It is what you don’t hear that, more than anything, tells you the American Left does not really exist (or is, at minimum, absolutely FUBAR). And one of those deafening silences just happened.
Two weeks ago, the Massachusetts legislature did not merely make a mockery of election law by going back and forth and then back to allowing its governor to appoint Senate replacements. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) then appointed former pharmaceutical lobbyist, insurance executive and corporate lawyer Paul Kirk to fill the seat of Ted Kennedy – right in the middle of the legislative endgame on health care. Patrick passed over the three-term former governor and one-time Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis to appoint Kirk – a person who has never held public office.It was appalling to watch Kirk’s appointment be publicly justified by his friendship with Kennedy – as if Senate seats are something to just be passed around to buddies. But it was telling that almost voice on the Left made a peep about what this really says about American politics and the Democratic Party.
Had Republicans filled a Senate seat with a former pharmaceutical lobbyist and insurance executive, all the groups and media institutions calling themselves “progressive” would have automatically thrown a public shit fit (and if you think they would not have, then you haven’t been paying attention to politics). But because this appointment happened on the Democratic side, these same groups and media institutions were almost completely silent.
I actually don’t care that much about Kirk, as Sirota notes, he’ll only be a Senator for a few months pending a special election. But the “progressive” infrastructure is a joke. We saw it with the pro-choice organizations and their support of Joe Lieberman, not to mention their atrocious showing during the Roberts/Alito confirmations. The environmental groups range from corrupt to pathetic, and on and on.
So when you are wondering why the Democratic Party proceeds to sell out the public option or environmental policy or anything else, you have your answer: It’s because the “American Left” has made the party, not the policy, the objective. Only when that formula and outlook is reformed will we have any prayer of turning “hope” into “change.”
Amen.