Robert Reich: What Tuesday's Election Results Really Mean

[marmar]

Robert Reich
Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Beyond Outrage'

What Tuesday's Election Results Really Mean
Posted: 11/06/2013 11:24 am


Pundits who are already describing the victories of Terry McAuliffe in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey as a "return to the center" of American politics are confusing the "center" with big business and Wall Street.

A few decades ago McAuliffe would be viewed as a right-wing Democrat and Christie as a right-wing Republican. Both garnered their major support from corporate America, and both will reliably govern as fiscal conservatives who won't raise taxes on the wealthy.

Both look moderate only by contrast with the Tea Partiers to their extreme right.

The biggest game-changer, though, is Bill de Blasio, the mayor-elect of New York City, who campaigned against the corporatist legacy of Michael Bloomberg -- promising to raise taxes on the wealthy and use the revenues for pre-school and after-school programs for the children of New York's burdened middle class and poor. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/2013-election-results_b_4226267.html?utm_hp_ref=media&ir=Media

[xchrom]

1. du rec.

[marble falls]

2. No doubt, a lot of people held ther nose to vote for McAuliffe. But Cuccinelli is a worse stink.

[gopiscrap]

3. absolutely, Cookoo would have been a train wreck!

[woo me with science]

5. That's the game. Lesser of two evils.

We should not have to settle for any evil.

This is the spot-on observation:

Pundits who are already describing the victories of Terry McAuliffe in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey as a "return to the center" of American politics are confusing the "center" with big business and Wall Street.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. +1.

[daleanime]

10. +1

[leftstreet]

18. +1

[marble falls]

24. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and sometimes a lesser of two evils is the choice we got to deal

with.

Other than the stink from Virginia how have you been?

[tiny elvis]

29. sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes you wage aggressive war

for business purposes

once you get used to the smell of death it all seems moderate

[LongTomH]

26. Vote for the lesser of two evils......and you get less evil!

We need GOOD alternatives; but, we don't have many --- yet!

[Blanks]

30. It was a victory over the tea party...

If it takes someone who is just a little bit more liberal than the tea party candidate - at least it is still a movement to the left.

It is better than running someone who is extremely left, and losing IMHO.

[woo me with science]

31. No, it's a movement to the right.

Look at the policies. It is ALWAYS a movement to the right.

It is so easy for corporate Democrats to move rightward, when there is always someone *further* right.

[Blanks]

32. We can't ignore the fact that there are a significant number of Americans...

Who support the policies of the right wing (for whatever reason). When a big deal is made of the fact that one candidate is a Tea Party sympathizer (to the point that Rush Limbaugh defends him against the 'accusation') - I view it as a victory against the tea party.

Feel free to put a negative spin on it all you want. As far as I'm concerned the more victories against the tea party the better.

I'm not going to complain because we aren't moving left fast enough when it looks like we are at least moving left. It's trending in the right direction. Politicians sometimes move to the right because the mood of the nation indicates that their political survival depends on them moving to the right. It takes a little while for the pendulum to swing back.

[woo me with science]

33. We aren't moving leftward at all.

That is by design.

And this garbage AGAIN about traditional Democrats' being too "left" or "fringe" for the electorate?

What utter nonsense.

Polls consistently and repeatedly show that that the electorate is far more on the page of traditional Democrats than the corporate candidates we are offered, over and over again. Across party lines, voters favor protecting SS and Medicare, they despise austerity, they want to curb the surveillance state, they want to invest in schools and infrastructure, and they want to cut military spending.

And the proof of the lie is that candidates pivot LEFTWARD every single election season to win voters. They lie and say that they will support a public option, or protect Social Security, because they know that is what voters want to hear. But as soon as the election is over, it's back to the business of the one percent.

The Tea Party is bankrolled by big business. So is the Third Way. The Third Way was never a grass roots phenomenon. It is a deliberate infiltration of the Democratic Party, bankrolled by corporate interests.

We have a systemic problem of corporate money driving policy in both parties now. That is what happens when corporations buy elections. And posts like the one you just made are what happens when corporations buy the media.

[Blanks]

34. It isn't going to get better because you're complaining to me about it...

Yes, Americans want the things that you list. The fact that the tea party is funded by the Koch Brothers doesn't change the fact that a lot of people still support the tea party and 'the movement' still has a political presence.

A victory over any tea party candidate is a victory for the left because it shows that the voting public has moved away from the radical right.

The democrats were working for the people when they controlled congress. That's where the real fight is. This was a test to see if the tea party brand was still popular enough to win an election in, what was until very recently, a red state. We saw a dyed in the wool republican supporter (Rush) trying to distance the candidate from the tea party.

To me this is yet another sign that the 'shiny' has worn off the tea party. The republicans would not control the House of Representatives had the tea party not been so popular in 2010 and 2012.

I think that's good news regardless of opinions to the contrary. If the democrats control congress when they aren't faced with a meltdown of the magnitude that they were facing in 2009 - I believe they'll accomplish some serious reform. Sure influence from corporate donors will continue to be a problem, which is why we need to push hard for tax increases on the wealthy including raising the cap on FICA, but until the democrats control congress again - complaining about them, doesn't really accomplish anything. There isn't much they can do while the clowns are running the house.

[woo me with science]

35. Again this absurd fantasy that corporate Democrats are valiantly fighting for the 99 percent

but are merely being obstructed by those evil Republicans. That we DON'T have a serious systemic problem with corporate money driving policy aggressively and deliberately in a corporate direction, even among Democrats.

Please don't insult the 99 percent by pretending we haven't been here the whole time. The record does not show this administration fighting hard to enact liberal policies and being obstructed. The record shows aggressive, proactive effort, over and over again, to install corporatists into his administration and to enact a corporate agenda.

Non-corporate-driven Democrats don't negotiate and fast-track super-secret trade deals that will impoverish millions and elevate corporate power over national sovereignty. Non-corporate-driven Democrats don't vote bipartisanly for or sign legislation to gut MORE financial regulations on big banks that have already destroyed the middle class in this country. Non-corporate-driven Democrats don't give soaring speeches about the merits of austerity and recommend cuts in Social Security and Medicare when child poverty in this nation rivals that of ROMANIA and one out of five seniors is hungry.

Obama seeks to fast-track secret Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement
https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/23-5

How Wall Street Killed Financial Reform
It's bad enough that the banks strangled the Dodd-Frank law. Even worse is the way they did it - with a big assist from Congress and the White House.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-wall-street-killed-financial-reform-20120510

Obama's Top Economic Adviser Tells Democrats They'll Have to Swallow Entitlement Cuts
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023930278

We have a cancer in our politics. We have a deadly malignancy of corporate money driving and corrupting policy direction in both parties. The corporate Republican Party has long been corrupted in this way, and they have tried to loot the country for a long time. The only reason the looting is succeeding now is that corporatists have infiltrated the Democratic Party, too, and Democrats have abandoned their traditional role of standing BETWEEN the nation and these policies.



The record shows aggressive, proactive pursuit of a corporate agenda in every policy area important to the One Percent.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3152360

Look at the list. Be honest. It is not a catalog of Republican obstructionism. It is a catalog of proactive Democratic corporatism.

Corporate and bank-cozy appointments, over and over again, including major appointments like:

A serial defender of corrupt bankers for the SEC; the architect of "Kill Lists" and supporter of torture, drone wars, and telecom immunity for the CIA; and a Monsanto VP who has lied and been involved in extremely disturbing claims regarding food safety for the FDA. An Attorney General who has not prosecuted a single large bank but wages war against medical marijuana users and *for* strip searches and warrantless surveillance of Americans. Tim Geithner. And now Penny Pritzker.

Bailouts and settlements for corrupt banks (with personal pressure from Obama to attorneys general to approve them),
Refusal by Obama's DOJ to prosecute even huge, egregious examples of bank fraud (i.e, HSBC)
signing NDAA to allow indefinite detention,
"Kill lists" and claiming of the right to assassinate even American citizens without trial
Expansion of wars into several new countries
A renewed public advocacy for the concept of preemptive war
Drone campaigns in multiple countries with whom we are not at war
Proliferation of military drones in our skies
Federal targeting of Occupy for surveillance and militarized response to peaceful protesters
Fighting all the way to the Supreme Court for warrantless surveillance
Fighting all the way to the Supreme Court for strip searches for any arrestee
Supporting and signing Internet-censoring and privacy-violating measures like ACTA
Support for corporate groping and naked scanning of Americans seeking to travel
A new, massive spy center for warrantless access to Americans' phone calls, emails, and internet use
Support of legal immunity for telecoms/warrantless wiretapping
Support of legislation to legalize massive surveillance of Americans
Militarized police departments, through federal grants
Marijuana users and medical marijuana clinics under assault,
Skyrocketing of the budget for prisons.
Failing to veto a bipartisan vote in Congress to gut more financial regulations.
Passionate speeches and press conferences promoting austerity for Americans
Bush tax cuts extended for billionaires, them much of it made permanent
Support for the payroll tax holiday, tying SS to the general fund
Support for the vicious chained CPI cut in Social Security and benefits for the disabled
Social security, Medicare, and Medicaid offered up as bargaining chips in budget negotiations, with No mention of cutting corporate welfare or the military budget
Advocacy of multiple new free trade agreements, including The Trans-Pacific, otherwise known as "NAFTA on steroids."
Support of drilling, pipelines, and selling off portions of the Gulf of Mexico
Corporate education policy including high stakes corporate testing and closures of public schools
Entrenchment of exorbitant for-profit health insurance companies into healthcare, through mandate
Legal assault on union rights of hundreds of thousands of federal workers
New policies of targeting children and first responders in drone campaigns,
New policies of awarding medals for remote drone attacks,
Appointment of private prison executive to head the US Marshal's office
Massive escalation of federal contracts for private prisons under US Marshall's Office[/div class="excerpt"]

Chilling Legal Memo From Obama DOJ Justifies Assassination of US Citizens
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101654954

Study: "Trade" Deal Would Mean a Pay Cut for 90% of U.S. Workers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023661805

Obama Appoints Bain Capital Consultant Jeff Ziets to Top Post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023662209

Obama selects former Monsanto lobbyist to be his TPP chief agriculture negotiator
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023662210

White House: No Subsidies for Union Health Plans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014594512

Wall Street Deregulation Garners Bipartisan Support Despite Devastating JPMorgan Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/wall-street-deregulation-_n_2910168.html

The USDA’s Reckless Plan to Decrease Food Safety
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023670859

This is a complete list of Wall Street CEOs prosecuted for their role in the financial crisis
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3653154

Wall Street will get away with massive wave of criminality of 2008 - Statute of Limitations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022516719Obama seeks longer PATRIOT Act extension than Republicans (December 2013)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x380450

When it comes to civil liberties, apparently Democrats are just as bad as Republicans.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022101960

NSA's Massive New Spy Center to Track Your Emails, Internet Activity, and Phone Calls
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101620852

Obama Quietly Signs Abusive Spy Bill He Once Vowed to Eliminate
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022104861

Obama repeals Magna Carta, asserting powers our forefathers denied to Kings
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101655620

Obama's Memo on Killing Americans Twists 'Imminent Threat' Like Bush
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101654919

Obama no better than Bush when it comes to security vs. civil liberties.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022355307

Obama Admin Seeks Permission TO LIE In Response To FOI Requests - Even To The COURTS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2185303

NDAA on trial: Obama Administration fights ban on indefinite detention of Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101748688

Obama administration complicit with private prison industry: President Obama's IncarcerNation
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655

Obama, Democrats Push to Make Bush Spying Laws Permanent
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022084702

NDAA, signed by Obama, is a direct attack against legitimate protest and dissent
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022064803

NSA Whistleblower: All Americans under constant surveillance, all info. stored, no matter the post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002193487; http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021935289

Bipartisan Congress Disgracefully Approves the FISA Warrantless Spying Bill for Five More Years
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022087323

While Public & Media Focused on 2nd Amendment, 5th Amendment Quietly Dismantled
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022390581

How the Obama administration justifies extrajudicial killing of Americans,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022318187

Judge Says Under Law Executive Branch Can Commit Acts That Sure Do Seem Unconstitutional
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022122464

Obama Justice Dept. says wiretap lawsuit should not proceed
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014337039

NDAA Lawsuit- Hedges v. Obama, The Last Thin Line of Defense
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022357078

Federal authorities step up efforts to license surveillance drones for law enforcement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022383596

Big Banks and FBI worked together vs Occupy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022095056]

FBI Investigated 'Occupy' As Possible 'Domestic Terrorism' Threat, Internal Documents Show
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022061578

FBI Documents Reveal Secret Nationwide Occupy Monitoring (Updated the OP)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022057064

Public Buses Across Country Quietly Adding Microphones to Record Passenger Conversations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021965291

Street artist behind satirical NYPD 'Drone' posters arrested
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021920967

The Obama DOJ urged the Supreme Court's endorsement of strip searches.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002521527

Obama Administration Fights to Allow Warrantless GPS Tracking
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1074474

Anonymous to FBI: hey, dudes, maybe you could take a break from...investigating activists....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022145621

Half a billion dollars for drones to spy on Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021876414

From Bradley Manning to Aaron Swartz -- The Government's Inhumane Persecution of Brave Truth Tellers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022276941

The sight of Army helicopters and the sound of gunfire...on Houston's south side
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022276742

Kiriakou and Stuxnet: the danger of the still-escalating Obama whistleblower war
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022275570

Can the DEA Hide a Surveillance Camera on Your Property?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022237059

Social Media and the Stasi
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021888029

Homeland Security Wants to More Than Double Its Predator Drone Fleet Inside the US, Despite Safety/Privacy Invasions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014312823

CIA Behind Bizarre Censorship Incident At Alleged 9/11 Plotters’ Gitmo Trial
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022280285

“I Am Wearing My Conviction As A Badge Of Honor.”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022275128

Meet the Contractors Turning America's Police Into a Paramilitary Force
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12525281

How Secrecy Corrodes Democracy
http://election.democraticunderground.com/101655009

Obama Quietly Issues Ruling Saying It's Legal For The FBI To Break The Law
http://election.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7545687

US Pulls Plug on Iran Cable News (Press TV)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014394770

DHS Watchdog OKs 'Suspicionless' Seizure of Electronic Devices Along Border
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022339091

The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022246632

Obama Orders Pay Raise For Congress
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022095402

[Blanks]

36. Have you considered moving. eom

[Oilwellian]

25. I wore a clothespin on my nose when I voted for that jackass

This is the last time I will vote for a Third Way thug. I've had it with their destroying the principles of Democratic party.

[WCLinolVir]

28. I did too. We need to do more than just vote. Concerted campaigns starting now.

We have proven that it does work.

[myrna minx]

4. K&R n/t

[BlueStreak]

7. And look at de Blasio's margin of victory

THAT should be the message that Democrats take from the election. Run FOR the people and there will never be another close election.

[nashville_brook]

17. plus, it was considered "in the bag" for Weiner prior to his Carlos Danger problem

such a familiar song and dance. true blue dems are muscled out of leadership b/c the corporate candidates get all the funding and everyone says, "well, we have to support the one with money or else we'll lose."

De Blasio's win shows how wrong this is.

[BlueStreak]

22. It is staggering that, other than Rachael, nobody else even talked about the stunning NYC result

This is a city that hadn't elected a Dem mayor for decades. A completely unconventional (by today's "new Democrat" standards) candidate runs and wins by a margin that is almost never seen in any major election. And the media talks about what? Christie, who was basically unopposed.

Obama figures he needs Christie. Obama desperately wants to be able to claim there is some bipartisanship happening somewhere. This is just the way Obama thinks. Too late to hope for any change from that guy.

This is no difference from the media coverage of Jerry Brown. What he has accomplished in California is absolutely remarkable, yet the media never mentions any of that.

[Auggie]

8. The real test will be one year from now n/t

[Eleanors38]

9. The MSM's dreary slog toward a mythical center continues.

[JEB]

11. Yep, the center is whatever Wall Street money says. Hup to,

you peon voters.

[certainot]

12. they look moderate because americans allow a corporate propaganda operation to use 1200 radio statio

ns to say anything they want with little challenge. the scripted blowhards on those stations hide behind call screeners and take a lot of paid callers. it's gotten better the last few years -there is more mention of RW radio on MSNBC and there's an excellent rush boycott on- but that's about it. those 1200 radio stations are still well coordinated locally and nationally and given a free speech free ride by the left's orgs to dominate and distort the national discourse and allow the 1% to make the 10% loons and racists look/sound like 50%.

[ZRT2209]

13. overton window

[nashville_brook]

16. precisely -- without a left that's loud and proud

all we get is "our candidate's better than the tea party guy."

[nashville_brook]

14. big k and r

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. I get sick of the "50/50 country" crap the media keeps spewing.

[ProSense]

19. Oh please.

"A few decades ago McAuliffe would be viewed as a right-wing Democrat and Christie as a right-wing Republican...Both look moderate only by contrast with the Tea Partiers to their extreme right."

Chris Christie is a RW Republican
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023988793

Not a few decades ago. This year, right now, today.

On edit, Reich is pushing the Christie looks "moderate" crap.

[marmar]

20. What Reich said is.....

"Both look moderate only by contrast with the Tea Partiers to their extreme right. "


Context is a wonderful thing. Doesn't sound at all to me like he's trying to call Christie a moderate.

[octoberlib]

21. Christie is no moderate.

Always listen for the day-after adjectives, which give a clue as to how candidates and issues will be framed in the future. In talking about Chris Christie's win in New Jersey, the Washington Post writes of "pragmatic, as opposed to ideological, governance." But in describing Bill de Blasio, the media uses the adjectives "left" or "left-leaning."

In an era when almost all economic gains are going to the very top, when poverty is increasing, and when median household incomes are dropping even with two wage earners, to be in favor of raising taxes on the wealthy and providing better schools to everyone else should not be considered "left." I'd call this pragmatic. By the same token, to be against raising the minimum wage -- as is Chris Christie -- is not a sign of "pragmatism." I'd call this ideological.

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich?hc_location=stream

[colsohlibgal]

23. Thank You Robert Reich

The center now was a pretty wingnutty place pre B actor Reagan. The whole baseline has moved hard right since then. You hear precious little discussion about this anywhere mainstream now, even on MSNBC.

[blkmusclmachine]

27. Bears repeating: "Both look moderate only by contrast with the Tea Partiers to their extreme right."