ÇWhen Joe Biden, a moderate 78-year-old white man, was sworn in as president of the United States, it was seen as just a matter of time before progressives became restless and the headlines of “Disorder Democrats” were swept away.
But, two months later, the party remains strangely united. Biden is being hailed as an unlikely radical, making comparisons to transformative presidents like Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson – his own reputation as a constant centrist, allowing him to go further and faster.
How long can the Democratic honeymoon last?
An important arbiter of this grace period is the influential figure of Nina Turner, a longtime supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders, the self-declared democratic socialist defeated by Biden in the party’s primaries last year. She believes the signs are encouraging – so far.
“He’s doing well, but let’s keep going, let’s keep pushing,” says Turner, 53, currently campaigning for the Ohio Congressional election. “We don’t have everything we need, but this is a good start. People are the star of the north, not those of us who are politicians, and their needs are great. You have 33 million people out there who need a minimum wage of $ 15 an hour. So, a good start, but we still have many kilometers to go. “
A former Ohio state senator, Turner was a national replacement for Sanders ‘presidential campaign in 2016, led his grassroots spin-off organization Our Revolution and served as national co-president of Sanders’ campaign in 2020. His own chance of getting a public office in Ohio’s 11th congressional district came after Marcia Fudge resigned to become Biden’s Housing Secretary.
Turner was endorsed by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including Jamie Raskin from Maryland. If it succeeded in the Democratic primaries in August and in the special election in November, it would consolidate its position as the party’s left-wing leader.
Ohio voted twice for Barack Obama, but twice for Donald Trump, as Republicans made gains among worker voters. Turner reflects: “When I ran for secretary of state in 2014, what I heard in rural areas of the state was that Democrats need to show that it is not just two corporate parties that people are choosing between them, that the Democratic party really understands.
“We need to go back to FDR’s roots and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s roots – this kind of service speaks to people in the great state of Ohio, whether urban, suburban or rural. I know it is because I was there at the stump by President Obama, especially in 2012. ”
Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package, including direct cash payments to millions of Americans and measures to cut child poverty by almost half, was seen as a victory for working families. But it was not a total victory: Sanders’ amendment to include raising the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour was overturned by moderate Republicans and Democrats.
Turner says: “Covid’s relief bill is certainly a good start. That $ 1.9 trillion is a big deal; I think it’s 10% of GDP. It is strong and the reason we are there is because progressives are pushing. Now we need to get that $ 15 an hour minimum wage along the finish line, because it’s the floor and not the ceiling.
“We were able to address the systemic problems that existed before the pandemic with systemic solutions and I believe that the Democratic Party can do that. And I’m going to Congress to help them along the way. “
Biden’s bold advance may soon stop, however, at the Capitol. Minority Senate Republicans can use a procedural mechanism called obstruction to block their legislative agenda on arms control, health, voting rights and more. Many on the left regard the obstruction as a relic of the Jim Crow era and are calling for its abolition so that Democrats can pass bills with a simple majority.
But Democratic senators like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema continue to support him. “They are on the wrong side of the story,” says Turner. “Senator Joe Manchin needs a pimple. People deserve to have a robust debate in both chambers and not have it banned by people who want to play with people’s lives.
“While collecting their pay from the taxpayer’s ten cents, people like Manchin and Sinema have the sheer, unadulterated boldness of preventing people from getting the resources they need. There is a moral contradiction there that must be dealt with. “
Manchin, of pro-Trump West Virginia, defended the obstruction by articulating hopes of reviving bipartisanship. Biden vowed to unify the nation, but found Republicans adamant in his opposition to the coronavirus relief bill. Turner cautions the president against overdoing it to accommodate Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
“President Obama came as the diplomat he is – ‘I want bipartisanship’ – and tried to negotiate with these Republicans. Dr. Maya Angelou said: ‘When someone shows who they are, believe them the first time.’ They’ve already shown us, Democrats, who they are and we should believe them, so I don’t want to see President Biden fall into that trap.
“It was tried and tested under President Obama: Republicans under Senator McConnell are simply not going to do it right, and therefore Democrats will have to take the reins during these two years that we have and use the power of the people on behalf of the people.
“That’s why the people gave us the presidency. That is why they responded to the appeal in Georgia and that is why they allowed Democrats to retain control of the House. Now we will have to show people something or we may have a rough wake-up call in 2022. ”
Turner, an assistant professor of history and podcast presenter, argues that opinion polls show that most Americans agree with progressives on issues ranging from the New Green Deal to canceling student debts, from raising the minimum wage until the reform of the legal system, especially for racial justice issues.
“What we are seeing coming from President Biden, even if it is not all that the progressives want, the progressives cast their luck. The American people may not consider themselves progressive, but when we dig deeper to talk to them about the problems, they are exactly where we are.
“What we are talking about is not radical. People who are out of touch are people like Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Mitch McConnell because, last I checked, there are poor people in Kentucky and there are poor people in West Virginia, just as there are poor people in Ohio who need their elected leaders to provide relief for them. That’s all we are asking for. “
In the New York Times, Ezra Klein noted that the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package closely resembles the proposals that Sanders has fought for throughout his career. “Bernie Sanders did not win the 2020 election,” he wrote. “But he may have won the result.”
Does Turner believe that, after all these years, Sanders was justified?
“Sometimes visionaries are ahead of their time and, whether popular or not, he has remained consistent and now people have achieved his vision,” she says. “The progressive movement – but America, by extension – is exactly where Senator Bernard Sanders is on these issues. We will continue to press. “
An intrigue over the next four years is whether Biden will back down – and whether Sanders will report him. Turner adds: “You can recognize someone saying that President Biden is on the right track and, at the same time, keep pushing. These things are not mutually exclusive. So, I wouldn’t say that progressives are necessarily keeping gunpowder dry; they are saying that we started well, but we have to make it better. “