Elite Democrats Are Sending the Wrong Message

Democrats chose Joe Kennedy III, a son of privilege, to give the Democratic rebuttal to Trump's State of the Union speech. Joe Kennedy is so rich he's never had to work a day in his life. He owns stock in ruthless companies like Gilead that price their hepatitis C medicine so high that people die, unable to pay for the medicine that could save their lives. His biggest investment, $750,000, is in Exxon-Mobil. He's in no position to lecture to any of us, especially the working class.

Joe also was involved in a reckless driving accident that left a girl paralyzed for life. Shades of Sen. Ted Kennedy, Joe's uncle, leaving Mary Jo Kopechne to die in a car in the water while he worried about how her death might affect his career. She might have been saved, had there been a bubble of air in the car that kept her alive while he was worrying about his career. If he ever did report the accident, it was eight hours after the fact. His charge? Leaving the scene of an accident. That's it. He was driving drunk in a heavy, wide Oldsmobile on a fragile, 10-and-a-half-foot wide bridge with no railings at the time.

Too many holier-than-thou Democrats are throwing away the chance of a lifetime. On December 20, 2017, the Democratic generic ballot showed an advantage over Republicans of +18 points. Now it's +6. Trump's approval rating has risen to the low 40s for the first time (42% according to Politico). I know. Trump is a fascist oligarch. His rating improvement makes no sense. So Democrats must be doing something wrong.

I think I know what it is. The image of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) willing to shut down the government to protect the Dreamers is one the white working class won't forget any time soon. Identity politics as the Democrats' central message is not going to work. Oh, plus "we're not Trump." But what else do we stand for?

Also, Democrat Chuck Schumer's relationship to Wall Street is much like Democrat Hillary Clinton's. It's a cozy one. Both are corporate Democrats. If Democrats don't stop sucking up to Wall Street, as Obama did and as Bill Clinton did when he repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, which precipitated the crash of 2008, why should the working class and the middle class think that Democrats are working for them? Remember, lots of people who voted for Obama turned around and voted for phony populist Trump when Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder failed to indict or convict Wall Street CEOs who gambled away our economy. Most articles on the subject are too easy on Holder.

For the best information on how corrupt AG Holder and the White House were concerning Wall Street, you have to read books. Read Charles H. Ferguson's book "Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America"; "All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis," by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera; and "Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street," by Neil Barofsky, former special inspector general in charge of oversight of TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program used to bail out the banks. Barofsky, a Democrat, had hoped for a real office to work in. He was put in something akin to a broom closet. That was his first indication that all was not well. Obama's White House stonewalled on the subject of TARP.

Main Street taxpayers bailed out Wall Street and Wall Street wasn't made accountable for how they spent the millions given to them. AIG chose to give financial bonuses to the very financial services department that made the most egregious and culpable errors.

There should be a meaningful distinction between the Democrats and the Republicans. If both parties suck up to Wall Street but Republicans oppose indiscriminant immigration and support conservative social issues like gun rights, pro-life and anti-abortion, religious teachings in schools, and other reactionary evangelical positions favored by many in the working class, what's the Democrats' advantage?

Democratic women have been winning elections for Democrats. Democratic white, educated women won the election for Ralph Northam, governor of Virginia. Democratic black women (98% voted for Doug Jones, who successfully prosecuted two Klansmen who killed four little black girls inside their church and 92% of black men voted for Doug Jones), won the election for Democrat Doug Jones over Republican "Judge" Roy Moore, an accused pedophile. Eighty-seven percent of voters who disapproved of Trump also voted for Doug Jones, as well as millenials.

So why are Democrats putting up a male Kennedy, a scion of wealth and privilege, when the Kennedys, including JFK, are known for womanizing, rape, and even allegations of murder by Michael Skakel, a Kennedy relative, and possibly other Kennedys? RFK Jr. has a history of womanizing. His second wife, Mary Richardson, hanged herself when she found out about one of his affairs. RFK Jr. is on his third wife, Cheryl Hines, and her friends think she's crazy to marry him, given his record of cheating.

Joe Kennedy III himself may not be a womanizer, but he sure is related to a lot of Kennedys who are or were. Joe would do well to manage his stock portfolio with an eye to ethics, too. He invests in Big Pharma companies and oil companies (Exxon-Mobil) with particularly egregious reputations for ripping people off. He doesn't know? He doesn't care? Either way, his stock portfolio is an issue.

Besides, the Kennedys are old news. People are tired of dynasties. Women voters, not men, are winning elections for Democrats. Don't remind women voters of the Kennedys, whose wealth and privilege protected them from being made accountable for their crimes against women.