A Better Strategy Is Needed to Defend Democrats from Right Wing Attacks
September 17, 2015
Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi
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The Democratic base, the so-called Obama coalition—women, college students, the poor, people of color[i], and Democratic leaders--like President Barak Obama and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, is under attack by the right. Progressive groups, such as Progressive Change Campaign Committee, MoveOn, and Daily Kos are the groups most engaged in responding to these attacks. Nonetheless, they do not seem to fully understand that the entire Democratic base is under attack.
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Women are under attack through the services that they require. Conservatives, like Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, and John Kasich, have attacked Planned Parenthood because they claim it is primarily an abortion provider. Progressives have responded to conservative attacks on Planned Parenthood by citing facts about the amount of its budget spent on abortions (only about 3 percent) compared to the other health services provided to women, the importance its health services for women, and the number of investigations finding no wrong doing by Planned Parenthood. This approach has not enlightened the right wing opponents of Planned Parenthood nor diminished the ferocity of their attacks.
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Progressives have assumed that the attacks are due to a misunderstanding of what Planned Parenthood does and attempted to provide more information about the group. A more incisive analysis of why the right wing is attacking Planned Parenthood might begin by considering why the right wing has also fiercely attacked college students, health care for the poor (in the guise of the Affordable Care Act), and a front-running Democratic Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. Then, Progressives might be able to develop a plan to respond to conservative attacks. Education alone will not be able counteract conservative attacks.
The right wing attack against college students has taken two forms, according to Sophia A. McClennen. First, the right wing has cut public funding for education. As public funding has declined, for-profit educational institutions have increased and students who attend these institutions have had to increase their borrowing to attend these institutions. In addition, even students attending public educational institutions have seen their tuitions rise as the quality of their education decreases because of shortfalls in educational funding. Second, as right wing attacks have ended the use of race and ethnicity in admissions requirements, the most elite colleges and universities are becoming whiter, while the country is becoming less white. |
The Academical Village at U.Va.
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The right wing attacks on the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) have had several prongs, including the cost of the program, the redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the (undeserving) poor, loss of jobs, diminishment of health care quality, increased health care costs, and irreparable harm to the economy. Progressives responded to some of these attacks, especially cost issues, by claiming costs would be reduced and citing the Congressional Budget Office estimates of savings. Other attacks (quality of health care) were met by stating the provision of health care for all (read especially the poor) was societal good. The attacks on job loss and damage done to the economy were by and large not answered. The right wing did not believe these facts and the resoluteness of the Republican attacks persuaded some middle-of-the road voters. Progressives should have instead confronted those attacks by pointing out they were directed at the poor and rather than attempting to disprove the charges.
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Finally, the right wing has launched yet another attack on Hillary Clinton, the front runner for the Democratic nomination for President. This attack has focused on Mrs. Clinton’s email usage when she was Secretary of State. There has been no evidence of law breaking and no example of any harm done by the way in which Mrs. Clinton used email. Nonetheless, the network of right wing commentators and media outlets have pursued a policy of misstatements, lies, and innuendos to claim Mrs. Clinton’s email usage was a crime or in some way nefarious. Progressives who, by and large, support Senator Bernie Sanders, seem to believe the attack on Mrs. Clinton is a singular, one-of-a-kind attack. Progressives do not seem to understand or accept the right wing attack will target Senator Sanders, if he starts to appear as the likely Democratic nominee.
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www.nationofchange.org
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The common thread among these four attacks (Planned Parenthood, education, The Affordable Care Act, and Hillary Clinton’s candidacy) by the right wing is they all target Democrats because they are Democrats and the approach suits the Republican base. Progressives should provide a more accurate diagnosis of the purpose of these attacks. This is the first step in persuading those who are not already committed to the progressive movement to reject these attacks and the Conservative attackers. Conservatives know the facts about Planned Parenthood and the other Democratic groups they are attacking; their knowledge of these groups is the premise of these attacks. If progressives want to advance their positions, they need to take actions in addition to providing education.
Progressives’ self-defeating behavior arises from an unwillingness to adequately diagnose the purpose of right wing attacks and to acknowledge that changing the political landscape will require more willingness to confront the right wing directly. Providing facts has never stopped political parties or marauding armies for rewarding friends and punishing enemies. |
[1] The voting rights of people of color are under attack and will be discussed in a later article