A proxy war in the Democratic Party

No, the headline is not a typo.   I did mean to write that there is a proxy war going on within the Democratic Party between the progressives, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the AFL-CIO labor group;  and the business-friendly centrists, led presumably by candidate-to-be Hillary Clinton.

The hope is not that the party becomes polarized, as the Republicans are, but that the progressives can move Clinton to the left.    It is essentially a test of the strength of the progressive Democracts.

The current proxy war that is in the news is over Obama's nomination of Antonio Weiss to be Undersecretary of the Treasury for domestic policy.

The objection to Weiss is simply that he is another in a too-long list of economic policy makers and advisers who came from Wall Street and are who bring Wall Street thinking on policies concerning the economy and bank regulation.

There are some good things about Weiss too.    He has played a big role in Democratic politics, supported liberal causes.   He was also a big donor to Obama -- so that calls everything in question of course.

But the reason I call it a proxy war is that I don't think this is just about who holds this spot for the remaining two years of the Obama presidency.   This is about the soul -- or at least the chosen political position -- of Hillary Clinton.  Which side of her practical political self will emerge:   the centrist, hawkish, business-friendly Hillary?    or the progressive fighter for social justice for all?

My heart is with the progressives.   My head is with Hillary, because I want to keep a Democratic in the White House.   What would be ideal is if Hillary would be both -- and I think she is capable of it.   The question is:  Will she feel she has to be cautious and not be too much of a populist.   The risk is taking the progressive vote for granted and losing their motivation to vote.

Frankly, caution lost the midterms for us.    Obama held back;  and the candidates he was trying to protect lost anyway.    I'd like to see a bold populist campaign that draws us back to the principles that defined the Democratic Party through the civil rights/anti-poverty era.  

And I'd like to see it waged -- as she is capable of doing -- by a charged up Hillary Clinton.  I think that is her real soul -- but I'm afraid she cares too much about winning, and maybe I do too.

Ralph