“We need New Politics because our current politics isn’t working.”
— Congressman Seth Moulton
In the 1980s, Patrick Caddell, pollster for Gary Hart’s presidential campaign, parlayed the idea of a “new idea” into one of the biggest marketing blunders of the 20th century: New Coke.
Pepsi, Coke’s sweeter cola rival, had been cutting into Coke’s market share, and after some bad market research, Coke executives ordered tastes tests for a new recipe for its signature soft-drink.
Trading on his work as a political pollster, Caddell got himself hired to survey the public on changing Coke’s recipe. His polling revealed that the new recipe was a winner, and in 1985, Coke abandoned its successful product for something more like its competitor.
Consumers rebelled. Shares dropped. Publicity was plentiful, negative, and vicious. The New Coke flopped, and Coke quickly reintroduced the old recipe as Coke Classic.
If Democrats and Republicans are the Coke and Pepsi of the political world, the Seth Moulton and Friends are the team that brought us New Coke: an unwarranted product created to solve a problem that really doesn’t exist.
Check out their reasons:
- The New Leadership Letter. Change for change’s sake.
Signed by Moulton and wingman Stephen Lynch, the says that Democrats campaigned on “a message of change,” and because voters want to see “real change,” and because they “promised to change the status quo,” Democrats need to dump Nancy Pelosi.
2. The Irony-Challenged Stephen Lynch. A new direction, or else.
“We risk losing the Democratic majority in the House. We risk having Trump elected for another four years if the Democrats don’t offer a new direction for the Democratic Party.”
The ever astute Lynch signed the New Leadership letter opposing Pelosi, and his prediction was laughably off as Democrats have picked up 40 seats in the House.
3. The Legislative Excuse. Pelosi an impediment to understanding gun violence?
“We should be legislating on things like privacy and social media,” says Moulton, “We need to deal with the automated workforce and the fact that our education system isn’t set up to respond to the demands of the automated workforce. And we need people who understand the tragedies of today, like gun violence.”
Really? We need a new speaker to address privacy and social media. Pelosi doesn’t understand the “tragedies of today like gun violence.”
Congressman Tim Ryan, Pelosi’s erstwhile challenger, was as profound in his opposition as Moulton and Lynch. “We need a brand change,” he said in 2016.
Also gunning for Pelosi is/was No Labels, a group of centrist nominalists so in touch with the current Republican Party that it thinks bipartisanship is a solution to our America’s political problems and, if we could just get rid of party labels, the body politic could expel the ideological parasite within and start to heal. Centrists tend to think they lack an ideology, and motivated more by temperment than belief, they are right to a certain extent. But temperment is not vision. And the majority of the country is guided by politics.
No Labels is a rogues gallery of unpopular Democrats and the Republicans that don’t generally foam at the mouth. Nancy Jacobson (wife of Mark Penn, whom even the Clintons now dislike) is a principal of organization. Joe Lieberman is also prominent. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) are honorary co-chairs, though Manchin had quit the organization in 2014 because it endorsed Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) over Mark Udall (D-Colorado). Proving that it is indeed hip to be square, No Labels commissioned rapper Akon to pen the No Label’s Anthem, which includes the immortal lines:
I wish they didn’t have no labels
There’d be more change with no labels
If New Coke is any guide to the Great Centrist Insurrection of 2018, we can expect a quick flameout. The Democratic Party will not party like it’s 1995 nor will the electorate. It’s a new century and a new world. And compromise means doing what the Republicans want, regardless of rules or fairness.
You, sir, win the Internet today.
It’s not surprising that the Globe Editorialists are on Moulton’s side. They may not have invented New Coke, but they have continued to drink it (probably through a straw) all these years.
They quote Moulton as having always been about transition plans for the Democratic caucus:
The Globe even offers evidence: the recent letter from the Sweet Sixteen of Moderates, which came out less than two weeks ago. Tim Ryan challenged Pelosi TWO YEARS AGO.
This is pretty funny when you realize that Nancy Pelosi says that, as a young Representative, she never once stepped foot into the office of the Speaker until the very day she walked in AS the Speaker. When she was first elected to the house, among only a handful of women (from both parties), she was frozen out of committee assignments and when she did get on the committees and started trying to push legislation she was told to ‘write a list of what you women want’ and the (male) leadership will ‘try to get it done for you.’ Heh.
She’s also fond of the saying, which may as well be called Pelosi’s first law of politics: “Nobody gives you power. You have to take it.”
Nobody trained her to do the job she’s doing. Nobody made “meaningful plan’ for a transition with her. In fact, there were many and more roadblocks and obstacles the younger Pelosi had to face than anyone — including the young Moulton — which makes her position, and the job she’s doing even more extraordinary.
I’m am cursed with a memory. I remember the opposition of many progressives in 2014 who felt 12 years of the same Democratic House leadership was a losing formula for retaking the House. I remember Democratic activists in 2016 and ’17, led by Bernie Sanders supporters, who complained about the 14 years of status quo House Democratic leadership that had to go.
That’s why I’m baffled at the “Nancy is the greatest thing since sliced bread” cries that I’m hearing after now, after 16 years of having the same two people lead the House Democrats? It is frightening to watch smart people just follow the talking point of the day. On the right you have people kowtowing to a bully conman. And on the left, when the establishment left flexes their muscle, the grassroots suddenly change their opinion. Fascinating and concerning.
I’m not sure if you’re confusing Moulton’s rebellion with the Left or the fact that some of the Left is signing on with Pelosi, but the insurgency was and is the work of centrists, not the Left.
A lot of Bernie’s support was more light than heat. People were genuinely motivated, but they weren’t necessarily well-focused. Nor was their understanding of Party particularly nuanced.
House speakers may have less authority than people think. Pelosi hasn’t been holding back progressives nor could she.
And Progressives will wield a lot of power.
I’ve spent most of my life on the left of most issues. I, too, remember the voices who attacked Ms. Pelosi during 2016 and and 2017. My recollection is that a great many of them were the same voices who viciously attacked our nominee, and often for the same usually incorrect reasons. I enthusiastically supported Ms. Pelosi then, just as I enthusiastically supported our nominee. When I asked the attackers of Ms. Pelosi in 2016 who they would prefer I heard the same silence then that I hear now.
I think it’s a mistake to think that “the grassroots” have suddenly changed their opinion. I think we see media-driven horse-race political coverage looking for attention and clicks.
I do think that one of the things that comes along with the influx of new Democratic voters that made the 2018 election cycle so enjoyable is an increase in naivete as those new voters (and in some cases the representatives they’ve elected) learn just how hard actual governing really is.
It’s one thing to demand single-payer now, or impeachment now, or dissolve the ICE now or similar things during a campaign. It’s something else again to turn those demands into actionable policies and proposals.
Her appeal does ebb and flow with the fortunes of the party. My own attitude this year was that if Dems retake the House she should get another shot as Speaker, but if not, time to try something else. Therefore, since we retook the House I support her candidacy for Speaker.
Pogo, are you sure about your cursed memory? I remember the Sandernistas going after the national DNC establishment, such as Wasserman-Schultz, but not Pelosi.
I’m curious about this so if you can find some links I’d be interested. I couldn’t find anything like what you said.
I will own up to this: I really did not like her the first time she was elected to lead the party in the House. I thought she was just another pol and a weak one with poor messaging skills. I found her grating.
But I changed my mind when she started to deliver, on stimulus funds and on health care, and later on protecting Social Security.
There are plenty of Democrats who could not have done that, and some third-way problem solvers (Like Moulton I suspect) who wouldn’t have.
I’m relying on my personal memories about the Dem activists (including Sanders supporters) regarding their distain for Pelosi. From personal conversations, social media posts and public/Democratic forums when people spoke out. My current FB feed is filled with Sanders supporters lamenting that the Pelosi challenged is coming from the “right” and not the “left” of the party.
And I really question this claim that only Pelosi could take Democratic Majority in Congress to pass Obamacare and the Stimulus package. That’s what happens when your party has a majority, you pass the legislation you like. Is Paul Ryan another “legislative giant” like Pelosi is being propped up to be, because he passed 71 repeals of Obamacare (with the last one really mattering) or for passing the corporate tax cut? I don;t think so, they both had the majority on their side.
Not sure what your referring to with regards to SS…if your referring to Bush’s talk about privatization, it was only talk to my recollection…never any bill or vote taken. Sure Pelosi was a strong voice among many voices that opposed privatization, but frankly that’s in the job description and I don’t consider that ability to fulfill you basic duties, like speaking out about crazy ideas from opponents, to be a reason to praise someone, they’re just doing their job. Frankly that bipartisan kicking the SS can down the road is one of the reasons I generally support new leadership in government in general. Pelosi has shown no tendencies to do anything but continue the bipartisan nastiness that is driving this democracy downward into the gutter.
“How about never? Is never good for you?”
Hypothetically, I might support a challenge from the left if there were a genuine one from a qualified candidate. Does that make me a hypocrite?
As things stand right now, the left is represented by Pelosi.
Now that you asked, Pelosi earned herself a Bernie supporter as a primary opponent. This article will remind Bernie supporters about some of Pelosi’s more insulting thoughts about their views.
Your link shows just how wrong about Pelosi the Berners were.
Thanks!
Really the attack of the straw men. At least to this Bernie supporter.
As noted previously, Pelosi stood firm on Social Security in the face of a very great deal of pressure from all sides inside the party, outside the party from the media and a full court press from the opposition.. Doing something, anything, making busywork or flapping your arms in appearance of effort is almost always easier than standing firm on what is right.
I used to tolerate Nancy Pelosi, not thinking much of her but reflexively defending her against attacks from the right, purely on the theory that the right has become nothing but a bunch of lying ratf**king bullies. But she’s proven, again and again, just how tough she is. And the more I learn about her, however late I’ve come to the study, the more I respect her.
Indeed, the more I learn about Pelosi, the more I like her as a Speaker. Social Security is vitally important to the people I care about, and she led so strongly on that that she scared the Republicans into giving up on their core belief (privatizing Social Security.) The PPACA also has turned out to be better and better, and her leadership got it through the House.
Pelosi delivers progressive results.
Moulton’s ego lately has made him look like the Black Knight in The Holy Grail.
If Pelosi had not saved Social Security from con privatization, I’d be homeless and destitute today. I always go home with the one who brought me to the dance.
If Pelosi had not saved Obamacare, as a cancer survivor, I’d be bankrupt, homeless and dead. I always go home with the one that brought me to the dance.
Pelosi is Leader of the ‘Accomplishment Wing ‘ of the Democratic Party.
And the next generation becomes clear and it is diversity:
Assistant Leader Ben Ray Lujan (NM)
Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (NY)
Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark (MA!)
We need to keep an eye on Hakeem Jeffries. He has significant financial backing from the plutocrats behind 2016’s Yes On 2, and when you let charter schools run rampant, you risk corruption as well as re-segregation of public schools.
Berners HATE Hakeem Jeffries.
Yet another reason to like him!
Hakeem Jeffries is a very powerful, charismatic and articulate spokesperson for the Democratic progressive agenda.
Not sure who you are referring to as “Berners” or why they HATE Jeffries. Could you be more specific?
As Joel points out, Jeffries is a BIG charter school proponent. That places him in the neo-liberal wing of the Democratic Party. He could redeem himself, but it means he’s hanging around with the wrong crowd. Neo-liberalism is a disease that was particularly virulent when Jeffries and I came of age politically. It doesn’t have to be fatal, but it must be treated, if not cured.
Oh, I see, Thanks. I agree with your comment about neoliberalism, in fact, it’s one of the best I’ve seen. I hope you don’t mind if I borrow it?
Yeah, charter schools….I’ve written our local school board and asked what, if any, innovations or improvements have been developed at our town’s charter school that have been transferred and implemented to improve our public school (which was the original intent of charter schools). I received a message inviting me to tour the school and learn more about it….in other words, there have been none.
It’s all yours!
This whole post has reminded me of something C.S. Lewis once wrote, in The Screwtape Letters, speaking from the point of view of demon giving advice to another demon on how best to draw humans from the Light: “The horror of the Same Old Thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart — an endless source of heresies in religion, folly in counsel, infidelity in marriage, and inconstancy in friendship.”
Guess, we can fold ‘New Coke,’ Bernie Sanders and Seth Moulton into this horror of the Same Old Thing…
Another example is the way we have “improved” the original Mac user interface (from 1984) into today’s rubbish. All of the players are guilty, and the outcome is MUCH worse by any objective measure. There are objective measures, by the way, although we’ve discarded those as well in our mindless pursuit of a replacement for “the Same Old thing”.
Lynch flips for Speaker nominee Pelosi : “I believe Leader Pelosi understands not only the job that needs to be done but also how to bring disparate voices in our party together to make good things happen for the people we represent. I’m happy to be supporting her and look forward to the upcoming session.”
I hope Moulton rights his own ship soon. He would be a real loss for the Democratic Party. He is a war hero, is extremely knowledgeable about foreign policy, and should not be easily cast aside. That being said, I hope he will demonstrate political skills in managing a political blunder. I think he will.
We talk about “entering the arena”. He has done that. I join with the majority on this blog in seeing it as a real mistake that will not be easily forgotten, but politics has a deep well of regeneration. Holy in for those who persist. We need to stay a big tent party to form an extended governing majority.
As far as I’m concerned, Mr. Moulton has simply confirmed the low opinion I’ve had of him all along. I think he’s an alleged Democrat cast in the Scott Brown mold. I’ve had more than enough “war hero” politicians, and more than enough politicians who smear self-serving amoral cynicism with the lipstick of “foreign policy knowledge”. Seth Moulton epitomizes, for me, the kind of politician I want our party to walk away from.
After Afghanistan, Iraq-2, and whatever we call what we’re doing against ISIS, isn’t it about time we seek a peace hero?
Leader Pelosi secures support of 7 members of rebel faction including Moulton and Ryan by agreeing to step down in 4 years.
“I see myself as a bridge to the next generation of leadership” Speaker nominee Nancy Pelosi