by Kevin K. Ellis, Conflict of Interest
I am going to keep writing about the Democratic Party losing a presidential election to a vulgar, sexual assaulter and narcissist because it is not yet clear to me that Democrats have come to grips with what happened.
This piece by Ross Barkan reflects my thinking about what ails the flailing Democratic Party. It explores the petty rivalries that exist in families and political parties. From the Obamas to the Clintons to the Bidens to Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party is a party without a leader or a direction. Some say the Democrats are too moderate, while others say they’ve gone too far left.
The following piece answers a question I’ve been asking for weeks: should the party move toward Bernie or in a more moderate direction? I’m not even sure it’s the right question. But this Barkan piece is a start.
Twilight of the Liberal Left
by Ross Barkan, Political Currents Substack page
I was struggling to remember what Barack Obama had done since he left the White House. To challenge myself, I decided not to look anything up and truly disgorge whatever images and ideas had been lodged in my memory. There was the jetting around with Richard Branson. There was a podcast of some sort, a Netflix documentary (or documentaries), a chat with Bruce Springsteen. There’s the summer reading list. His wife published a book that outsold even his own.
He campaigned, of course, for other Democrats, whether it was candidates in the midterms or Joe Biden, his successor. This year, he and Michelle delivered speeches at the Democratic National Convention that were extraordinarily well-received. I was there, and I was impressed. I did think, and still do, that if either had run in this race against Donald Trump, they could have won. Read more here….