Tammy Duckworth threat. It isn't just wrong. It's stupid.

Another brick in the foundation of Democratic self-destruction.

“So I am not going to be voting for any nominees from the White House other than diversity nominees. I’ll be a ‘No’ on everyone until they figure this out. . . . I will vote for racial minorities and LGTBQ, but anybody else I’m not voting for.”

          Senator Tammy Duckworth, (D) Illinois

Tammy Duckworth backed off her threat, but it is too late. The bell rang. 

She lost. Biden lost. Democrats lost. The message lost.  

Senator Tammy Duckworth

Tammy Duckworth told Capital Hill reporters that she was unhappy that "there's not a single AAPI in a Cabinet position. That's unacceptable."  AAPI means Asian American Pacific Islander. Duckworth herself is of Thai extraction. She is also a Senator from Illinois, a woman, and a disabled veteran, having lost both legs in a combat mission. 

Biden had nominated Neera Tanden, a woman of Asian heritage, for the Cabinet level position as headof the Office of Management and Budget. It fell through, due to opposition caused by some intemperate tweets by Tanden. 

Duckworth said that the Biden administration tried to mollify her discontent of insufficient AAIP nominees by telling her that, after all, Biden's choice of a Vice President was Kamala Harris, whose mother is from India. Duckworth called the White House response "incredibly insulting."

It is as if Democrat want to lose.

Duckworth's public comments are iterations of all-too-familiar counter-productive messaging by Democrats.  Duckworth is accentuating the least popular element of the Democratic message. It is wrong and stupid in so many ways.

First, she changed the subject from something popular to something unpopular. Democrats took a big step in addressing child poverty and the financial needs of the working poor. That is popular. The new COVID relief bill plants a seed for a major increase in the role of government to address income inequality. This seed needs nourishment in the form of Democratic officeholders talking about its benefits--selling it and defending it. Democrats took advantage of the brief window of opportunity, due to COVID, Republican deficit spending under Trump re-setting the boundaries of the acceptable, plus Modern Monetary Theory which asserts that we can spend freely and deficits don't matter. It is expensive. It puts cash into the hands of poor and working people. It is family-friendly policy, targeted to families with children. It rewards poor and middle income people, not screw-up Wall Street investment banks. Unlike the 2017 tax bill, it did not reward the wealthiest. The bill is on-brand for Democrats. Instead, she is talking about racial quotas. It is crazy.

[Note, I have written repeatedly about my skepticism that America can spend, spend, spend without limit on a charge card without consequence. But if Republicans can do it when Trump is in office, I suppose Democrats will do it when Biden is in office. I think it is dangerous. But it is popular.]

Second, she played the "insult" and "trigger" card. Duckworth is a United States Senator and combat veteran. She is supposedly powerful and resilient. After all, she survived getting her legs blown off--one tough woman. She is presenting herself as a  victim, someone offended and diminished by the rough and tumble of politics. Her response is petulance. She doesn't count the VP, she doesn't count the nomination of a director of OMB, and she doesn't count the high profile trade representative.  "I realize that we have Katherine Tai, but I don't think the trade representative is what the community understands as a Cabinet level." Duckworth is disappointed--so she wants to blow up Biden's effort to staff his administration. It is childish.

Third, she is advocating for quotas and exclusions. People resent them. She is doing exactly what she says she is not doing.

"This is not about pitting one diversity group against another. So I'm happy to vote for a Hispanic, a Black person, an LGBTQ person, an AAPI person. I'd just like to see more diversity representation."

She wants her sub-set of diversity--AAPI. Until she gets what she wants, she threatens to make the process a hostage. She thinks she can safely target one group, heterosexual White men and women. How can this fail to cause backlash and resentment among Whites? Democrats advocate for Black Pride, Native American Pride, Proud Women and yet condemn as "White supremacy" a logical and near-inevitable reaction to that by Whites. It matters. It has consequences. Democrats lost two thirds of the votes of White males in 2016 and 2020. White men hear this talk and draw the inference that maybe they are the ones facing the real discrimination. 

Fourth, she undermines the notion of national unity and racial tolerance. By saying she realizes that "we have Katherine Tai" her notion of "we" is not Americans, it is Americans with ethnic heritage from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. She put herself forward as a person who could represent all people from Illinois, yet she is a member of an ethnic minority. Now she is saying only a AAPI member can truly represent AAPI people--an argument with very dangerous implications. Only Whites can represent Whites? A diverse government is possible only if a great many White Americans believe they can be well represented by minority members--people like her--and that race doesn't really matter.  

She is making the least persuasive and least popular case for racial justice. Martin Luther King wished that all Americans are judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. That proposition has widespread support. The checkbox of equality by category and sub-category makes race and ethnicity central, not incidental. It is the opposite of King's message. It is unpopular.

Fifth, it is Democrats talking about race, race, race. People are sick of it.

Sixth, Duckworth just showed that Biden is a weak guy who can be pushed around. Duckworth forced Biden to bend to her and her argument. She got Biden to demonstrate publicly that he is, indeed, weak and under the influence of the petulant race-conscious Democrats, more interested in fine-tuning racial quotas than getting food and rent money to working Americans. Republicans say Biden is sleepy, senile, weak, a puppet, and that he is led around by handlers and fellow office-holders. Duckworth made their case. She said jump. He jumped.

Duckworth didn't just hurt herself. She hurt Democrats and Biden. There is a message that a majority of Americans like, that we are all created equal and that in our government and society, we are judged by the quality of our character, not the color of our skin. Anybody can do well and get ahead. There are no slots of privilege standing in your way. Duckworth said there are slots, and she wants dibs on a few of them, and if you aren't in the group then you are screwed.