Speaking of the risk that I mentioned in the previous post David M. Shribman does a pretty good job of stating that risk in his latest column in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette:
Is that what the majority of Democrats want? Is that what the swing voters who tipped the election against Mr. Trump expected?
What both groups principally wanted was to assure that Mr. Trump wasn’t re-elected. Some also voted for Mr. Biden because he was a soothing figure, or because he had enormous experience in contrast with the perceived ineptitude of the Trump team, or because he was perceived as being a moderate.
Mr. Biden’s effort to appease the progressive wing of his party — his apparent belief that he must — has the danger of alienating the very people who tipped the election away from Mr. Trump.
But that very effort also may reflect a fundamental change in the views of Democrats, a conviction that this is not a time for governmental retrenchment, but a time to address vital questions — about race, wealth distribution, the environment, the way America views the family, education and even infrastructure — that for decades have been overlooked, or papered over.
I don’t have my ear to the ground as much as I used to but I question whether the positions being staked out represent the “majority of Democrats” so much as those of the most progressive 30% of Democrats. Indeed, I think that when you look beyond Trump to Congressional districts, Senate seats, state legislatures, and referenda are all evidence that supports that view. Despite Biden’s carrying Illinois by 17 points in the 2020 election (the same margin of victory as in 2012 and 2016 but substantially smaller than in 2008), Illinoisans rejected J. B. Pritzker’s progressive income tax by a substantial margin as well.
