There has been some interesting analysis of Tuesay’s results and a lot of wasted language, as well.
What strikes me most about Tuesday is not the lack of impact that the Obama endorsements had, or that Rand Paul’s win confirms the Tea Party takeover of the Republican Party. What is most interesting — and least remarked upon (at least in the MSM) — is that Tuesday’s results may just signal a resurgence of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Joe Sestak, a moderately liberal Democrat, absolutely creams the former Republican Arlen Specter — Sestak, a candidate who was unabashedly for health care reform and has been leading the push to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” who favors card-check and a strong bank regulations; Specter was none of this, plus he carries a long history of what I view as unprincipled toadying to the GOP leadership. Remember, Specter — who had his good moments, to be sure — was always viewed as a pro-choice Republican, but when it came to voting on pro-life judges, his pro-choice stance rarely mattered. He was rhetorically moderate, but party-line on the votes and Demcorats would have been foolish to allow him to keep his seat.
Blanche Lincoln is in a runoff, thanks to her obstructionism on health care — a final straw position that cut her off from the party’s grassroots and left her hanging. She may still pull this out — the runoff is next month, I believe — but the message has been sent.
And then there is Rand Paul. The son of Texas Congressman and libertarian hero Ron Paul, young Dr. Paul won the GOP nomination for Senate in Kentucky over a candidate handpicked by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Paul, who is bat-sh*t crazy on so many issues, is also the kind of ally that progressives could use on issues like civil liberties, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Federal Reserve reform. He opposes both wars (maybe not for the right reasons, but he offers an opening), which could be key as we move forward with a Democratic admininistration that has bought into the conventional wisdom about why we fight.
Let’s be clear: None of these candidates are hard-core progressives, and there are no guarantees that any of them will survive their November races.
I mentioned the strong analysis — David Sirota on his radio show yesterday (via podcast) was spot-on, as was Cenk Uygur on the Young Turks. And then there was the nonsense — much of what the cable newsies were saying about the results was little more than fluff or conventional noodling focused on November.
That just misses the point completely.
- Send me an e-mail.
- Read poetry at The Subterranean.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Hank Kalet 