Reply #219: Few things have harmed the progressive cause more than the marginalization of organized labor. [View All]

[Douglas Carpenter]

We can thank Gary Hart for playing a leading role in that. By 1984 the unions were no longer the archaic George Meany pro-war machine that they were in 1972. In fact they were the only real viable political force presenting a real opposition voice to Reaganism and the new cult of neo-liberal economics.

But all of that aside - I doubt that Gary Hart is going to run in the 2012 primaries and will at best make a marginal showing if he does. In today's political culture he is more of has-been than Mondale was in 1984.