[corp-focus] Massachusetts and the Populist Imperative

[Robert Weissman]

Massachusetts and the Populist Imperative
By Robert Weissman

It takes a special skill for a Democrat to lose a federal election in =
Massachusetts.

But whatever the failings of the candidacy and campaign of Martha Coakley, =
the Democratic senate candidate in Massachusetts, the Democrats' loss of =
the Massachusetts Senate seat held for almost half a century by Edward =
Kennedy, following the party's November loss of the New Jersey gubernatoria=
l race, suggests the need to focus more on the broader context, and less =
on individual shortcomings.

The Democratic Party has squandered the enormous opportunity bequeathed to =
it by the election of 2008.

The party gained overwhelming control of both the legislature and =
executive in 2008. Yet party leaders somehow failed to recognize the =
political moment.

We live in populist times.=20

Wall Street has crashed the economy. According to the official figures -- =
which under-report unemployment -- one in six people in the country are =
out of work or unable to find full-time work.=20

People know who's to blame for the country's deep recession, and they want =
them held accountable.

And they want to see aggressive policies to put people back to work.=20

But we've seen neither populist politics nor policies from the Democrats.

Although President Obama on occasion has had harsh words for Wall Street, =
in general the administration has sought to blunt the public's anger =
against the banksters.=20

It supported and has continued the Bush administration's bailout plan, a =
kind of unconditional love for Wall Street. Sure, you could make the case =
the banks had to be saved in order to rescue the economy; but there is no =
defense for bailing out the richest of the rich with no strings =
attached.=20

The administration has put forward a financial regulatory plan with some =
very useful components. But it has refused to embrace the bold populist =
policies we need -- breaking up the banks, taxing financial speculation -- =
to rein in Wall Street. It has also failed to defend the good positions it =
has advocated with sufficient vigor and high-level involvement.

The gentle treatment of Wall Street from the outset of the administration =
has framed subsequent political developments.

To its credit, the administration pushed through a desperately needed =
economic stimulus plan. But in significant part because the size of the =
stimulus plan was similar to the amount spent on the Wall Street bailout, =
and because the administration had embraced both, the stimulus and bailout =
-- though totally distinct -- became entangled in people's minds.

Next came health care. The Democratic Congressional leadership developed a =
complicated and obtuse health care plan. There was the occasional bluster =
about how the insurance industry was seeking to undermine the plan, but in =
fact the insurance and pharmaceutical industries embraced the idea, and =
will profit enormously from it. Rather than identifying and campaigning =
against the corporate obstacles to providing affordable access to care for =
all, the White House cut deals with them.

Meanwhile, while the stimulus and Federal Reserve interventions prevented =
the recession from turning to depression, the unemployment and foreclosure =
situations grew dire. No post-stimulus jobs initiatives appeared until the =
end of 2009. And the Congress and White House failed to do anything =
consequential to keep people in their homes.

Along the way, populism did find a partial outlet: in the confused and =
contradictory tea party movement.

Going forward, who grabs the populist reins will significantly determine =
the 2010 election results.

-------------------

The populist issue of the day is Wall Street's exorbitant bonus payments. =
Wall Street remains in business only because it has benefited, and =
continues to benefit, from trillions of dollars in public supports. The =
billions that Wall Street is now preparing to pay itself in bonuses come, =
in a very real sense, out of the pockets of We, The People.

Neither we nor our elected officials need to stand by and watch this =
happen. We can take our money back by imposing a windfall bonus tax, as =
Representative Dennis Kucinich has proposed.=20

You can click here <http://action.citizen.org/t/6693/petition.jsp?petition_=
KEY=3D2209> to sign a Public Citizen petition supporting a tax on Wall =
Street's bonuses.

One clear lesson from the last year is that the people cannot count on =
political leaders to read the tea leaves and go populist -- even if it is =
in elected officials' narrow self interest. They have to demand it.


Robert Weissman is president of Public Citizen, <www.citizen.org>.

(c) Robert Weissman

This article is posted at:  <http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focu=
s/2009/000328.html>.