- quillSeriously, this is a huge problem for Democrats . . . call it the "trickle-down theory for economic cluelessness".
The rich donors and corporate shills tell the Democratic politicians and Beltway Illuminati that everything is GREAT with the economy!! Of course most of the political establishment are millionaires anyway (or expect to be soon, for services rendered), so there's approximately zero genuine empathy for the other 99% to begin with.
The Good News narrative then trickles downward through the Democratic hierarchy, until it reaches the activist base, who despite the evidence all around them, nevertheless eagerly adopt the belief that the aggregate economic recovery data, U3 and Wall Street performance somehow prove that everything is hunky dory and This President has masterfully saved the middle class from disaster and why aren't all you ingrates clapping harder?
At that point, it might be an amusing study in denial and extreme cognitive bias, if not for the fact that that attitude, that unwillingness to recognize that the Democrats are part of the problem and not the solution, is preventing the Party from realigning itself with its base and regaining all of those currently disgusted and non-participating voters.
The latest vote in the Senate for the Keystone Pipeline was a pathetic and cynical attempt to assist Mary Landreau of Louisiana in her battle against the guy who wrote the damn legislation that she voted FOR.
This is how the Democratic caucus decides to waste its final few days in power. When asked if the Loretta Lynch for Attorney General nomination was going to be voted on, Harry Reid said "we don't feel it is a pressing issue at this time." Our Democratic leadership is Lost.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren has been relentlessly asking why not one of the 5 million distressed home owners has received a penny of principal reduction from any of the big banks since the foreclosure crisis.
Colin