The working-class base of the Democratic Party has spoken, and it has rejected Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton’s primary victories in key swing states such as Ohio and now Pennsylvania demonstrate that Obama and the Democratic Party as a whole have a serious situation on their hands. Yes, Obama may be poised to win the Democratic nomination. But what will such a victory mean in the general election if Obama fails to impress the working-class voters who have been key to the victories of Democratic presidents for at least the past century?
This problem shouldn’t be overstated. When it comes down to any Democrat versus John McCain in the general election, it’s difficult to believe that working-class voters would cast their ballots for McCain. John McCain promises four to eight more years of the failed Bush policies that have driven our economy toward recession. McCain, by his own admission, is weak on the economy, and his “tough love” approach to those who have lost their homes to predatory lending has thus far not gone over well with the electorate. It’s unlikely that working-class voters are going to vote against their own economic interests in this election, and thus unlikely that they are going to vote for John McCain.
Still, Obama’s failure to woo working-class voters should give Democrats pause. Even if these voters don’t cast their ballots for McCain, their lack of enthusiasm for the Democratic candidate could lead to low turnout. If this election is as close as the last two, poor working-class turnout will be all John McCain needs to take the White House in November. Moreover, lack of enthusiasm for the Democratic presidential candidate could adversely affect other races for the House of Representatives and the Senate. Not only could Obama’s failure among working-class voters negatively impact his own White House ambitions, but it could also weaken or destroy the Democratic majority in Congress. If working-class voters feel that the party has abandoned them, it could spell disaster for Democrats nationwide in the next general election.
What, then, is the solution? The only solution to this problem lies with the Democratic superdelegates, the only ones who have the power to reverse the course the party is taking and choose an alternative candidate for the general election. The idea of superdelegates contradicting the popular vote may make many Democrats queasy, but the Democratic Party inserted superdelegates into the primary process for precisely this kind of situation. Given Obama’s failure among working-class voters, it is time for the superdelegates to step up and look toward the best electoral interests of the party. It is time for the superdelegates to choose a candidate that working-class voters can get behind, whether that candidate is Hillary Clinton or a compromise candidate who can appeal to both Clinton and Obama supporters.
Working class voters have been a key constituency within the Democratic Party at least since William Jennings Bryan ran for president in 1896. Since Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” these voters have been the backbone of the Democratic Party without whom Democrats have little chance of electoral victory. While some pro-Obama pundits have dismissed their candidate’s failure to appeal to these voters, this failure poses a serious risk to the coalition that has been so successful at electing Democratic presidents in the past.
In this time of economic unrest, Democrats must unite behind a candidate who can ease the worries of working-class voters, a candidate who will fight and fight hard for their interests. That candidate is not Barack Obama, and working-class voters know it. It’s time for Democrats to find a candidate who can recapture the confidence of their working-class base.
http://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/Articles/Opinion/Columns/2008/05/02/24249/:hi:
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(90 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
