the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic National Convention. The Convention is an event before the election where the party officially selects their nominee to run for President. The Committee is the leadership of the party; they are the people who write the platform, divvy up funding, oversee the primary process, and plan the Convention. More than anyone else, the Democratic National Committee is responsible for giving us both terms of the Donald Trump administration. Through their out-of-touch political instincts and Never-Bernie primary rigging, they gifted the White House to Trump twice. The current leadership will end their term in March and new leadership will be selected. There’s been an ongoing battle for power between progressives and centrist establishment voices over the direction of the party. Every time there has been infighting between the the progressives and the establishment, the establishment wins only to later lose to Republicans. The Democratic Party should learn from those mistakes and not repeat them. Right now is when the progressives need to exert their power to write the 2028 DNC platform, control the messaging, and guide the future of the Democratic Party; or leave.

“Tough times,

The American people understand that our economic and political systems are rigged. They know that the very rich get much richer while almost everyone else becomes poorer. They know that we are moving rapidly into an oligarchic form of society.

The Democrats ran a campaign protecting the status quo and tinkering around the edges.

Trump and the Republicans campaigned on change and on smashing the existing order.

Not surprisingly, the Republicans won. Unfortunately, the “change” that Republicans will bring about will make a bad situation worse, and a society of gross inequality even more unequal, more unjust and more bigoted.

Will the Democratic leadership learn the lessons of their defeat and create a party that stands with the working class and is prepared to take on the enormously powerful special interests that dominate our economy, our media and our political life?

Highly unlikely.

They are much too wedded to the billionaires and corporate interests that fund their campaigns.

Given that reality, where do we go from here? That is the very serious question that needs a lot of discussion in the coming weeks and months.

How do we create a 50 state movement, not politics based on the electoral college and “battleground” states?

How do we deal with Citizens United and the ability of billionaires to buy elections?

How do we recruit more working class candidates for office at all levels of government?

Should we be supporting Independent candidates who are prepared to take on both parties?

How do we better support union organizing?

How do we put together listening sessions around the country that intentionally seek input from people who did not vote for Democrats in the last election?

How do we best use social media to build our movement and combat the lies and disinformation coming from the billionaire class and right wing media?

How do we build sustainable and long-term issue-based organizing structures that live beyond individual campaigns?

These are some of the political questions that, together, we need to address. And it is absolutely critical that you make your voice heard during this process.

Not me. Us.

That is the only way forward.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders”