'Push Him Left' No More, Democrats Demand Progressives Stop 'Whining'

Progressives were concerned about US President Joe Biden's conservative history, which included multiple attempts to cut Social Security and Medicare, but were told that once he was in office, he could be pushed to enact progressive policies.

Democratic politicians and strategists are imploring progressives to get behind US President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, telling them to stop “moaning and groaning” about the lack of progressive policies coming out of the White House.

“We gotta pipe down the moaning and groaning and all the whining. There’s too much of that,” said former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) who lost his seat to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018 while she was running a progressive campaign.

“I think that leaches into the psyche of the voters as well. That’s got to stop and I think at that point, you’ll start to see Biden’s number improve, certainly amongst Democrats, but I think voter-wide they’ll start to improve,” Crowley argued.

The comments come after former Obama strategist David Axelrod said that Biden had a "50-50" chance of beating Donald Trump in the 2024 election and suggested that the party consider nominating someone else.

Biden has lost significant support from his party, particularly younger voters, for his support of Israel’s massive military operation in Gaza which has been compared to a genocide by several world leaders and UN officials as well as his administration’s public opposition to a ceasefire until nearly the point one was announced.

But, former Rep. Tom Daschle (D-SD), who now runs a lobbying firm that has lobbied on behalf of weapon manufacturers, says that it is critical progressives coalesce behind Biden.

“In spite of the debate we’ve had for several months about age and about options, I think we have to acknowledge that it’s absolutely critical that we come together and be as cohesive as possible over the next 12 months.”

Biden’s conservative stances as a Senator and Vice President hurt him with Democratic progressives during the 2020 Democratic primaries. In an attempt to court Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) voters, democratic personalities, including Ocasio-Cortez, told voters that Biden could be pushed left by the progressive wing of the party.

“You know, the primaries are over and right now what is most important is to make sure that we ensure a Democratic victory in November and that we continue to push Vice President Biden on issues from Marijuana to climate change to foreign policy,” The representative who endorsed Sanders during the 2020 primary said in the run-up to the 2020 general election.

Despite funding Ukraine to fight against Russia and demanding billions of dollars to fund Israel’s actions in Gaza, as well as authorizing more oil permits than former President Donald Trump, Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Biden in July, an unusual move to make so early in the election cycle.

As part of their effort to court progressive voters, the DNC invited Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and other nominally progressive Democrats to help shape the 2020 Democratic platform. Some of the policies added to the platform the appease discontented progressives included free treatment for testing, vaccines and treatment for COVID-19, free college for families making less than $125,000 a year in addition to student debt relief, universal free Pre-K education, lowering the Medicare eligibility to 60, ending mass incarceration and ending cash bail.

The US Prison population has increased under Biden, there has been no movement on lowering the age for Medicare, free college has not been seriously pursued and his student loan forgiveness plan was struck down by the Supreme Court and the Biden administration ended free testing and vaccines for COVID-19 while kicking an estimated 15 million off of Medicaid.

The administration also seemingly has no plans to pursue the end of cash bail. “I don’t have anything specifically on what our efforts are on cash bail,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in July.

Still, some of the politicians who said progressives could push Biden left are now saying progressives have to vote for him again, despite the long list of failed or ignored progressive promises from the administration.

Sanders said he is “in to do what I can to make sure that the president is reelected,” while Ocasio-Cortez said when she endorsed Biden that, “I think he’s done quite well, given the limitations that we have.”

Meanwhile, a recent poll shows that removing Biden from the top of the ticket could swing the Democrats’ fortunes. It found that Trump was leading Biden by four points nationally, while an “Unnamed Democrat” led Trump by eight points.