What is an endorsement worth? Recently it was revealed that former U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee endorsed one of the 3rd Congressional District candidates.
It is worth remembering that Baird, in spite of warnings, voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which destroyed the separation of investment banking from commercial banking, setting up the 2008 crash. He also voted for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which facilitated the Enron fiasco. Certainly, he wasn’t all bad, but when he was, he was disastrously so.
In 2008, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and the leadership of the party pushed for a slate of “Blue Dogs” and “New Dems,” thereby crowding out more progressive candidates. It was a wave election year, and a lot of them were elected. Two years later, most were defeated because their constituents were disenchanted, whereas many progressives did survive.
Since the Clintons unveiled their “third way” brand of politics, the party’s influence in Congress and houses across the nation is way down. I hope people will recall these failures, take their recommendations with a grain of salt and support candidates based on their electability and commitment to represent ordinary Americans, Main Street businesses and labor.
