Ever wonder where the progressive dems went? Here what one of their stalwart leaders proclaimed in 2020 —“In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party, but in America, we are.” [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]. It didn’t take her long to recant. A few months later —”we are united behind Hakeem Jeffries” [Joe Biden’s soulmate]. There will be no defections…”. The progressive caucus had previously vowed that they would vigorously oppose Jeffries speakership bid. Of course, they didn’t. it turned out that all Speaker Pelosi had to do was raise an eyebrow and the chickens went obediently back to their cages. Should we be surprised that not one brave soul was willing to risk Nancy Pelosi’s ire by withholding votes on her Speakership unless she committed to bringing Medicare-for-All to a vote. It only needed five nay votes to set party leadership back on their heels. Although the gambit had a lot of popular support among progressive democratic voters, it was viewed as a personal career-killer by House Dems. The misnamed members of the House progressive caucus voted in a solid block of yeahs to elect Pelosi without getting anything in return. Contrast that with the MO of 20 right-leaning Republicans two years later when they played political hardball to accomplish their goals. They knew that threatening to withhold their votes for McCarthy’s Speakership bid was a powerful weapon. Did it work? It took fourteen rounds of voting but ultimately they prevailed. Just shows the power of leverage. How weak and spineless the party that promised the people solutions to the financial problems crushing them and delivered instead to the usual suspects, the party leadership and their stable of rich and soulless donors. Democratic progressives should ditch their whining and excuse-making and admit they missed a singular opportunity to make their presence felt. Time to get real and take a leaf from the Freedom Caucus playbook. Maybe the fly in the ointment is that Progressives are beholden to the same gang of rich backer as Pelosi and her hangers-on. Read The Sky Isn’t Falling Henny-Penny, the Democrats Are and draw your own conclusions.
