A "spoiler" on the left could throw the 2024 election to Trump.
Cornel West is a candidate in the People's Party.
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| From his Twitter announcement |
Cornel West is a provocateur. A gadfly. A showman. A progressive ideologue.
Cornel West is a frequent guest on TV interview shows. He has a schtick, with big, unruly hair and beard, unique black suits and white shirts that look straight out of a 19th Century portrait photograph. He talks in gruff manner punctuated with finger jabbing. He has a role in the national political landscape: Black progressive intellectual.
I saw him live at Southern Oregon University, where he spoke to an audience of a few hundred. He was there as a celebrity speaker. He was showing off. His overt message was about economic and racial justice in America. But the subtext for his predominately White audience was look-at-this-Black-intellectual. His vocabulary stretched for obscure words. His casual allusions were designed to tell us he was far better read and smarter than you hicks in podunk-ville. He threw in "of course," and "as you know" and "from your reading of" to things no public audience would know. He name-dropped his way through "my dear brother Foucault," and "that rascal Kant, on to theories of consciousness, justice, and economics, all works that he acted as if he presumed, of course, his audience had read and mastered along with him. He breezed though allusions to the fiction and nonfiction work of scores of contemporary Black and feminist authors, mostly personal friends and fellow colleagues. It went on for an hour.Whew, I thought, as I left the performance.
I thought it pretentious and ridiculous, but I credited him for pounding in his subtext: Take that, you White racists who think Blacks are bad at book-learning. Without saying the word, he was calling us deplorable.
In his campaign Twitter announcement West wrote:
I am running for truth and justice as a presidential candidate for the People's Party to reintroduce America to the best of itself -- fighting to end poverty, mass incarceration, ending wars and ecological collapse, guaranteeing housing, health care, education and living wages for all!
West will not win many votes of non-college working people of America. Cornel West will appeal to the people who voted for Ralph Nader and Jill Stein. Money will make its way to his campaign from the political right, so he will get his message out. Plus, he is "good TV," willing to say controversial things. There is a body of voters on the progressive left who agree that Democrats are little different from Republicans, both beholden to big money. West called Biden "a milquetoast liberal" and said:
Neither political party wants to tell the truth about Wall Street, about Ukraine, about the Pentagon, about big tech.
For many Americans, Biden's center-left moderation and "normal-ness" are a positive. Yes, he threw Manchin that pipeline bone in the debt deal, but that is the nature of coalition politics and why it is called "sausage making." Biden got things done, a positive. But there is a price for the sausage, and West will exact it. For about 10% of voters, Biden being a milquetoast moderate is a negative. They want a fighter, not a negotiator. They wonder if maybe Biden had just cared more and tried harder, really harder, he wouldn't have needed Manchin and his pipeline.
Net-net, West's entry isn't all bad for Democrats. West is "over the top." West's high octane self promotion may get through to enough voters to assure them that Biden is regular-Joe, a guy with limits. Biden won't get into a Clinton-style Sister Souljah disagreement with West. I expect Biden to shrug off West, not to confront him. That may be sufficient. West will make himself visible and define what Biden and Harris are not, a positive for some people looking for low-drama moderation. Bernie Sanders has endorsed Biden, which may assure people on the wavering progressive left that Biden is OK, or OK-enough, given the GOP alternative.It would be better for Democrats if there was no competition from Biden's left. But if there is going to be a leftist spoiler, then Biden could do worse than having it be Cornel West.
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18 comments:
We seem to find ourselves in an era of extreme political theater.
The risk here can't be understated. I think Democrats will need to pay attention and blunt what could be a Nader effect.
I've got a lyric for you:
"Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you"
-Steeler's Wheel (1972)
It’s hard to imagine Cornel West having much influence on the vote. I hadn’t even heard of him until you mentioned him.
What a sad commentary on the American political system, that we’re facing a likely rematch between a too old statesman and a too old crime boss. At least Biden is sane, experienced and honorable.
Trump is literally a big, fat liar, a saboteur that Putin helped put in office. His appeal is to the same mentality that seceded from the union because owning slaves was their right. Now, they’re just trying to overturn elections, discard Affirmative Action and make this the White, Christian nation God intended. If you’re warped enough, I suppose you could call that an improvement.
If the Republicans nominate Trump, West‘s candidacy will not hurt Biden. Democrats will be too desperate to defeat Trump to waste their votes on West.
But if Republicans nominate DeSantis, governor of the state where “woke goes to die“, Biden will be faced with an opponent who uses West’s rhetoric to paint all Democrats (including Biden) as woke crackpots. This could force Biden to try to distinguish himself from West, potentially forcing a wedge into the democratic coalition.
Yes, if you were looking for a wild eyed leftist commie role, he fits the part. Fresh meat for FOX News …
I don't think we need to worry about DeSantis. He can't even beat up Mickey Mouse.
Wow, never heard of Cornel West, who has been on the social justice, academic (higher education), political and media scene for decades? He is well known to many Americans. He is 70, born in 1953. He has been married 4 or 5 times. He spent a lot of time and energy criticizing President Obama, among other things. He has had a major feud with a former president of Hah-vahd.
He has a website, but you can read his Wikipedia page, which is extensive, or just start searching on-line.
Jill Stein (spelling)
Let's not forget that the popular vote does not matter in the USA.
Vice President Al Gore "lost" Florida by 537 votes. Ralph Nader received over 97,000 votes in Florida.
The unfair and undemocratic Electoral College needs to go. Maybe Cornel West can work on that. He would be doing the country a big favor.
I am white, but I got the memo a long time ago not to criticize or talk about black hair, unless it is a compliment. It is considered a big No-No, like using the n-word. It is a huge issue for black females, and for good reason, but also for black men. "Black is beautiful" includes black hair. I am not a football fan, but the natural hair of Colin Kapernick (sp?) comes to mind.
Natural hair, afros, braids, dreads, wigs, etc. White people in the US have made negative and racist comments about black hair since slavery. There was even racist hoopla over what the hair of Megan and Harry's baby would look like. Google it.
For more information, simply search on-line.
Maybe Professor West was showing respect for his audience by assuming that they were as knowledgeable as he is. It can be a sign of respect to assume that people know what you are talking about. It can be a sign of disrespect to assume that people don't know what you are talking about, that they are uninformed.
Also, it is not unusual to refer to someone as "brother" in the black community. It is also common among some religious people of different races. West is a Christian and his grandfather was a pastor.
I suspect you will have a greater understanding of Cornel West if you read his extensive Wikipedia page. He was born in 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Dear Anonymous.
I, too, am White, but I consider my description saying he has "unruly hair and beard" to be accurate and unremarkable. I know a little about handmade suits thanks to my trips to Asia. His shirts and suits are handmade and unique. He has a deliberated curated look. I could pretend not to notice or speak of it on the premise that no White person can speak about the appearance of any Black person.
I consider that cowardly and also unfair. He is in costume, one chosen by himself, and he deserves to have it be part of his brand.
I also did something theoretically dangerous and perhaps some people would be afraid to do it. I criticized the show-off pretentiousness of a Harvard graduate. Again, I consider it cowardly and unfair were I to be unwilling to criticize. Here in this case I suppose I am "entitled" by the standard that one must be one to criticize one, but I am more democratic than that. I think everyone in that audience at Southern Oregon University, or in any TV audience, has the right to say he is a pretentious jerk, if that is how they perceive him and his schtick.
I appreciate your good comment, but I don't share the overall sentiment that certain groups who are historically and presently targets of prejudice must get walk-on-eggshell treatment. That doesn't protect them. It accentuates their "specialness" and therefore "other-izes" them. It hurts those groups.
But you do it your way, I will do it mine. Maybe I am doing this wrong, but I have some experience with co-existing with people of different races. I am in an inter-racial marriage. That doesn't make me right, but it does make me experienced.
Peter Sage
I wouldn’t sell DeSantis is short just yet. It’s early days, and a 20 point victory in the governor’s election isn’t nothing.
Casey DeSantis may turn out to be his secret weapon.
I agree with Peter that Cornel West’s bird’s nest hairdo is an appropriate topic for comment.
Trying to limit discussion of that strikes me as yet another attempt to enforce “the bigotry of low expectations“.
I'm sure he will be funded by the Russianpublicans.
Nobody should be criticized because of their race, but nobody is beyond criticism because of it either. For example, claiming President Obama was African because he’s Black was sheer racist ignorance, but criticizing his policies was business as usual.
Ironically, the guy who criticized his policies in 2012 lost the election, while the ignorant racist won in 2016. Now he’s back because, according to Republicans, “He says what I think.” They should be ashamed, but they have no shame.
Nah man, DeSantis is a way better bet in 2028 when Trump will be hopefully out of the picture. The only way I see Trump losing the Republican nomination is if he dies before it's over, and even then the Republican primary voters might very well still nominate him.
Trump's hold on the GOP is shockingly strong and enduring, one might almost say cult-like. For an un-charismatic guy like DeSanctimonious, cracking the Trump hold on the deluded GOP minions is a task I'd put at the Impossible level of Difficulty.
Oh Wow. Such smart ass comments about West. A guy who has stood in the street and yes faced violence. He likes language.
He likes to be clever. But he is the real thing. Sorry but your big sneer is way off base. He has always stood for the poor. He happens to be articulate. And yes edduuukated. From the streets of Sacramento, brooothah.
Second time in a week I agree with you, MT.
Ed,
I guess I must be getting smarter in my old age… 😀
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