Progressives connect with a solid 'left' after getting knocked down

Progressives lost a House primary in Ohio, but they won when President Biden decided to extend a housing eviction moratorium.

That’s why the members set up shop, camping out on the House steps for four consecutive nights."Activists are in Congress," said Bush. "So expect for things to be different than what maybe people are used to."President Biden and Democratic Congressional leaders took note. But so did Republicans."They may be activists. But they are not informed. They’re not policymakers," said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the top GOPer on the House Financial Services Committee. "Airtime and activism is not policymaking." Or is it?A new "policy," - albeit one of dubious constitutionally - is in now place.Progressives seized social media with their protest. It went viral. TV news cameras parked near the steps, too."The Bernie Sanders wing of the party is the tail wagging the dog," said Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., "When [progressives] play the music, Democrats out here dance."But so far, progressive achievements are relatively thin despite lots of noise.No Senate passage of a voting rights bill. The filibuster remains in place. The District of Columbia is still the District of Columbia and not a state. The same with Puerto Rico. Police reform is stalled. Efforts to hike the minimum wage are stagnant. No action on gun control. And while the left secured some wins in the big COVID relief bills, it often wasn’t enough for them. In fact, Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., described the pending, $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill as a "down payment.""Don’t make assumptions that somehow the Democratic party is being controlled by this progressive wing or that this progressive wing is all that powerful," observed Ohio State University political science professor Herb Asher.After all, the senators wielding the most clout now are Democratic moderates: Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.V.But fights between opposite wings of the Democratic party could doom President Biden’s agenda. This problem is especially acute as House moderates try to suppress the size of the big infrastructure bill and try to stay away from controversial policy riders. A fight looms over including immigration reform or a permanent DACA fix in the infrastructure bill."As a Republican, I’d like to sit on the sidelines, eat popcorn and watch," said McHenry. "Watch as they go after each other." Democrats face a challenge as to who controls the party’s message. Is it Joe Manchin? Or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?Some Democrats are worried the "squad" could spook voters in the middle. That’s why they’re hoping to re-boot messaging before the midterm elections. But it may not be Ocasio-Cortez who presents the most radical message. Republicans hope voters focus on Cori Bush."So suck it up. Defunding the police has to happen," said Bush on CBS.Bush’s comments forced the White House to reiterate President Biden’s opposition to defunding the police."There may be some in the Democratic party, including Congresswoman Bush, who disagree with him," said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. "But I would say the majority of Democrats we’ve seen in polling and the majority of members also agree that we should not defund the police."Democrats nearly lost control of the House in 2020 over the defund the police narrative. Republicans are hoping to curate that message again for 2022.