Daily Beast: Rise of Hard Left Potentially 'Disastrous' for Democrats

The rise of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) may lurch Democrats–and a potential Hillary Clinton presidential candidacy–so far to the left that the party may be less viable in national elections. 

The Daily Beast asks, “How far are we from moderate Democrats be [sic] labeled as ‘DINOs’–Democrats in name only?”

“The leaders of the resurgent progressive wing of the Democratic Party include the new mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, who has vowed to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to fund more social programs. There’s also Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who recently suggested (not advocated) that the minimum wage should be $22 an hour,” the Beast notes. “And President Obama also seems to have joined this movement with his recent push to address income inequality and raise the minimum wage–both of which Obama is expected to name as priorities in his State of the Union address later this month.”

The Daily Beast notes that the rise of the Democratic “Tea Party” that attacks centrist Democrats who favor Wall Street and crony capitalism “may not be good for the Democratic Party, at least if success is measured by electoral victories.”

The Beast also notes that the Republican civil war did not happen overnight and only started when the Tea Party started to win victories. That success, the Daily Beast notes, “emboldened and inspired Republicans” to not be co-opted by the Washington establishment.

Unlike the Republican Tea Party that favors limited government, the new left wants to double down on government spending even as the country faces a fiscal crisis. The Beast notes that, for instance, “New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will deliver his State of the State address, in which he’s expected to lay out his most progressive agenda ever as governor, including spending $100 million more on social programs.”

All of this could force Hillary Clinton to go so far to the left in the 2016 primary that it may be hard for her to come back to the center. Groups like the Third Way, composed of centrist Democrats, are already fretting, saying Warren and de Blasio’s economic policies would be electorally “disastrous” for Democrats.