Corporate-hack LA Times reporter, Evan Halper, has written an article that is certainly a controlled leak, designed to allow the Biden-Harris campaign managers a chance to say, "Hey! We warned you, and it's just the fault of those inept candidates--and COVID-19, of course."
A recent dip in Biden's support among young Black and Latino voters, as reflected in a UCLA poll, moved Democratic operatives to reassess their work in places including Milwaukee, Detroit and Philadelphia.
The article then goes on to state:
Karen Finney* is also fixated on Democrats' need to listen to local operatives. Perhaps the Clinton campaign's biggest mistake in the last cycle was ignoring activists on the ground who warned that it was wrong to be complacent about Michigan and Wisconsin, both longtime Democratic strongholds. “The campaign manager made the decision that [computer] modeling was telling him something different than the buzz on the ground,” she said. “We ended up taking Black voters for granted.” Clinton lost both states. Even as the Biden campaign and allied groups are hyper-focused on mobilizing swing state Black voters, recent polling data from UCLA hasn’t calmed their nerves. It showed Trump making slight inroads with Black voters younger than 45, with 21% signaling support for the president, double his share in 2016."
Oh my. You mean it's not Bernie Bros and purity-progressives?
But, wait! There is some of the purity-progressive phenomenon among young progressives. And remember, MSBC fans who read me on Facebook. To the consternation of left-wing FB friends I respect, I voted for Biden when I probably didn't have to, here in NM, as I think it is important to run up the score as much as possible for Biden-Harris in case there is a closer Electoral College vote.
Still, there is a big reason why young progressives are not all that enthused to run out and vote Biden-Harris. Biden and Harris have so focused on old, white people in retirement communities and suburbs, and so terribly ignored the young, the people of color, and the like. And worse, in the debates these older Boomers and aged Oldsters watched, Biden and Harris could have changed the discourse surrounding the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. Instead, they accepted right-wing framing.
Regarding the Green New Deal, Biden and Harris could have said:
"You know that the Green New Deal is a jobs bill, right? It makes clear people will be paid in the coal and other fossil fuel industries over time and train them, first priority, in the solar and wind and thermal jobs. This will be better, and I mean better for all of us, starting with these fossil fuel industry workers, than the hit-and-mostly-miss subsidies little farmers sometimes got when Trump messed up soybean trade with his fit against China. The Green New Deal is not a radical proposal, but there are things in it we can talk more about, as I want to listen to scientists and economists, since this is about both. We want to be careful, yet firm in protecting the planet with a gradual move toward alternative, safer, and renewable energy sources."
On health insurance, which is very precarious for young people who hit 26 with poor paying jobs and uncertain futures, Biden and Harris could have said, "You know, this pandemic made it clear how employer-based insurance doesn't help us when we lose our jobs. We need to ensure every American is covered for any and all health needs. Canada does it. Europe does it. We can do it, too, and we pledge to work with workers and their bosses to make sure we take care of each other--and everyone."
But, no. Biden and Harris weakly accepted right-wing hateful and fear mongering framing. For those aging Baby Boomers who still think of themselves as non-racist and non-right wing, my message to you is: Sure, Baby Boomers. If Biden loses, blame your children and grandchildren. It will be what you always do with them anyway.
* For those who may be interested, Karen Finney is the one Krystal Ball filleted on CNN about eight months ago, and showed she is just as out of touch with reality on the ground as the people in the Clinton camp (she was one of them) she is criticizing in this article. See this Rational National (David Doel) copy of the CNN clip at the 10 minute mark forward, and at the 13:40 mark when he shows why Krystal is correct on facts, while Karen Finney just laughs with condescension without having any facts to back her laugh. What is interesting is CNN did not put this into a condensed clip--as if they didn't want to embarrass not only Finney, but the CNN talking head, who appeared to be unaware of the information Krystal was talking about, either. These people (Finney and CNN talking heads) are essentially lazy. They go to cocktail parties and tell each other lies they themselves have come to believe, and they have no data to back up their political-economic biases and cultural prejudices. They only see rich people or professionals who are way up there in the upper-middle class, and never hear or see the pain of the vast majority of Americans.
