REED GALEN
In a recent New York Times op-ed, veteran Democratic strategist James Carville suggested a “daring political maneuver” for his party in response to US President Donald Trump’s shock-and-awe tactics: “roll over and play dead.” Unsurprisingly, his suggestion elicited howls of disapproval and scathing rebukes from Democrats across the spectrum. But one could argue, especially after the party’s feckless response to Trump’s joint address to Congress, that it has already taken this advice to heart.
There are several problems with such a strategy. For starters, the idea that Republicans “flat out suck at governing” is greatly exaggerated. Carville cites both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush (for whom I worked) as stumbling economically. To be sure, his critiques of Trump are accurate – namely, that his first administration accomplished little beyond tax cuts for the wealthy and 500 miles of a border wall, while his second is focused on dismantling the federal government. But Carville conveniently leaves out a key ingredient in the current mess: the Democratic Party.
Yes, Bill Clinton – the Democrat whom Carville helped elect in 1992 – got a lot done during his presidency, was re-elected by a wide margin, and left office with an astonishing 66% approval rating. But this productivity had a price: Clinton’s support for the North American Free Trade Agreement and mass incarceration, his repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act (which separated commercial and investment banking activities in the United States), and his push to normalize trade relations with China created several downstream effects. Specifically, these neoliberal policies paved the way for the 2008 financial crisis and contributed to the yawning wealth gap that has pushed so many working-class voters into the arms of Trump’s false populism, or away from politics altogether.
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