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Ahead of President Joe Bidens 100-day mark, the FDR comparisons abound. Jonathan Alter, author of a book on Franklin Delano Roosevelts own first hundred days, called Biden FDRs heir in a New York Times op-ed. David Gergen, former adviser to Republican and Democratic presidents alike, said the 46th president bears some important similarities to the 32nd. During the election campaign, Bidens aides even told New York magazine their candidate was planning an FDR-size presidency.

But thats not the whole picture. Even Gergen conceded that Biden is no Roosevelt not yet, at least. Whether he actually lives up to that mantle will depend not just on how well Biden leads but on how well he listens to the voices urging him toward a more progressive future.

Just by the numbers, Biden hasnt matched FDRs opening intensity. Roosevelt pushed 15 major bills through Congress in a frenzy of activity between March and June 1933. Since January, Biden has passed, well, one. Dont get me wrong: The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan is the most ambitious and progressive legislation of my lifetime. Who would have imagined Biden would try to emulate Roosevelt or Lyndon B. Johnson in his first three months?

More important than the quantity of bills passed, though, is the quality. Both of those Democratic presidents delivered lasting institutional change think Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. Biden has yet to be able to say the same.

So lets look beyond the first 100 days. Biden could still emulate FDR in another crucial way. It is said that a group of civil rights activists and labor leaders, including A. Philip Randolph, once met with Roosevelt prior to the start of World War II to insist he use the power of the presidency to take action against discrimination in the workplace. Youve convinced me, FDR responded, having listened to them lay out their demands. Now go out and make me do it.

The story is almost certainly apocryphal (though, to be fair, singer Harry Belafonte claimed to have heard a version of it from Eleanor Roosevelt herself.) True or not, the point of the story is clear: Politicians inside the system need allies outside of it; outsiders willing to publicly pressure them and, on occasion, provide cover for bold, outside-the-box moves. To quote essayist Ta-Nehisi Coates: Politicians respond to only one thing power. This is not the flaw of democracy, its the entire point. Its the job of activists to generate, and apply, enough pressure on the system to affect change.

Some on the left have argued the story of FDRs response to Randolph has been misinterpreted because "politicians, as a rule, do not like being pressured by movements they cannot control and often lash out at those who demand that they take more principled or politically risky stands," as Dissent put it.

This was definitely how Biden behaved, at times, during the Democratic primaries. He never pretended to be at the head of a transformational movement, a la his former boss, Barack Obama. He didnt enter office backed by a loyal cult, as his predecessor, Donald Trump, did.

Yet he and his administration have spent these first 100 days embracing the progressive wing of his party, along with labor unions, youth groups, climate campaigners and sundry activists. Progressives say theyre being included, heard and respected by the Biden White House, Politico reported in February.

Compare and contrast this outreach with the Obama era, in which White House press secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed people on the professional left who ought to be drug-tested, and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel denounced liberal activists as "f---ing retarded.

Biden, on the other hand, proudly invoked Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders support for the American Rescue Plan in the immediate aftermath of its passage through the Senate. His chief of staff, Ronald Klain, has been dubbed the left whisperer, having become a point of rapid response for many on the left who are angling to get within earshot of the president, The Daily Beast wrote.

Real access has been matched by real impact. Does anyone really believe the Biden who launched his presidential campaign in 2019 looking for a middle ground on climate issues would have committed to cutting U.S. carbon emissions in half by 2030 without pressure from groups like the Sunrise Movement?

During the Democratic primaries, the youth-led environmental group gave Bidens climate plan an F. Since Bidens inauguration, however, the group has been pushing at an open door in the White House. I feel like were getting a little bit spoiled for future presidents, Varshini Prakash, the movements co-founder, told the Washington Post in April. I think its pretty wild that theres a [White House] chief of staff who you can email who actually gets back to you.

Outside pressure works in myriad ways. Not only have activists pushed the centrist Biden toward more progressive goals on everything from the climate to infrastructure, they have also forced the administration to change course on certain issues, often reversing bad decisions or policies in the process.

On March 7, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told CNN the presidents preference is not to end the filibuster. He wants to work with Republicans, to work with independents. One week later, Klain told me Biden believes if we could leave the filibuster in place, thats what he prefers.

The Biden administration has proved itself to be open to outside pressure and willing to do, or at least seem to be doing, the right thing.

Yet just two days after that, with a growing chorus of voices in Congress as well as progressive activists in groups like Indivisible demanding action on the filibuster, Biden himself was telling ABC News he was actually in favor of reform and suggesting the re-introduction of the so-called talking filibuster: That's what it was supposed to be.

By the following week, people close to Biden were telling Axios the president is fully prepared to support the dashing of the Senates filibuster rule to allow Democrats to pass voting rights and other trophy legislation for his party. Why? He loves the growing narrative that hes bolder and bigger-thinking than President Obama, per Axios.

Another example: Around noon on April 16, the Biden administration revealed that it planned on sticking to the historically low refugee cap of 15,000 set by the Trump administration, breaking an earlier pledge to increase it. Within hours, and in the wake of a backlash from liberals, the White House had backed down, with press secretary Jen Psaki announcing the president would set a final, increased refugee cap for the remainder of this fiscal year by May 15.

The about-face on Friday came after the initial White House decision was panned by Democrats, refugee advocates and human rights groups, NPR reported, which also referenced a letter to Biden signed by more than 35 progressive lawmakers that called the proposed refugee cap unacceptably draconian and discriminatory.

Last week, there was radio silence from the administration on the Covid-19 crisis in India, as both cases and deaths exploded in the worlds biggest democracy. Then, an outcry on Twitter plus loud interventions from prominent public health experts were followed by the national security adviser and the secretary of state issuing statements on a Saturday, the White House outlining a plan of action to help India on Sunday and a decision to release 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the rest of the world on Monday.

See? Pressure works.

This is a million miles away from a Trump administration that treated climate activists and labor organizers as the enemy. The Biden administration has proved itself to be open to outside pressure and willing to do, or at least seem to be doing, the right thing.

Criticism and questioning from the left is very fair, a White House official volunteered to me recently. We must be bold and also bring everyone along.

Remember the words of Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck: "Politics is the art of the possible." Medicare for All? Canceling student debt? Legalizing marijuana? None of it is impossible under a Biden presidency. None of it is out of bounds with an administration that is willing to engage with, and be lobbied by, the left.

It wont be easy. And there is much work to be done. But what these first 100 days of President Biden have taught us is that there is no need for despondency or defeatism. To quote political organizer Jonathan Smucker: When you say, They'll never do anything for us, what you're really saying is, Our movements are too weak to make them deliver.

So the 100-day message for progressive activists, organizers and movements in the Biden era?

Make. Him. Do. It.

Read more from the original source:
Joe Biden is no FDR but if he keeps listening to progressives, he could be - MSNBC

To the editor:

First, I want to thank you. Over the few years I have been here, you have graciously printed a number of my opinions and have rejected a number of others, and that is not only fair but your right to do so.

When I am frustrated, I have to write to the one paper that at least reaches some in our area, if not the rest of the state, feeling I have tried to do my part in addressing things that I feel are important to our country as a whole.

That is why I recently wrote a letter comparing the McCarthy era to now, and how the word racist instead of communist is ruining lives today.

I have often written that racism is a cancer, and it has no place in any society. However, today, racism is being used in a hateful way, fostering more division and hate and destroying what Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned.

I believe everyone should recognize what the BLM organization is doing and fight it before it destroys any resemblance of civility and fosters a divide that will be difficult to repair.

Its curriculum of critical race theory is now finding its way into many states and schools throughout the country. That, together with BLMs 1619 project, is fostering beliefs that are damaging to all children regardless of their race.

They, along with politicians, are finding racism in everything. Even climate change that the progressives are pushing are linking it to racial injustice. Nothing it seems is off the table.

Finally, when I read in the paper about the diversity program being implemented, the word that is frightening is equity. I keep asking what does that mean.

Well, yesterday I received an answer. Virginia is using the term critical practical theory to change its math curriculum. There no longer will be advance math classes until the 11th grade, and everyone will be in the same class, following along with a curriculum that everyone will be able to keep pace with.

This is also springing up in other schools.It may be too slow for many, but it is aimed at kids who have experienced greater success in the past, many believe primarily white and Asian.

However, I believe that is a misnomer. American students who are Black have experienced great success in math. As an example, I refer to the movie Stand by Me, which is about a teacher who taught calculus to kids in New York City.

They were very successful, so this theory that young kids who are Black cant learn math as well as others is insulting and untrue. This method will hamper all those who have exceptional skills in math regardless of their race.

Telling children who are Black that they cant learn math as well as others is not only harmful, but it fosters a belief of inferiority.

Ed Wagner

Spring Hill

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Letter to the Editor: Progressives' efforts to curb racism instead make it worse - williamsonherald.com

In one of his final acts as a member of Congress, Richmond backed Carter, who also nabbed endorsements from House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.). Peterson was backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), former Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams, EMILYs List and activist Gary Chambers Jr., who came in third place in the March primary.

Carter took the first slot with 36 percent in that race, followed by Peterson with 23 percent.

He notably embraced support from prominent Louisiana Republicans and may have drawn some GOP voters out because they have no candidate of their own in the runoff. Peterson and her allies hit Carter for courting Republican voters and emphasized her liberal bona fides. She supports the Green New Deal and a $15 minimum wage.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, the independent expenditure arm of EMILYs List and and the League of Conservation Voters have spent a combined $1.3 million to boost Peterson on the air. But Carter had outraised his opponent as of early April.

A loss by Peterson is a setback for the progressive movement, which is readying for a show of force in the 2021 special elections.

New Mexico Democrats selected as their candidate for a June special election state Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a slightly more moderate choice than her leading opponent. Now the next best shot for the left to grow its ranks is in an August primary election in Ohio where Nina Turner, a former presidential campaign co-chair for Bernie Sanders, faces Cuyahoga County Democratic Party leader Shontel Brown.

Still, Carters arrival in Congress is good news for all House Democrats because it eases concerns over their razor-thin majority. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will now have three votes to spare as she looks to achieve major policy initiatives.

Read more:
Troy Carter wins Louisiana special election in blow to progressives - POLITICO

Its April 27, 2021 and welcome to First 100. You can sign up to have First 100 delivered to your email by clicking here.

This week is that time in the presidential term where everyone decides to assess a new presidents performance, using the mile marker of the first 100 days. (Some media wags even design an entire newsletter around that somewhat arbitrary figure.) But well before we hit day 100, a narrative had set in on the center-left.

This is a popular, transformative president, the narrative goes, doing bold yet popular things, proving that good policy is good politics. Certainly, the president is popular, or as popular as a president can be in a completely polarized age. His job approval in several polls hovers a couple points above his share of the two-party vote in 2020. His policy prioritiesthe infrastructure package, the American Rescue Planare even more popular, allowing the administration to redefine bipartisanship as promoting policy preferred by Republican and Democratic voters, if not their representatives in Congress. The vaccine rollout has been a success (even if its slowing now), and if nothing else was accomplished that would be a signature achievement.

And yet theres another way to look at this first 100 days of the Biden era: one where the administration has to be dragged to that place of transformation, pulled forward not just by the progressive movement but from across the spectrum of the Democratic Party. You can read this as good or bad depending on your perspective: maybe its bad that the Biden administrations instincts are smaller than the moment requires, or maybe its good that the partys instincts are biggerand that the Biden team is listening to them.

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To be sure, Biden has put forward several laudable policies: leaving Afghanistan without preconditions, rejoining the Paris agreement, and just today, raising the minimum wage for federal contractor employees to $15 an hour. He has delivered on a number of campaign promises and on one big meta-policymeeting the required level of ambition and rejecting naysayers who tried to use deficits and inflation to trim his sailshe potentially provided a lasting blueprint for Democrats. But lets look at several other issues that have transpired over the past few days:

In response to the tragic outbreak of COVID-19 in India, Bidens team ignored calls for help for several days. Finally, national security adviser Jake Sullivan ended the export ban on raw materials for vaccines. Then, after weeks of prodding, Biden decided to share with India and the world dormant AstraZeneca vaccines that had been sitting in a warehouse in Baltimore.

The administration set a deadline of March 15 for an emergency temporary workplace standard for COVID-19, then shot past that date and at one point even put the rule on hold. After pushing from Senate Democrats and labor unions, finally yesterday the Department of Labor advanced the temporary standard through the regulatory process, which means its still not active until after the Office of Management and Budget signs off.

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After initially leaving out changes to health care in the American Families Plan, which will be announced in Wednesdays speech to a joint session of Congress, the administration took a ton of heat from all factions of the party, and it finally decided to include $200 billion to extend increased subsidies for the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges (which were added for two years in the American Rescue Plan). This has not stopped the lobbying, as over 80 House Democrats spanning the ideological divide from AOC to Conor Lamb are pushing to lower the Medicare eligibility age and allow prescription drug price negotiation in Medicare, the latter a cost-reducing policy that Bidens team has still left out.

The Biden teams greatest legislative accomplishment, the expanded and advanced child tax credit in the American Rescue Plan, only lasts for one year. Democrats pressured Biden to make that permanent, but he rejected that, citing the high cost, and instead will reportedly only extend it to 2025 in tomorrows announcement. Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, has deviated from that script, today introducing a family care bill that makes the CTC permanent.

The Biden team needed only to sign a piece of paper to increase the refugee cap and allow tens of thousands of migrants in deplorable conditions to settle in the United States. Biden promised to do it and briefed Congress, then changed his mind (reportedly it was his decision) and left the refugees stuck on the tarmack. After tremendous pushback from all corners of the party, Biden relentedbut only to say that he would set a new refugee cap by May 15.

And I havent gotten into student debt cancellation, or marijuana legalization, or whats going on with the Yemen war, or more.

This is a defined trend, and Im willing to spell it out, even if it doesnt get me onto calls with Ron Klain. On a number of key areas, Bidens team has not been the one with the boundless ambition. Theyve reneged or stayed silent on a number of items, only moving when enough pressure has been created by the political system to make inaction impossible. And often those reluctant moves are half-steps: raw materials and AstraZeneca vaccines but no IP waiver on vaccine patents, or ACA exchange subsidies but no drug price reform, or so on. Even on the minimum wage increase for federal contractors, theres much more that can be done, as weve outlined in our Executive Action Tracker. Biden can ban contractors from forced employee arbitration agreements; he can require them to maintain neutrality in union organizing; he can mandate replacement contractors to rehire the previous firms workers. None of this has been done.

As were moving into an uncertain area on legislative policy, this is problematic. Joe Manchin wants the infrastructure package whittled down to next to nothing with the participation of Republicans. As his vote is critical, theres simply no guarantee that anything monumental will come of the infrastructure bill; the return of earmarks might spur cooperation, or it might not. Manchin also refuses to budge on the filibuster and thinks voting rights changes have to be done in common cause with a party thats actively moving to suppress the vote across the country. There are some bipartisan gangs circling one another on China policy and criminal justice, but again success is not ensured.

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Therefore, executive action and implementation is fast becoming the only remaining path by which change can happen, and the executive branch is, in many key areas lets say reluctant. I mentioned the Executive Action Tracker, and its 77 discrete agenda items. Bidens accomplished 7, and gets partial credit for another 5. Thats not good enough, leaving on the table a host of policies on climate, health care, financial regulation, conservation, consumer protection, and much more. Implementation of grants for arts venues was delayed four months and only restarted yesterday; implementation of rental assistance for desperate tenants is just as bad. Immigration policy is thus far a trail of broken promises.

The first 100 days have been successful, but by definition they are incomplete. The legislative window is rapidly closing thanks to recalcitrant Senators in a narrow majority, and that which Biden has control over, his executive authority, has established a defined trend of doing too little and being pushed to do more.

Again, theres a positive quality to this: the progressive movement really is at the table. It has a voice to move policy, though not always 100 percent. We might wish for Biden to get it right the first time, but the game of trial balloons and external pressure is common. Obama typically didnt listen, or took much more time to come around. Biden has improved on this. But for this presidency to reach transformative levels, advocates are just going to have to keep working. The president will not do it by himself.

Day 98.

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First 100: Biden Has Been Pushed to Deliver by Progressives and Advocates - The American Prospect

Ellison, a prominent ally of Bernie Sanders during both of the Vermont senators presidential bids, has received accolades from both flanks of the Democratic Party for his role in Chauvins trial. Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress and a longtime critic of Sanders, tweeted that she is so grateful that Ellison was in charge of the case. Progressives such as Justice Democrats spokesperson Waleed Shahid praised his leadership. Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, also singled out Ellison for his role.

He is a living example of how the states top law enforcement should not only react to a crime, but also assemble the evidence and facts, said Donna Brazile, the former chair of the DNC. He has been phenomenal. Theres no other way to describe it. He filled a void. He provided steady leadership.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced last May that Ellison would be at the helm of prosecuting Chauvin a decision that came in the wake of Floyds family members, activists and lawmakers voicing concerns about the local prosecutor who had been leading the case until then.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman had been managing it and would have been in charge of the prosecution, but that changed after 10 state representatives sent a letter to Walz saying they and particularly their Black constituents no longer trusted Freemans ability to impartially investigate and prosecute the case.

Ellison, on the other hand, was a more natural fit. A former state legislator, he was Minnesotas first Black member of Congress and the first-ever Muslim elected to Congress, where he represented a Minneapolis-based district for over a decade. Early in his career, he worked for 16 years in civil rights law five of them as the head of the Legal Rights Center, a Minnesota firm that promotes racial and social justice. As a law school student, he led a protest against police brutality and the failure to charge transgressing officers in Minneapolis. He also has been singled out by cops in his own life, he said, because he is Black.

He was the right person for this moment. Him and his team, they changed the course of history, said Nina Turner, Sanders former campaign co-chair who worked with Ellison during the senators presidential bids. Hes very down-to-earth, very committed, very focused but also warm. With all of his intellect and skills that he has, he is a Black man in America and he understood from lived experiences the historic import, too.

In an interview, Jackson called Ellison tough and said he has the capacity to relate to all people, and give them a comfort level.

Yet Ellisons record has also attracted criticism. Minneapolis Police Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the local Police Officers Federation, said in 2018 when Ellison was running for attorney general that Keith Ellison has a long history, and its a negative history, with the Minneapolis Police Department I dont wholeheartedly believe that [he respects law enforcement]. I think hes got a different agenda that, quite frankly, is anti-law enforcement.

The same year, Ellisons ex-girlfriend posted allegations of domestic abuse on social media. He denied the allegations, which came near the height of the #MeToo movement and nearly derailed his campaign. Ellison defeated his GOP opponent, Doug Wardlow, by 4 percentage points in 2018, the smallest margin of any statewide Democrat on the ballot that year.

Ellisons reputation as an unabashed progressive was highlighted when he ran for DNC chair in 2017 he was endorsed by Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He ultimately lost the race, a blow to the liberal wing of the Democratic Party as a whole.

Despite Ellisons 2018 victory and current momentum, his future political options are somewhat limited. Walz, a Democrat, is in his first term after winning by 11 points in 2018 and has broken fundraising records in advance of the 2022 gubernatorial election. And given the hits the governor has taken from progressives over his handling of criminal justice, Ellison actually did Walz a favor by securing the conviction of Chauvin.

Minnesotas senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, are also incumbent Democrats and by Senate standards, fairly young.

A spokesperson for Ellison declined to comment for this story.

He can become a transformative figure, and I think he has the capacity for many great things, said James Zogby, a DNC member who served with Ellison on the national partys platform drafting committee in 2016, Hed be a great senator, a great governor whatever Keith Ellison feels hes ready to do, hell be good at it.

Even if opportunities to advance his career are limited in the near-term, the rise of Black Lives Matter and the widespread belief that the countrys criminal justice system is flawed has elevated the role of attorneys general and district attorneys, giving Ellison a national platform going forward.

The best use of [Ellisons] talent is right where he is right now, said Turner, though she added that doesnt mean he wont go other places.

Next year, Ellison is up for reelection as attorney general. Wardlow, a former state representative whos been working as general counsel for MyPillow, the bedding company owned by Donald Trump ally Mike Lindell, announced in February he is running again.

On Tuesday, Ellison said he would not call the verdict in Chauvins case justice.

Because justice implies true restoration, he said. But it is accountability, which is the first step towards justice. And now the cause of justice is in your hands. And when I say your hands, I mean the hands of the people of the United States.

Link:
Progressives swoon over Ellison role in Chauvin trial - POLITICO