[Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is a member of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus, but that affiliation for the heir apparent to the
current House Speaker should not be taken at face value.]
[[link removed]]

BEWARE CORPORATE DEMOCRATS “PASSING THE TORCH”  
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Norman Solomon
November 29, 2022
Common Dreams
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*
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*
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_ Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is a member of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus, but that affiliation for the heir apparent to the
current House Speaker should not be taken at face value. _

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks with and
Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) during a news
conference at the 2022 House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference March
11, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. , Wong/Getty Images

 

IMAGES OF PASSING THE torch can be stirring.

President John Kennedy reached heights of inaugural oratory when he
declared [[link removed]]
that “the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.”
Three decades later, when Bill Clinton won the presidency, a Newsweek
headline proclaimed “THE TORCH PASSES.” The article underneath
glorified “a film clip that made its way into a widely seen campaign
ad: a beaming, 16-year-old Bill Clinton on a sun-drenched White House
lawn, shaking the hand of his and his generation’s idol, John F.
Kennedy.”

Weeks later, when _Time_ magazine named Clinton “Man of the Year,”
its cover story carried the headline “THE TORCH IS PASSED.”

The Clinton presidency went on to carry the torch for
corporate-friendly measures. The NAFTA trade pact destroyed
[[link removed]]
many well-paying union jobs; “welfare reform
[[link removed]]”
harmed poor women and their families; a landmark crime law fueled mass
incarceration
[[link removed]];
Wall Street deregulation
[[link removed]]
led to the financial meltdown of 2007-2008.

Now, the top of the Democratic Party is passing torches on Capitol
Hill. When Nancy Pelosi announced two weeks ago that she will no
longer lead House Democrats, she said
[[link removed]]: “The hour has come for a
new generation to lead.” But in what direction?

Pelosi quickly endorsed Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to replace her as leader.
_NBC News_ offered
[[link removed]]
the common media frame: “Pelosi made history as the first female
speaker of the House, while Jeffries, the current Democratic Caucus
chairman, would become the first Black leader of a congressional
caucus and highest-ranking Black lawmaker on Capitol Hill.”

You can count on much of the mass media to shower the 52-year-old
Jeffries with accolades, largely supplied by fellow Democrats. But,
overall, a closer look reveals a problematic record.

Early on, before becoming a New York state legislator, Jeffries worked
for years as a corporate lawyer
[[link removed]]. In
Congress—while he has taken a few progressive positions like
cosponsoring Medicare for All and voting to cut 10 percent of the
military budget—his emphasis has been in sync with the party
establishment.

“I’m a Black progressive Democrat concerned with addressing racial
and social and economic injustice with the fierce urgency of now,”
Jeffries told
[[link removed]]
_The Atlantic_ in August 2021. But during the same interview, Jeffries
added: “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to
hard-left democratic socialism.” (Ironically, Jeffries was echoing
the “fierce urgency of now” phrase from Martin Luther King Jr.,
who was a democratic socialist
[[link removed]].)

Jeffries likes to jab leftward. In 2016, he called
[[link removed]]
Bernie Sanders a “gun-loving socialist with zero foreign-policy
experience.” A 2018 profile
[[link removed]]
in _The Economist_—titled “High Hopes for Hakeem Jeffries” –
concluded that he “is nearly as moderate as a safe-seat Democrat
gets.” The article pointed out: "Though he supports the principle of
universal healthcare coverage, he speaks of ‘the importance of
market forces and getting things done in a responsible fashion.’
Quoting Ronald Reagan approvingly, he suggests this means promoting a
flourishing private sector outside the ‘legitimate functions’ of
government."

Congressman Jeffries takes umbrage at negative press portrayals to
such an extent that his office tries to quash critical assessments.
When I wrote in a _HuffPost_ piece
[[link removed]]
in January 2019 that “Jeffries has been more attentive to serving
corporate power
[[link removed]]
than the interests of voters in his Brooklyn district,” the response
was swift and angry. Jeffries’s communications director and senior
advisor at the time, Michael Hardaway, fired off emails to HuffPost,
claiming that my characterization was “factually inaccurate and
easily disproven.” Despite the escalating fulminations, the HuffPost
editor explained that he saw “no reason to correct or update the
piece.”

Jeffries has not been
[[link removed]]
a sponsor of the Green New Deal (which Pelosi famously denigrated
[[link removed]]
in 2019: “The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows
what it is, but they’re for it, right?”). He also has not
cosponsored the Green New Deal for Cities Act
[[link removed]].

Early on, before becoming a New York state legislator, Jeffries worked
for years as a corporate lawyer
[[link removed]]. In
Congress—while he has taken a few progressive positions like
cosponsoring Medicare for All and voting to cut 10 percent of the
military budget—his emphasis has been in sync with the party
establishment.

“I’m a Black progressive Democrat concerned with addressing racial
and social and economic injustice with the fierce urgency of now,”
Jeffries told
[[link removed]]
_The Atlantic_ in August 2021. But during the same interview, Jeffries
added: “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to
hard-left democratic socialism.” (Ironically, Jeffries was echoing
the “fierce urgency of now” phrase from Martin Luther King Jr.,
who was a democratic socialist
[[link removed]].)

Jeffries likes to jab leftward. In 2016, he called
[[link removed]]
Bernie Sanders a “gun-loving socialist with zero foreign-policy
experience.” A 2018 profile
[[link removed]]
in _The Economist_—titled “High Hopes for Hakeem Jeffries” –
concluded that he “is nearly as moderate as a safe-seat Democrat
gets.” The article pointed out: "Though he supports the principle of
universal healthcare coverage, he speaks of ‘the importance of
market forces and getting things done in a responsible fashion.’
Quoting Ronald Reagan approvingly, he suggests this means promoting a
flourishing private sector outside the ‘legitimate functions’ of
government."

Congressman Jeffries takes umbrage at negative press portrayals to
such an extent that his office tries to quash critical assessments.
When I wrote in a _HuffPost_ piece
[[link removed]]
in January 2019 that “Jeffries has been more attentive to serving
corporate power
[[link removed]]
than the interests of voters in his Brooklyn district,” the response
was swift and angry. Jeffries’s communications director and senior
advisor at the time, Michael Hardaway, fired off emails to HuffPost,
claiming that my characterization was “factually inaccurate and
easily disproven.” Despite the escalating fulminations, the HuffPost
editor explained that he saw “no reason to correct or update the
piece.”

Jeffries has not been
[[link removed]]
a sponsor of the Green New Deal (which Pelosi famously denigrated
[[link removed]]
in 2019: “The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows
what it is, but they’re for it, right?”). He also has not
cosponsored the Green New Deal for Cities Act
[[link removed]].

Thirty years younger than the outgoing speaker, Jeffries is a fitting
symbol of media eagerness to herald generational change for Democrats
in Congress. But investigative journalist Alexander Sammon has
provided an apt sum-up
[[link removed]]:
“Barely in his fifties, Jeffries is young numerically, but aligned
with an older mode of Democratic politics, and has repeatedly
distanced himself from the younger crop of Democrats that is almost
categorically more progressive (and more popular). He’s made a
reputation for himself as the party’s future by becoming a foremost
representative of its past.”

When a torch passes, we might be glad to “meet the new boss
[[link removed]].” But we should
discard illusions. That way, hopefully, we don’t get fooled again
[[link removed]].

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel
free to republish and share widely.

Norman Solomon [[link removed]]

NORMAN SOLOMON [[link removed]] is
co-founder and national coordinator of RootsAction.org
[[link removed]]. His books include _"War Made Easy: How
Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death
[[link removed]]"_ (2006) and _"Made
Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America's Warfare State
[[link removed]]_" (2007).

* Democratic Party; Rep. Hakeem Jeffries;
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