At the end of last week, Public Citizen's president Robert Weissman sent out a mass email hailing big news about Biden's executive order on monopolies. Noting that Biden "tasked agencies throughout his administration with helping to level the playing field for consumers, workers, and small businesses," Weissman declared: "Joe Biden just took the most significant action any president has taken in generations to confront the menace of corporate monopolies."
An exaggeration? Hyperbolic? I wondered. So, I asked a leading progressive economist, Dean Baker.
"I think the enthusiasm is warranted," Baker replied. "Biden laid out pretty much everything that he could do in terms of executive action. In many cases, everything will depend on the implementation, and also what the courts will buy." The executive order's provisions will be legally contested. "But some of these items are a really big deal. In the case of imported prescription drugs, you could easily be talking about [saving] $100 billion a year and if they push hard, possibly as much as $200 billion a year. That comes to more than $600 per person every year."
Baker added that Biden's recent appointment of Lina Kahn to be the chair of the Federal Trade Commission "was a really big deal -- she is probably the foremost progressive anti-trust scholar in the country."
Overall, what the Biden administration is doing runs the gamut from very good to very awful. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders -- an extraordinary politician who has always worked in tandem with progressive movements -- has landed in an exceptional position to shape history. He recently told an interviewer, "As somebody who wrote a book called 'Outsider in the House,' yes, it is a strange experience to be having that kind of influence that we have now."
As Bernie Sanders continues to navigate that "strange experience," one of the realms where he excels is public communication. It was aptly summarized a few days ago by Nathan J. Robinson, who wrote that Sanders "is always on message, always trying to make sure the press has to talk about what he wants them to talk about". Bernie has his flaws and made serious mistakes in both of his presidential campaigns, but he is very good at politics despite his marginal position. If he goes on a talk show, he will be discussing wealth inequality or the future of democracy" Staying relentlessly on message -- and thinking about what topics we want to spend our finite resources and time talking about -- is critical to having an effective, persuasive left."
An effective, persuasive left cannot be sustained by any leader, no matter how inspiring or brilliant. With the future at stake, what's ultimately possible -- as the Bernie 2020 motto insisted -- is not about him, it's about us.
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