Got an e mail from Barack Obama

I just got a fundraising email from Barack Obama, requesting money for OFA's 2018 election effort. Well and good. I'm glad to see Obama stepping forward to stand for Democrats, and I support all efforts to ensure that Democratic candidates win at all levels. But the email was pretty much devoid of specifics. Democrats want assurance from their leadership that the party will actually stand for specific actions and policies to counter Trump's disastrous right wing agenda. Just being not Trump is NOT ENOUGH. I listen to people like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who just won a primary in New York by a huge margin against an establishment Congressman who failed to take strong progressive stands. Ocasio Cortez espouses a fully fledged progressive agenda and is unafraid to talk about it in detail, just like her mentor Bernie Sanders did in 2016. THIS is the way to win the midterms, and I hope the more mainstream party leadership realizes that and soon.

Polls consistently show that Independents are and were turned off by politicians who hew to a centrist, "nondivisive", mealy-mouthed line. Many disaffected Democrats who voted for Trump actually told investigators that their choice was between Bernie Sanders and Trump... not because they necessarily agreed with the policies of either in detail, but because they were tired of being lied to, triangulated, manipulated. I really believe that a well designed campaign to convince many voters who are just beginning to realize they've been had by Trump, combined with the solid majority across the country who were never taken in by him, will spell a massive blue Tsunami. But the most likely way that WON'T happen is if a big segment of the "disaffecteds" perceive that the Democrats are just playing business as usual, and are afraid to go bold and think big.

Democrats need to forget about appealing to "centrists," and go back to their roots. Economic fairness. Bold policy initiatives: rein in Wall Street, build infrastructure massively, invest in new industries for a renewable energy future, conquer Climate Change with massive public investment, pay for college and vocational education, institute truly universal health care and retirement security. These policies, properly presented, are MASSIVELY POPULAR. And Democrats, better than Republicans, who care no more for debt and deficits than they do but are more willing to lie about it, should understand that the reason we aren't doing these things is NOT because we can't afford them. We have the World's reserve currency. Everyone needs OUR money. We aren't doing these things for one reason only: we don't have the political WILL to do them.

Sure would like to see Barack Obama make some version of this case to the American people. And now.