i cleared cookies and read the article, but i gotta repeat quoting this part cuz i have something else to unpack here:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by demonrail666
'Not all Democrats believe Warren can appeal to working-class voters outside of true-blue coastal bastions and among urban and campus elites. Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, said Warren’s words on their own would resonate with Trump Democrats, but she herself is seen as too liberal and too associated with the type of identity politics that turns off white, working-class voters.“Her message is a good one, there’s no question about it, she’s very good at attacking and stripping back the hypocrisy,” he said. “I’m not sure she’s the best messenger for that type of voter.” ' - .
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again i just want to clarify the notion of “identity politics” that irks working class whites per rendell’s analysis.
i’m afraid that label is an unfair one, but it’s also revealing. white supremacy or dog-whistle politics are
also identity politics, they are just not recognized as such because they have been practiced by a demographic majority. to cater to the white working class is also identity politics. it’s not
just class politics.
see here article on dog whistle politics. some illuminating discussion by that evil mastermind, lee atwater, best remembered for his “willie horton” campaign
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics
the interesting bit i that article comes after the atwater quote though:
However, others like U.S. law professor and author of the 2014 book Dog Whistle Politics Ian Haney-López described Reagan as "blowing a dog whistle" when the candidate told stories about "Cadillac-driving 'welfare queens' and 'strapping young bucks' buying T-bone steaks with food stamps" while he was campaigning for the presidency.[27][28][29] He argues that such rhetoric pushes middle-class white Americans to vote against their economic self-interest in order to punish "undeserving minorities" who, they believe, are receiving too much public assistance at their expense. According to López, conservative middle-class whites, convinced by powerful economic interests that minorities are the enemy, supported politicians who promised to curb illegal immigration and crack down on crime but inadvertently also voted for policies that favor the extremely rich, such as slashing taxes for top income brackets, giving corporations more regulatory control over industry and financial markets, union busting, cutting pensions for future public employees, reducing funding for public schools, and retrenching the social welfare state. He argues that these same voters cannot link rising inequality which has impacted their lives to the policy agendas they support, which resulted in a massive transfer of wealth to the top 1% of the population since the 1980s.[30]
anyway, not saying one can’t cater to that particular ethnic group, just a reminder that “white working class” is an ethnic group here in contemporary america, and that today everyone is doing identity politics in one way or another. white supremacists, black lives matter, feminists, “working class whites”, nativists, nationalists, separatists, evangelicals, black baptists, hockey moms, gun righters, all politics has become identity politics with the loss of 20th century utopianism. everyone wants their identity and is fighting for it, ESPECIALLY those who pretend they are not.
not trying to go off on a theoretical tangent, but the rendell’s point of view is... well, very privileged, ha ha ha ha. or realpolitik. either way. he’s also pushing identity politics.
and yeah warren right now has an image problem but more about that in another post later.