Blacklisting Progressives: The Untold Story Beneath the Daschle Headlines

[jgraz]

Blacklisting Progressives: The Untold Story Beneath the Daschle Headlines

by: David Sirota
Tue Feb 03, 2009 at 16:46


Amid the swirling headlines about Tom Daschle withdrawing his nomination for Health and Human Service Secretary is a very dark, very foreboding story that tells us a lot more about what to expect from the Obama administration than a single nomination fight. It is a story that every single voter who supported Barack Obama because of his progressive economic platform should know about - and worry about.

As every newspaper in America has been happy to report, Daschle worked with venture capitalist Leo Hindery after he left the Senate. Hindery was a top economic adviser to John Edwards and later to Barack Obama, and many had floated his name for U.S. Trade Representative or Commerce Secretary. Now, though, that won't be happening, as anyone mentioned near the Daschle flap is being shunned by the Obama administration.

But is that really why someone as accomplished as Hindery was never seriously considered for a top economic post in the administration? The media and the Obama administration would like us to believe yes - but the answer is no. It has far less to do with the Daschle situation and far more to do with Hindery's progressive economic ideology.

Buried in a Politico dispatch, we get the real story:

<snip>While Hindery complained that he "waited for the phone to ring," a source said, Obama's aides appear never to have taken his bid seriously. One possible source of friction: Hindery had set himself up in opposition to Obama's top economic advisors, many of whom were associated with The Hamilton Project, an economic think tank that was the inheritor of former Treasury Secretary Rubin's generally pro-trade position.

<snip>

And that's the big story here: Leo Hindery, one of the few business leaders to use his wealth to challenge deregulation, corporate trade deals and anti-worker policies was blacklisted by the Obama administration well before the Daschle flap ever happened - and he was blacklisted because he dared to clash with the same Wall Street Democrats whose corporate-backed policies destroyed the economy.

More at http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11343

[On the Road]

1. I Do Understand About Daschle

because of his lobbying ties. It's actually surprising Obama tried to get him approved given his anti-lobbying stance.

I didn't know Hindery, but he sounds like a good person. It seems to me like Obama is avoiding controversial personalities, which is why (sadly) Dean probably won't be considered either. But I don't know how construct a team of rivals for a supposedly progressive adminstration when none of the rival represent the core position.