Third Way's new anti-populist message. Bernie's populism builds crowds, but can't win.

[madfloridian]

They are really spinning this one. They have made populism the boogey man for years now. And they are not winning elections with that message.

This was written by three Third Way leaders.

William M. Daley was White House Chief of Staff for President Obama and is on the Board of Trustees of Third Way, where Jonathan Cowan serves as President and Lanae Erickson Hatalsky serves as Vice President for Social Policy & Politics.

From Politico this month:

Why Bernie Sanders Can’t Win

Subtitle:

We’ve looked at the numbers: Populism might build crowds, but it can't deliver victories for Democrats.

By William M. Daley, Jonathan Cowan, and Lanae Erickson Hatalsky

December 08, 2015

They talk about Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in the same paragraph. They talk about Bernie as if they were not aware he is a Democratic candidate. It's insulting.

Politics is polarized and a full-throated, angry populism seems to be burning all of the oxygen in the 2016 race. On the right, Donald Trump’s campaign is feeding on rage directed at government, immigrants, and a perceived loss of status in a quickly changing country. On the left, populist standard-bearer Bernie Sanders is packing auditoriums with vitriolic speeches about a “rigged” economic system and the greed of the 1 percent.

Populism can certainly build crowds and sell hats, but can it deliver electoral victories? We’ll leave the GOP to its intramural squabble. We’re focused on whether it could build Democrats majorities up and down the ballot.

We think the answer is “no.”

They say there's no revolution coming. They say people blame the politicians in DC, NOT the billionaires and moneyed interest. That's some real spin there.

But from what we’ve seen in our data, that revolution isn’t coming. That’s not because voters aren’t angry—they are. In fact, in our research, voter anger was dialed up to 11. But it wasn’t a rigged economy they were frothing over. It was politicians, government, campaigns, and Congress that they viewed with contempt. “The political system is rigged,” said a Democratic primary voter in Pittsburgh. And insofar as voters saw a stacked deck in America, the crooked dealer was Washington. “The U.S. Constitution is the most beautiful document ever written, but politics keeps it from working,” lamented another Democratic primary voter from Denver. This sentiment was everywhere in our focus groups.

They say Democrats may be burning down their own house by such populist talk.

So there is anger out there, but it’s directed at Washington, not so much at the 1%. And while rage is a powerful force in politics, its implications are starkly different for each party. For Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and the anti-government Tea Partiers, fomenting hatred of government may, unfortunately, be a winning political strategy. But Democrats are the party of government, both in voters’ minds and our own. So by stoking this anti-government anger and feeding the populist fire, Democrats could in time be burning down our own house.

I had to read that several times, and it still doesn't resonate with me.

My own view is that I blame the politicians for taking the money from the billionaires and moneyed interests....and voting however they say to vote.

Go Bernie, talk populist.

[madfloridian]

1. Daley and Cowan really fret about populism

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/1053811/sweet-william-daley-warns-hillary-clinton-lean-back-center

WASHINGTON — William Daley and other influential centrist Democrats sent a strong warning Wednesday to Hillary Clinton, who is tilting to the left — at least in her rhetoric — as rival Bernie Sanders makes inroads with the party’s restless progressive wing.

The worry of the centrists: “Left-wing economic populism,” said Jon Cowan, the president of the Third Way, a Democratic public policy organization, at a briefing where the group laid out a manifesto — a menu of ideas for Democrats to consider — including a regional minimum wage boost, not the national increase embraced by President Barack Obama on down.

“The evidence is in, populism has tanked with the middle class,” Cowan said. While Sanders supporters would argue that point, what is true is this: As Obama is wrapping up a second term, his ability to win has not translated to Democratic gains in governorships, in statehouses and in Congress.

Daley, who is Obama’s former chief of staff, former Commerce Secretary, Al Gore’s presidential campaign manager, and the son and brother of Democratic Chicago mayors, said he does “not take a back seat to anybody who says that they are the true Democratic party, whether they just came on the scene, whether they have been Socialist party people.”

Without referring to Sanders by name, Daley continued, “suddenly they are Democrats and therefore the Democratic party has to be more reflective of them as opposed to what the Democratic Party has been over the years.”

[Samantha]

4. Of course Daley is ignoring one fact when he implies populism doesn't win elections

he made that criticism of Al Gore following the 2000 election controversy (even though he worked with him) saying he had run a terrible campaign. Al Gore ran a populist campaign, and that is exactly what Daley thought was "terrible." Gore had something like a 5 million vote advantage over George W. Bush* in the national popular vote for Election 2000, and I personally call that a win.

The Third-Way'ers (formerly DLC'ers) should withdraw from the Democratic party and form their own distinct alliance instead of taking down our Democratic party. It was they who stepped out in 2004 when Gore was considering running again and publicly told him (via a Washington Post article) he should not run. The article quoted the DLC'ers as saying that while they did not literally choose the party candidate, they had a lot of influence over who received the nomination and they did not want it to be Gore.

Sam

[PowerToThePeople]

2. I have two words for third wayers.

"Fuck" and "off."

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. Ditto that! +10,000,000 n/t

[Mike__M]

3. "Sell hats" ?

Give it up. Such losers.

[madfloridian]

6. So stupid.

[Doctor_J]

5. They have been so successful as Republican Lite over the last twenty years

And if their polling tells them that voters are angry at government, why in the world would they want to nominate Clinton, the embodiment of dc rot and corruption?

[MisterP]

7. more Daleys--always a good sign!

Last edited Fri Dec 18, 2015, 03:42 PM - Edit history (1)

their slogan after all is "the problem with big audiences is that the only person you hear--is yourself"

[zentrum]

9. Yeah they're right….

……only mega corporate bucks can win elections in America.

Go Bernie!

[HerbChestnut]

10. If Third Way had an account on this forum

Their avatar would be the Debbie Downer lady.

[in_cog_ni_to]

11. Oooooh, do they have a rude awakening coming!

Served up by we yucky Populists. They aren't going to know what hit 'em.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[OnyxCollie]

12. I do agree in part.

The connotation that comes with the word "bureaucrat" is specifically a government bureaucrat. This is a deliberate move by RW media to frame bureaucrat, bureaucracy, etc. as government, and therefore bad.

Get rid of government bureaucrats and run this country like a company. (Deceptive, in that corporations share the same bureaucracy as government.)

[Spitfire of ATJ]

17. This fits...

A bureaucrat is a Democrat who holds some office that a Republican wants.

-- President Harry Truman

[OnyxCollie]

18. Well, gaht damn.

Here I was going to going to give credit for that deception to Frank Luntz et al., but that's old school.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. Check these out...

Why America loved FDR:

Why the Brits HATED Thatcher:

[arcane1]

13. They always try to separate the political and the economic

"It's not corporations that are corrupt, it's the politicians who do the corporation's bidding!" they say in their attempt to somehow hold corporations blameless.

[PatrickforO]

14. What a bunch of crap.

It is true that many ignorant people have wrongly identified the government, not corporate kleptocrats as the enemy, but Bernie's campaign is educating them. All of us are educating them.

So to the Third Way people who are talking about selling hats, not winning elections, I say that it is your ineptitude and willingness to dance at the end of a corporate puppet string that has lost us elections. A New Deal message will fill hundreds of seats with true populists and we will take back our government.

See, I don't give a hoot what you all say about Bernie not being able to win. Not a hoot.

Because he can win and I'm going to support him as millions of other Americans will, so he can WIN for us.

I'm sick of corporate shit. They want to take over...fuck 'em. We're just getting this party started.

[Maedhros]

15. Note the pejoratives.

I was at Bernie's speech in Portland, OR and it was not "vitriolic."

Third Way slime-buckets will say anything, regardless of how misleading, disingenuous, or outright false, to steal a victory for their fatally-flawed candidate.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. They also are PROUD to say the rich see them as a good investment.