A Washington Post story earlier this week seemed to confirm progressives’ worst suspicions about Joe Biden. The story quoted an investment banker recounting phone calls from Biden campaign officials to Wall Street allies downplaying the candidate’s far-reaching commitments on financial reform. "They basically said, ‘Listen, this is just an exercise to keep the Warren people happy, and don’t read too much into
it.’" Ouch! Now this story should itself be taken with a grain of salt. At this stage of the game, a candidate tries to be all things to all people. But the story reinforced progressive anxieties over the weekend when the Biden campaign released its latest transition senior team, co-chaired by Jeff Zients, who epitomizes the revolving door between centrist Democratic administrations and Wall Street. All this raises the following question: What leverage do progressives ultimately have on Biden, either as candidate or—one hopes—as
president? And that phrase—"one hopes"—says it all: not as much as we’d like. Because progressives know that the prime goal has to be to oust Donald Trump. And threatening to stay home, or vote third-party, or not work hard for Biden’s election would be perverse actions. Yet there is in fact a basis for influence. The leverage that progressives have is in the progressive logic of the political moment. If Biden wants a big turnout, he needs to be for big change. And that’s true once he takes office. If he runs as one more Wall Street–beholden centrist or one more cautious moderate on race, turnout will suffer. And if he governs as a centrist and little about the life prospects of working people changes, Democrats will get blown away in the 2022 midterms. That’s the leverage progressives have. Which is not to say that the fights over personnel and policy won’t be trench warfare. They will.
