Lessons of the Alabama election
14 December 2017
Media pundits and Democratic Party leaders are hailing the outcome of the special election in Alabama to fill a seat in the US Senate—with Democrat Doug Jones narrowly defeating the ultra-right Republican Roy Moore—as a political “miracle.”
“Thank you, Alabama,” gushed the Washington Post, for choosing “to spare the nation the indignity of seating an accused child molester in the U.S. Senate.” The editorial concluded: “Thanks to Alabama, Americans can wake up Wednesday morning feeling hopeful about the decency and dignity of their democracy.”
The New York Times sounded the same theme, headlining its editorial, “Roy Moore Loses, Sanity Reigns,” and hailing a “triumph for decency and common sense in a state that seemed for a time at risk of abandoning both…” Referring to the right-wing Democrat who defeated Moore, the Times declared that Alabamians had been correct in “choosing a candidate whose record was cause for pride, not shame, one who spent his career battling bigotry, not exploiting it.”
The spreading of editorial rose petals over the Alabama result should fool no one. A right-wing Democrat, operating with a nearly 10-1 financial advantage, has eked out a victory over a fascistic candidate, not by confronting and opposing Moore’s ultra-right pronouncements, let alone offering an alternative to defend working people. Instead, Jones owes his razor-thin margin to the unleashing over the past month of a barrage of allegations of sexual misconduct by Moore.
Following the defeat of Moore, the Democrats are doubling down on their strategy of opposing Trump based on anti-Russia hysteria and allegations of sexual misconduct, aimed primarily at mobilizing sections of the upper middle class….