There’s NO path to the 2020 Democratic nomination that includes talking specious bullshit about Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. You can’t begin the primary process by alienating the base that ultimately decides the outcome but still expect to win it all. Stop it.
Belittling the efforts of PBO and HRC is an overt appeal to Independents and White “moderates” who continue to narcissistically think only they have the perfect solutions for centuries of intentional and systemic inequality in American society. Privilege.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/1191049364170563585?s=21
This is an outright and consistent refusal to fully understand or pragmatically combat the entrenched, culturally charged obstruction of GOP forces that will ALWAYS be aimed at ALL elected Democrats, no matter their melanin content or populist plans.
This epitomizes the hubris of privilege. It presumes easier terrain for White candidates who most closely align themselves w/the very same Independents and White “moderates” who’ve literally been the rate limiting step on progress since America’s founding. It’s stuck on stupid.
Oh and in case you still don’t get why it’s stupid, most of these Independents and White “moderates” (who are so deadset against joining the D coalition that they won’t register as actual fucking Democrats) can’t even vote in closed D primaries to help choose the nominee. 🙃
Bernie carried this same degree of hubris/privilege through the ‘16 primary until math got in the way of his grandiose delusions. He ultimately converted them to paranoid delusions about “rigging” when his Indie base couldn’t vote in the closed primaries.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/1191158437754875905?s=21
The reason I’m even ranting this rant is b/c Liz appears to have felt the Bern so hard that she’s plowing full speed ahead into making all the same mistakes he made in ‘16. At this rate it won’t be long til the math inconveniently catches up to her too.
https://twitter.com/notcapnamerica/status/1192511867694075904?s=21
Bottom line is NONE of this tactic is intended to appeal to the marginalized & perennially obstructed Democratic base. People who truly understand the struggle and the opposition are way more pragmatic and inclusive than that.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/1041490196150272000?s=21
More on the dichotomy between appealing to the disillusionment of those who are frustrated at “meager” ambition in the face of obstruction vs. appealing to the pragmatism of those who are struggling to survive a culture war via @RickSmithShow @docrocktex26 podbean.com/ei/pb-vwpth-c6…
Folk are acting like the billionaires never bit back until Liz/Bernie came around, but I’m old enough to remember that there wouldn’t even be a Citizens United if the oligarchy wasn’t terrified that Hillary Clinton would become POTUS and help the 99%. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_… 
I’m also old enough to remember that the whole reason they escalated their hatred for HRC (apart from her being a committed D/reliable White ally in the Black community) was b/c she had the nerve to draft universal healthcare legislation as FLOTUS. She fought & they fought back.
It’s true that you don’t get what you don’t fight for but it’s also true that getting exactly what you fight for isn’t guaranteed. You have to be flexible enough to get what you can for those in need. HRC didn’t get UHC but she damn sure got CHIP for AOC.
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1185636099059867648?s=21
This is a result of either ignorance of what’s happened in the last 66 YEARS of post-New Deal, Dem vs GOP politics, or a complete disavowal of the fact that much of it happened b/c of an insidious culture war that’s been raging in the background. More than likely it’s both. 😒
You’re sorely mistaken if you think “progressive” ideals and policies haven’t been promoted, voted or fought for until your fave arrived on the scene in this millennium. Try harder to understand how/why that ambition’s been obstructed/vilified for so long.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/692098227898814464?s=21
We wouldn’t currently be experiencing fascism if the White American voting majority was even remotely interested in transitioning to socialism or any moderated version of it. I don’t know how much plainer this needs to be said for it to finally sink in but there it is.
It’s not just about a handful of billionaires getting pissed & opposing D candidates, it’s also that the GOP remains in power doing the 1%’s bidding bc they keep tens of millions of non-billionaires enthralled and in the voting booth for racism, misogyny, homophobia & xenophobia.
The DGAF GOP isn’t scared of a left wing crusade against billionaires, they all have plenty of money to buy ad space for bigoted, fact free propaganda to throw at the White electorate and keep them in line. The Southern Strategy pump is already primed.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/694280103837085696?s=21
Never forget that the reason the Southern Strategy is the GOP’s *only* strategy ALL over America is b/c it’s easier to convince the White voting majority that it has more in common with the 1% than it does with the 99% or the multicultural Dem coalition.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/769206154329067520?s=21
It’s fantastic that the leftmost blue state left understands the role the 1% plays in thwarting our democracy, but none of that changes the fact that their right wing peers refuse to join the same fight b/c they like the fights Trump’s starting WAY better.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/694222613632016384?s=21
Beto’s already out of the primary b/c as a red state TX D he simply wasn’t capable or interested in taking a detour down classism lane when GOP racism literally just massacred ppl in his hometown. That wasn’t “ambitious” enough for “progressives” tho. 😒
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/1191010021259304961?s=21
Same goes for Gillibrand. Basically any candidate (White or otherwise) who doesn’t center the classism based grievances of Independents and White “moderates” FIRST is at risk of being shunned by not only the MSM & GOP, but also Ds too. Make it make sense.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/1150037674629238784?s=21
People have been so thoroughly convinced that identity politics are a 3rd rail that they’re obfuscating & belittling the identity of the Democratic base & the party’s extremely popular standard bearers to make it more welcoming to people who aren’t exhibiting reliable allyship.
FYI this reimagining of the Democratic coalition typically works as its architects intend until the primary reaches the South and they run out of Indies/White “moderates” to sell it to b/c the D/R alignment is so sharply divided along racial lines. That’s when the game changes.
That’s when you find out who’s never been there and who hasn’t done the work to build a coalition w/Black voters who are the lifeblood of the Democratic Party in the South. Shitting on PBO and HRC won’t get you the secret passcode and the billionaire crusade won’t make up for it.
Not only will Black voters be more concerned with how socioeconomics and social justice intertwine, but White voters in the South are also more smitten with Trump’s crusade against brown people than they are with the blue state liberal crusade against the 1%.
In other words...
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/694223113270132736?s=21
If/when the front runners get to the South and still struggle to get local backing b/c they can’t articulately discuss housing/school segregation & divestment, police brutality, mass incarceration, health disparities and voter suppression/theft, they won’t remain in front.
Also it’s not just about speaking platitudes on stage, it’s about one on one fellowship, engagement and respect behind closed doors, and building a ground game before the last minute. In case you forgot, here’s how Bernie failed at it in ‘16:
https://twitter.com/quinnae_moon/status/703807114838466560?s=21
Conversely, HRC broke away from Bernie when the primary turned to SC b/c she had a firm foundation built over decades. Uncle Joe’s inheriting much of that foundation from both Obama and HRC, but the only person seriously challenging him for it is Kamala.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/704331532056432640?s=21
So what this means is though the current front runners have significantly benefited from so much sustained focus on IA, NH, Indies and White “moderates”, they’ve been too consumed by it to begin the work of establishing roots in non-White communities they have no history with.
And that list actually still includes Uncle Joe, b/c the history he has can’t look back before ‘08, or else shit starts to get real complicated. His high confidence and alleged firewall still leave him vulnerable to Kamala getting more deeply connected on an identity level.
This is why the Criminal Justice Forum at Benedict College in *SC* was such a standout moment for her, she got the whole entire format changed so that students (read potential voters) could be seen and heard on an issue that’s at the forefront for them.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/1188541953232769024?s=21
This is just one example of how the scenery of the primary changes as it moves across the country, but in general we should all be wary of all projections that determine the outcome of the contest before whole swaths and demographics of the country get to join the conversation.
Bottom line is it’s hard to build a big enough coalition to win across the country when you begin the process by alienating/erasing the Democratic base and all of our achievements in all of the ways described above. Receipts for folk who don’t remember:
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/1041500718702776325?s=21
Heads up, the Pete ppl who’ve been insinuating that his microscopic Black support is b/c he’s gay are gonna be mad & disappointed when the Obama misquote retraction doesn’t change D math, the 1st impression Black voters formed of his tenure in SB, or his pitch to the “heartland.”
Pete already had a fateful problem in this primary a long time ago, don’t act brand new just because the MSM is negligent and incompetent.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/1191065430904987648?s=21
No matter which candidate falls prey to it next, the overarching problem is STILL that people of all political stripes refuse to admit that the hope/change of the Obama era didn’t reach its fullest potential b/c the White majority’s racism got in the way.
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/694231450212634624?s=21
Olympic level mental gymnastics are taking place to explain how America ended up at this atrocious and internationally disgraceful moment in history because the folk who aided and abetted it on ALL sides of the aisle STILL don’t want to admit this:
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/692786507107569664?s=21
Y’all have spent the last 11 YEARS making up every excuse in the book to sugarcoat and normalize blatant racism and civil unrest as “economic anxiety” and the “failings of neoliberalism”. You’ve used fragility as a free pass to deny reality and the whole 🌎 is suffering in turn.
Adding further insult to injury, the base of the Democratic Party has now been subjected to months of microaggressions about how the only bloc of voters that matters is the one that includes all the White people who voted for a White supremacist/sexual predator/sociopath/traitor.
None of this shit is IT.
None of the excuses being made are going to fix this disaster. Blaming Obama for not being magical and Hillary for not being perfect is never going to take the blame away from the GOP or any of the RACIST AMERICANS who willfully voted for fascism in ‘16.
None of the excuses being made are going to fix this disaster. Blaming Obama for not being magical and Hillary for not being perfect is never going to take the blame away from the GOP or any of the RACIST AMERICANS who willfully voted for fascism in ‘16.
Stop.👏🏾 Acting. 👏🏾 Brand. 👏🏾 New. theguardian.com/commentisfree/… #RobbedByRacism #ThisIsAmerica #GOPObstruction
I guess all of the front runners want a mention in this thread. 🙄 So be it:
https://twitter.com/david_darmofal/status/1194078617644552195?s=21
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