Why Big Business Backs the Democrats — and why we shouldn’t

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“We must support the Democrats so we can continue to live like Republicans.” – Henry Ford II

The Republicans have traditionally been the preferred party of big business, but in moments of political crisis corporate America has frequently turned to the Democrats to pull them through. With the Republicans imploding under the impact of Bush’s toxically unpopular policies, the more farsighted capitalist strategists are looking to the Democrats to channel public outrage safely into the ballot box.

In this context, Obama is providing, as Chris Hedges put it, “Hope for Corporate America.” With distrust for Republicans reaching a ferocity not seen since Watergate, the GOP’s continued control of the White House would be a liability for big business. These days, every initiative proposed by Bush provokes sharp public scrutiny and protest. A McCain presidency would inherit Bush’s tarnished legacy, on the war especially, which is why decisive sections of the wealthy elite have remained aloof from his campaign.

Instead, big business is leaning heavily Democratic in 2008. They hope Obama’s image as an uncorrupted agent of social change will allow his administration to lull working people into hopeful complacency even as he quietly pursues an essentially similar profit-driven agenda as Bush before him. Historically, this has been the main function of the Democrats, corporate America’s back-up party.

A Corporate Candidate

At an April fundraiser, Barack Obama explained that small givers “will have as much access and influence over the course and direction of our campaign that has traditionally been reserved for the wealthy and the powerful.” Obama’s impressive ability to convince working people of this lie has made him the front-runner for the White House, and earned him unprecedented cash flows from big business..

In April, a Washington Post investigation of Obama’s “national finance committee” exposed the real role of “the wealthy and the powerful” in his campaign. Made up largely of bundlers who have arranged donations of at least $200,000 each, the committee includes “partners from 18 top law firms, 21 Wall Street executives, and power brokers from Fortune 500 companies.” The committee’s 79 “members are made to feel part of the campaign’s inner workings through weekly conference calls and quarterly meetings,” a level of “access and influence” no small giver could ever hope for.

“Big money is starting to place a big bet on Barack Obama,” began a May 3rd report in the Wall Street Journal. “While he has trumpeted his broad base of small-dollar Internet donors, recent campaign finance documents show he is also drawing bigger checks from corporate contributors.”

The Dead End of Lesser-evilism

Corporate America trusts that an Obama presidency will use whatever good will it builds among antiwar activists, unions, people of color, and progressives in general, to prevent the rise of mass struggle against the war, against home foreclosures, against layoffs and budget cuts, and so on.

This was, after all, the experience of Bill Clinton’s presidency. After twelve years of Reagan and Bush Sr. there was tremendous grassroots enthusiasm for the man from Hope, Arkansas. For most workers, Clinton appeared to promise a new direction after 12 years of “Reaganomics.”

In practice, Clinton pushed forward the neo-liberal agenda of corporate America at an even faster pace than his Republican predecessors. Under Clinton: welfare was essentially dismantled, police funding and powers expanded leading to the near doubling of the prison population, business deregulation proceeded faster than ever, international free-trade agreements flourished, child poverty, homelessness, lowwage jobs, and the gap between rich and poor all grew, U.S. Sanctions killed over a million Iraqis by United Nations estimates, and the list goes on.

Good Cop, Bad Cop

Big business found Clinton particularly useful because, far more than the Republicans, the Democrats could maneuver leaders from the unions, civil rights and women’s groups, environmentalists and others to accept endless compromises. Even when Clinton did openly clash with the unions – for instance on NAFTA or welfare reform – the protests were muted and contained by the logic of lesser-evilism. If they called mass protests to expose and defeat Clinton’s vicious anti-worker policies, so they reasoned, this would only pave the way for a Republican victory.

In order to efficiently enforce its political will, the capitalist class needs both good cops and bad cops. While capitalist strategists are clear on the functions and methods of their two-party system, unfortunately most prominent left figures, union leaders, and strategists for our social movements remain terribly confused. Most, in fact, are lending their credibility to promote all manner of illusions in Obama rather than clearly warning of Obama’s corporate character. In coming years, this mistake will only undermine these leaders’ credibility as the most serious workers and youth witness the bitter betrayals that will inevitably flow from an Obama White House.

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