But they were not as foolish as he makes them sound. Although Obama frequently espoused corporate views, he also took markedly left-ish positions on issues that ranged from negotiations with Iran to a tax on higher-cost health care plans (which he opposed in his campaigns but later insisted on including in the Affordable Care Act).
Candidate Obama may have been a hologram, in which what you saw depended in large part on where you stood. But he did not openly express a corporatist, Clintonian agenda. In fact, he carefully positioned himself to Hillary Clinton's left, probably because he more accurately sensed the mood of the electorate. And he did so often enough to make several campaign promises, which were conspicuously broken once he was in office.
That renders Reed's contemptuous dismissal of his supporters -- and Sen. Clinton's, for that matter -- overly harsh and caricaturish. Identification with political candidates is a form of idealism. It seems wiser to try channeling that idealism than it does to mock it.
Signs of Life
Just as liberals aren't unremittingly gullible, things today aren't unremittingly grim. While neoliberalism may be ascendant, there are also signs of a nascent but potentially vibrant left. A case in point: As Moyers noted in his questioning, grassroots activism for more than 500 organizations threw a monkey wrench into Obama's plans to "fast track" the Trans-Pacific Partnership through Congress.
Here's another: The minimum wage, which had languished in the political process for years, was given renewed energy after fast food workers rose up to demand it. That attracted both institutional and rhetorical support and gave this critical issue new momentum. Local organizing has led to minimum-wage increases in a number of states and to a dramatic $15 minimum wage initiative in SeaTac, Washington.
And here are a few more: Effective organizing around the issue of Social Security has shifted the Beltway dialogue away from a "bipartisan" consensus bent on cutting the program and toward proposals for expanding its benefits. Occupy Wall Street, despite its sudden (and never fully explained) implosion, shifted the national debate in a matter of weeks.
What's more, despite all the media talk to the contrary, public opinion supports the left on a number of key issues: Most Americans support higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Sixty-nine percent believe the government has a role to play in reducing the gap between the rich and everybody else. Nearly three out of four supports a significant increase to the minimum wage. Seventy-seven percent support hiring people to make urgently needed infrastructure repairs. In many ways we live in a surprisingly populist country. (See PopulistMajority.org for more.)
Continued populist dissatisfaction is shifting the political debate, despite our elected officials' best attempts to insulate themselves from public opinion. Even Republican Rep. David Camp (R-Mich.), who issued a tax proposal this week, was forced to pretend that he had proposed a surtax on wealthy individuals. (It was really a tax cut, of course, but it's telling that he felt he needed to leave a different impression.)
It will be argued that this is only rhetoric, while the policy remains unchanged. That's true. But it suggests a change in the zeitgeist -- one that comes from the left. Rather than speak of "impotence," as Reed does, it might be more effective to speak of untapped power.
The American left has already won the debate on a surprising number of issues. Imagine what it might accomplish if it actually existed.
The Future Left
The differences described here are generally those of emphasis, nuance, and interpretation, not of fundamental disagreement. That holds true when it comes to prescriptions, too. "Nothing Left" devotes less space to potential solutions than it does to analysis, but it touches on several important approaches. Institutional structures must be built, and Reed is undoubtedly right that this will require "grounding in a vibrant labor movement."
Other alliances may not be as integral, but are still worth pursuing. The left historically allied itself with corporations, especially in the postwar era. A future left can team with business, too, especially the smaller businesses who have suffered from the consequences of globalization, growing poverty, and the disappearance of the middle class.
The future left can also win the support of groups and individuals who are not always traditionally leftist but share the movement's views on certain issues -- homeowners on mortgage relief, seniors on Medicare and Social Security, and young people on debt relief and universal access to education.
In classic Alinsky fashion, the left can also organize itself around issues which might have (or already have) broad public support: Jobs. Wages. Expanding Social Security and Medicare programs. Higher taxes on ultra-wealthy individuals and corporations. Free education for all. Publicly funded health care. Affordable or free public transportation.
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