Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSenator Sherrod Brown Knows How to Save the Soul of the Democratic Party
April 9, 2020 7:00AM ET
Senator Sherrod Brown Knows How to Save the Soul of the Democratic Party
The populist Ohio senator passed on running for president. But he has a few ideas on how to deal with the coronavirus, defeat Trump, and elect Joe Biden in November
By Andy Kroll
Sherrod Brown has always defied easy categorization. A Yale graduate from a well-off family, he became a state representative in Ohio at the age of 21 and spent his free time in local union halls, absorbing the stories of auto and steelworkers. In the 1990s and 2000s, when Bill Clinton and the New Democrats preached the gospel of globalization, Brown, then a congressman, warned about the ugly consequences of free-trade deals like NAFTA jobs shipped overseas, factories abandoned, towns and cities hollowed out. During the Obama years, Brown, now in the U.S. Senate, pleaded with his party brethren not to abandon their working-class roots, only to watch Donald Trump win in 2016 with the help of the white working class on Browns home turf.
Brown, 67, is one of the last true progressive populists. He insists that Democrats should campaign through the eyes of workers and honor the dignity of work a message he used to win a decisive re-election victory in Ohio two years after Trump won the state. The pleas for him to run for president flooded in. It came on me so sudden, he recalls. I looked at who the cast of characters were, and I came from the right place with the right message and the right politics and the right history, perhaps.
But his heart wasnt in it.
snip//
And as the novel coronavirus pandemic swept the country, Brown blasted Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for the Senates sluggish response and foot-dragging in taking up the first of several major relief bills. A video of Brown tearing into McConnell received more than 1.5 million views and earned him comparisons to Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Who can say anything but this is a national crisis? Brown bellowed on the Senate floor. Were going to make our unwillingness to do anything contingent on some parliamentary trick? No.
Brown has a message for his fellow Democrats, too. If they want to win back not only the working-class voters they lost in 2016 but also mobilize the multiracial coalition they need to beat Trump, theyll need to rethink the American electorate altogether. Its a message that Brown will soon be sharing on behalf of former Vice President Joe Biden; this week, Brown voted (early) for Biden in Ohios primary and plans to help Bidens campaign later this year. Voters dont see politics as left or right, he says. This whole idea that independent voters are in the middle that theyre less liberal than Democrats and less conservative than Republicans is crap. People dont see themselves as conservative/liberal; people see themselves. And people see politicians as Whose side are you on??
What happened in that moment on the Senate floor during the coronavirus debate?
[Democratic Sen. Dick] Durbin was impatiently, for all the right reasons, saying we needed to do this tonight. A Republican stood up and gave some parliamentary sleight-of-hand reason for the delay. And so I just took off on that. Why arent we doing this? Three, four, five days of delay when people are scared, when people are angry, when people are anxious about their future? They know theyre about to lose their job or theyve already lost it. They dont know if theyre going to be able to pay their rent. They dont know whats going to happen to their sister whos not feeling well but has to choose between going to work or taking a day without pay, or even worse, cant get a test for what she thinks might be the coronavirus.
[Democratic Sen. Dick] Durbin was impatiently, for all the right reasons, saying we needed to do this tonight. A Republican stood up and gave some parliamentary sleight-of-hand reason for the delay. And so I just took off on that. Why arent we doing this? Three, four, five days of delay when people are scared, when people are angry, when people are anxious about their future? They know theyre about to lose their job or theyve already lost it. They dont know if theyre going to be able to pay their rent. They dont know whats going to happen to their sister whos not feeling well but has to choose between going to work or taking a day without pay, or even worse, cant get a test for what she thinks might be the coronavirus.
more...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/senator-sherrod-brown-trump-coronavirus-joe-biden-bernie-sanders-980439/?fbclid=IwAR1VtjjquI4LDnQEn2HLEwtXjsegwAMS7T2MVLWhFZ2lUfbOLWlCd2OnJ4k
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
7 replies, 2929 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (52)
ReplyReply to this post
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Senator Sherrod Brown Knows How to Save the Soul of the Democratic Party (Original Post)
babylonsister
Apr 2020
OP
"This...idea that independent[s]...are in the middle...[between Democrats and Republicans] is crap."
lagomorph777
Apr 2020
#5
democrank
(11,112 posts)1. Sherrod Brown is my type of leader
Campaigning through the eyes of workers is solid advice.
elleng
(131,292 posts)2. 'People don't see themselves as conservative/liberal; people see themselves.
And people see politicians as Whose side are you on??'
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)3. Hope springs eternal. K&R
beachbumbob
(9,263 posts)4. Only the VOTERS can save the soul of the Democratic party
and if we don't give 150% effort, time and money, we deserve what comes our way
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)5. "This...idea that independent[s]...are in the middle...[between Democrats and Republicans] is crap."
Many, if not most independents are left of the Democrats, or to the right of the Russiapublicans...or they simply don't have any interest in a packaged set of other peoples' beliefs. Many just need help, and they don't give a crap about ideology - ideology is a first-world luxury.
calimary
(81,565 posts)6. Bookmarking. Born to run the numbers.
Glad he's already on the Biden team.
texasfiddler
(1,993 posts)7. With Sherrod's help, Biden has a shot at Ohio