When President Obama passed the baton to his chief antagonizer, Donald Trump, in January 2017, he was also handing him a legacy that, above all else, solidified American hegemony.

When Democrats bristle at President Trump’s mass deportation regime, what often goes unsaid is that Obama himself earned the unfortunate distinction of “Deporter-in-Chief” for his historic number of immigration deportations.

When Democrats grouse over Trump’s loosening of engagement restrictions on the battlefield, they often forget that Obama escalated America’s drone wars and expanded the country’s war footing in the Middle East and Africa, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths.

When Democrats condemn Trump’s attacks on the media, partisan blinders are activated, preventing them from recalling Obama’s unprecedented war on whistleblowers. It was only a few years ago, in fact, when former New York Times investigative reporter James Risen referred to Obama as the greatest threat to press freedom “in a generation.”

This all being said, Trump’s incompetence, aversion to the truth, misogyny, and racist rhetoric — whether regarding Charlottesville, his Muslim ban, or likening Central American migrants to an invading army for political purposes — has made him a particularly revolting figure in the eyes of most Democrats.

It’s that disdain for Trump, and everything he represents, that may make it difficult for many Democrats to look beyond Obama’s soaring oratory, deft ability to heal during moments of tragedy, and his even-keeled demeanor, and acknowledge his many blemishes. And it’s hard to understate what Obama symbolized as the nation’s first African American president.

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and senior staff, react in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, as the House passes the health care reform bill, March 21, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

As the tumultuous midterm elections careened to an uncertain outcome amid a horrific anti-Semitic attack in Pittsburgh and a bomb plot targeting prominent Democrats and Trump critics, Obama returned to the trail to stump for some of the most inspiring Democratic candidates in recent memory. During a rally in Florida for Bernie Sanders-backed gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, Obama characterized the election as a fight for the soul of the nation. The first black president was campaigning for a man hoping to become Florida’s first black governor against the backdrop of a torrent of racist attacks.

To many Americans, that’s what Election 2018 would represent. Either, this is Trump country — where white nationalists are emboldened and norms are crushed — or a nation defined by its diversity and purported democratizing ideals. For the latter to prevail, the thinking went, it would take a Democratic “wave” to serve as a check on a reality TV star-turned-president who simultaneously applauds despots and admonishes allies.

Politicos have debated whether major Democratic victories can be characterized as a true “blue wave.” Such a distinction is entirely subjective, but the facts suggest a strong Democratic performance in the midterms. The popular vote margin on election night was well in Democrats’ favor and the party is in line to take between 35 and 40 House seats when all the votes are counted. The party also won key gubernatorial races, none bigger, both symbolically and practically, than in Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker, an unapologetic union buster, was unseated.

“The modern-day Democrats, it’s not clear what’s changing here. We seem to keep going through this cycle of ‘Hope and Change’ and then throwing people under the bus, and the Democrats are full of promises when they don’t have power. -Dr. Jill Stein, former Green Party presidential candidate

Now the question for Democrats is what will they do with their newfound power? Will the old guard embrace its diverse freshman class, including self-described Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Or will the Pelosi-Schumer wing of the party consolidate control and retreat back to entrenched neoliberalism, which enriches its corporate overlords and billionaire campaign contributors? Perhaps most importantly: Is it even possible for Democrats to represent a “true” left — one in which capitalism is eschewed for investments in public schools, infrastructure, and the poor and middle class — when their interpretation of “progressivism” is resisting Trump and championing moderate social policies?

Modern political history suggests a splintered Congress will result in little, if anything, tangible being accomplished. Also hanging over this dysfunctional White House and the president’s distinctly corrupt cabinet, is the Russia investigation. Team Mueller will no doubt re-emerge with new indictments, likely paralyzing Washington yet again.

In the run-up to the election, News Beat podcast interviewed some of the foremost minds outside the two-party bubble, including perennial Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Chris Hedges; Richard D. Wolff, professor emeritus at University of Amherst and renowned economic commentator; and Glen Ford, an acclaimed journalist and executive editor of Black Agenda Report, an online media site providing news, commentary and analysis from the black left. The interviews were conducted in collaboration with Left Forum, a New York City-based nonprofit that hosts an annual conference focused on progressive ideals.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore)

GOING GREEN

Stein has been one of the biggest critics of the Democratic Party for years. Her presidential campaigns serve as a rebuke to Democrats and the two-party system more generally.

Stein had just wrapped up a bus tour in which she stumped for Green candidates, including Howie Hawkins, a gubernatorial candidate in New York, when we talked.

Under the premise that Democrats would retake the House, which polls accurately suggested would be the result, Stein questioned what, if anything, would change inside the Democratic establishment. She didn’t have to go back that long to remember a time in which Democrats wielded power in Washington, yet failed working people.

“The modern-day Democrats, it’s not clear what’s changing here. We seem to keep going through this cycle of ‘Hope and Change’ and then throwing people under the bus, and the Democrats are full of promises when they don’t have power,” Stein said. “The Democrats are very big on promises until they have the power. As Obama did, for example, when he had two Democratic houses of Congress, as well as the White House, and in the face of the worst economic disaster in modern times, what did they do? They bailed out Wall Street and through working people under the bus.”

Stein unwittingly became part of the story after Trump’s shocking election victory and the ensuing Russia hysteria. Predictably, Stein was attacked by Democrats for allegedly siphoning votes from Hillary Clinton. That in itself reflected deep-seated arrogance within the party for assuming Stein voters would’ve instead chosen Clinton if she weren’t on the ballot.

“Is the Democratic party anyway represented of the Left? It’s not even representative of the traditional liberal establishment.” -Chris Hedges, Pultizer Prize-winning journalist

Also, Stein was captured in a now-infamous photo that included Trump’s short-lived national security adviser Gen. Michael Flynn, who has since been indicted in the Mueller probe, seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the photo emerged, Senate investigators wanted to learn more from Stein. An NBC News article sums up the establishment view of Stein, characterizing her as a Putin stooge. Their evidence? The aforementioned photo and Stein’s regular appearances on RT, an alternative news outlet funded by the Kremlin. (For those unfamiliar with RT, it’s the same network that employs former CNN host Larry King.)

“Democrats in charge of the House are, you know, shall we say, will most certainly be continuing their agenda in the fight for that House,” she said. “We saw Democrats blaming and shaming independent voters, focusing on Trump-hating and Russia-baiting, attacking Trump from the right, not tough enough on North Korea, on Russia, on Syria, no room really in that agenda to be attacking Trump for betraying working people and advocating for working people.”

Stein likened what Democrats have done in recent years to former President Clinton’s deregulation of banks in the 1990s. Last March, 13 Democratic senators voted to rollback Dodd-Frank reform that was created in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Likewise, the same anxiety-filled Democrats who warned an erratic Trump couldn’t be trusted with the nuclear codes overwhelmingly supported a measure to inject hundreds of billions of dollars in defense spending. And after weeks of making a case against Brett Kavanaugh to be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Democrats, led by Schumer, struck a deal with Republicans to fast-track confirmation of 15 conservative federal judges — a deal that allowed Democrats to get a head start on campaigning.

Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

There are already signs of Democrats moving rightward. In September, Pelosi proposed reinstituting the so-called “pay-go” rules that require any spending measure automatically include budget cuts elsewhere, angering progressives.

Just this week, Ocasio-Cortez joined a group of environmental activists protesting outside Pelosi’s office in Washington, and the presumed future speaker of the House said she was “inspired” by their “energy” and had recommended the House “reinstate the select committee to address the climate crisis” — seen by many on the left as a token gesture.

After last week’s elections, the progressive base of the Democratic Party will welcome more than a dozen new colleagues. It’s too soon to say whether they’ll challenge their party leaders, and even Ocasio-Cortez was criticized for saying Democrats had to fall in line behind Gov. Andrew Cuomo during his re-election bid.

Still, the fact that she and some of her new colleagues chose to join activists while they were in Washington for Congressional orientation suggested her voice will be impossible for the establishment to ignore.

The question heading into January: Will the outspoken AOC and others like her be able to re-imagine progressivism inside the Democratic Party?

FUTURE OF THE LEFT