Norman Finkelstein: Was Obama an Intellectual Fraud?

to just
09:15
just let me enter a footnote but just in
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a site
09:20
it was very interesting to watch who
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pulled it off
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when he establishes his first campaign
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team
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it’s proof axelrod and gibbs
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they’re all white
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then
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he assembles the team of writers
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he has eight writers
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and lyd makes the point
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they’re all white males
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it’s very striking wouldn’t it strike
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you
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yes it has
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of eight writers
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eight
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including
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around three who just did comedy
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sketches because he was going on like
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you know the
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washington press club comedy night you
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know
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he couldn’t find one black writer
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through comedy yeah i think that was a
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really interesting point that you made
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that apparently none of the black
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comedians kind of passed muster to join
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to join the team and yes it’s something
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that i you know people have commented on
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and that you know as i listen to
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the kind of
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crooked media
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podcast
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family
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where a whole lot of people are have
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very lucrative careers now as the host
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of positive america etc because they
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were his speech writers
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and thinking about
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how none of those opportunities befall
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any any black people or any women in
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part because that’s not who barack obama
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to keep around him and put words in his
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mouth it’s really striking in his inner
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circle there were two blacks
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valerie jarrett
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who for all intents and purposes might
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as well have been white well why do you
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say that professor finkelstein well
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first of all
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valerie jarrett just physically let’s
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start with the physically okay but
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that’s but never how race operates in
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america okay okay let’s start there and
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then say finish there
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when her child was
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born
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the hospital administrator put the child
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down as white
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i went to law school with her child in
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fact actually
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one of the most notable moments of i was
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very quiet one all year she was a year
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or two ahead of me and one of the most
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notable moments of my 1l experience was
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a
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professor feldman who’s in the news for
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other reasons not so charmingly right
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now uh called on her and called her mrs
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gray which is about the biggest
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impression i ever made on anybody in
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that class
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so
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and she grew up
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and actually her her mother when her
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mother
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gave birth to her the administrator put
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down white so just at that level at that
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level but you’re right it’s that’s you
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can call it a trivial level because we
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have the one drop rule
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in the united states okay correct she
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she had nothing to do with black people
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why do you say that well because she was
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the mascot for richard daley
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when richard daley when she when the
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richard daley administration came along
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in chicago he appointed her on every
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board
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she was the head of the chicago housing
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authority she was the head of the
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chicago transit authority she was the
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the head of the the chair of the stock
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exchange they just used her for
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everything when she was the head of then
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she became part of this habitat company
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a private public um co-op cooperative
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she was
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she was a one-person gentrification
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machine so i think
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all the black neighborhoods chicago but
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that’s different
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when i challenged the idea that you said
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quote you know she has nothing to do
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with black people but that’s those are
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this is this is the thing you know i i
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all i do is sit around critiquing
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identity politics
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but there’s a
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but it’s a very
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when she is the only representative of
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black people in his inner circle
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she is the only one except for reggie
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love right i understand that but you
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can’t that is not the same thing the
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problem with valerie jarrett is that she
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doesn’t have good politics that connect
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with what the bulk of black voters want
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and need not because she’s light-skinned
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right that’s not the issue and not
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because of what her personal connection
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is no and it’s also not because you said
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she has nothing to do with black people
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i know nothing about her personal life
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who she hangs out with how she grew up
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or how much she has anything to do with
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black people so what i’m i’m not
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disagreeing with the substance of your
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critique of valerie jarrett but i’m just
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cautioning you to be careful especially
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since you aren’t black frankly something
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that that’s who he chose
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it’s right something
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if the leading intellect black
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intellectual in the united states is i
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think clearly hands down is cornell west
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and it’s very striking that obama
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couldn’t find any place for cornell west
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in his administration that tells me
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something
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it tells me something but he finds a
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place from valerie jarrett and the only
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other person is reggie love and reggie
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love it was just
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he was the gopher
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oh obama wants an exotic meal can you
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get it for him obama needs a new pair of
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shoes can you get it for him that’s how
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reggie loved it i actually i i liked
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reggie loves memoir because he didn’t
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give
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he used a memoir to talk about himself
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which i i kind of like even though of
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course there’s the praise for obama but
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it tells you something i don’t know why
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you wouldn’t want to see that
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that the people i don’t need
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i don’t think that you are hearing what
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my criticism is
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does it bother you that does it bother
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you
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that valerie jarrett sings the praises
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of al sharpton
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yes that is a substantive critique of
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valerie jarrett valerie jarrett being
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light skinned her daughter being
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perceived as white as a kid it derails
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the rest of your argument that’s the
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point i’m trying to make
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it’s not helpful no i’m i’m telling you
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i’m telling you as someone who is
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sympathetic to your argument and who is
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perhaps the
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person outside of
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the reeds who has written most critique
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of identity politics on the left that
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there are aspects of what is written
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here that even alienate me and force me
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into a defensive posture that is
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unnecessary
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and you cannot you cannot you can choose
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not to care professor finkelstein that’s
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completely you’re right but we we could
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be talking about
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we could be talking about the
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substantive things that we agree with
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but we keep getting derailed because of
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these kind of assigns that do wait i’m
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sorry if i could just finish the
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sentence
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that do open you up to i think
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legitimate criticism that this isn’t
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about the substance but it’s about a
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personal animus for barack obama and i
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personally don’t have a personal animus
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barack obama beyond the extent to which
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he has failed to stand up for the
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promises that he made to the american
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people who are suffering
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at a historic level right now and
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particularly because he’s a black person
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who traded on
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his blackness in order to convince
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people without a lot of substance as
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you’ve written so persuasively
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to invest in him and to trust him with
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the future and the fate of the most
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historically marginal you know one of
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the most historically marginalized
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groups in this country that is my beef
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with barack obama but when you say
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things like i don’t find him interesting
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that’s fine you don’t have to i
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personally find him to be very
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interesting and deeply compelling and i
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i mean like the whole phenomenon i find
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to be fascinating
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but the i it begs the question you know
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why is it relevant whether you find them
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interesting and i find them just
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uninteresting i said i don’t think it’s
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relevant but it comes up you end up you
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said it i didn’t say it you said it and
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those kinds of asides and those frogs
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and detours i would put to you i would
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put to you
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set you up to be written off and set all
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of your critique to be written off
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as a personal vendetta as opposed to a
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substantive analysis which i think is
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very much here and that’s all that i it
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is that i’m flagging
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because
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um
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i don’t like
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identity politics
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why not
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why
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yeah i mean i don’t either but i want to
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hear i’m interested in hearing
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your
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analysis because
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i know enough young people
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not from the elite schools
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but
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young people who are
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struggling
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very hard
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now
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i had a wonderful life
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not in terms of professional success
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but enable
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in terms of being able to do with my
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life
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what i wanted to do
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you set a goal as a child a youth
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and then you
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are able to realize it
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i had a friend richard herskowitz
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he loved film
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he became a film uh impresario festivals
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organizing festivals
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larry spivak he was in the school band
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the orchestra leader
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he became the leader of the greenwich
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orchestra
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then there’s the whole slew who became
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doctors
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that was their goal and there were quite
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a few just money in wall street
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this generation
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they
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it’s the very rare person outside the 20
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the 20 will make it
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the 80
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who i know
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they’re not going to see anything in
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their lives it’s very hard for me to
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tell them that
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i um
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often they’re asking me what do you
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think i should do where do you think i
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should go
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i don’t even know what to counsel
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anymore
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because i don’t see any prospects at all
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so
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to me
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this identity politics
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it’s a complete and total
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diversion
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from anything meaningful
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and substantive
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for the young people i know who are poor
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who live four to a room
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in new york
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or four to an apartment in new york
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who struggle each month
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to make the rent
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who keep down
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three dead end jobs
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with no job security no vacation no sick
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benefits nothing nothing
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and then
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juxtaposed to that
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is this idiotic
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identity politics
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which
20:10
so far as
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the young people i know
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has absolutely no meaning
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no
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substance
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whatsoever
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so i just want to make sure i understand
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what you’re really
20:25
one last thought sure
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it was very striking to me
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the
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juxtaposition of the obama campaign
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with the bernie campaign
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the obama campaign was just
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elect obama it was just all focused on
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electing this person president
20:49
the bernie campaign
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was entirely focused on his platform
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everybody the moment he thought bernie
20:58
you thought first medicare for all
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student debt
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abolish tuition
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jobs
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and infrastructure
21:08
it was an identity politics campaign
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juxtaposed against
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a class politics
21:17
it was a very in my opinion
21:21
a very striking juxtaposition
21:25
most people like bernie not because they
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had any particular
21:29
affection for him
21:31
but because they trusted him they knew
21:33
this guy’s been in politics for 40 years
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he’s been saying the same thing since
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the 1970s
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so they figured okay the guy is the real
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thing he’s the real deal uh that’s the
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kind of politics
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that’s always interested me
21:50
i care i care about the fate of humanity
21:53
i do
21:54
i don’t much care about abram x candies
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um
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hair
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it doesn’t much interest me
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is uh
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these are fashion shows
22:08
this is not scholarship
22:10
it’s not politics
22:13
it’s
22:14
tamika mallory doing cadillac
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commercials
22:19
it’s
22:20
patrice coolers
22:23
buying her four homes and then taking
22:25
the money and run
22:28
it’s also
22:30
beyond the scam
22:33
it’s really destructive
22:37
i was out every night
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during the george floyd demonstrations i
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was the only one over there was nobody
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over
22:44
[Music]
22:45
there was literally over 30 at the
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demonstrations because it was jaren
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covert
22:50
so i was the only one
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not for my age cohort
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for four decades
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after 35
22:59
three decades
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and what was most striking to me
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a veteran as it were of demonstrations
23:08
i had never seen
23:10
such anger among the whites the young
23:12
white people
23:15
it was not this kind of no bless oblige
23:18
solidarity with black people no
23:21
it was solidarity
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however
23:25
it was we’re all in this together
23:29
and it was very striking
23:31
let’s say the
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uh barclays center
23:35
which is the big center in downtown
23:37
brooklyn
23:38
here were the cops lined up
23:41
and here were
23:42
the demonstrators
23:45
and
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there would be the white women
23:49
and there was such a fierce
23:52
anger
23:54
they were screaming it was not the most
23:56
sophisticated
23:58
of the of slogans they were shouting
24:00
nypd sucked my dick nyc
24:04
so angry
24:07
and
24:08
you you could see
24:10
it was the rage against the machine
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that the police were the symbols
24:16
of this whole
24:18
system
24:21
that left them with no future
24:24
a futureless future
24:26
and there was real potential there
24:29
it was real
24:31
black and white
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solidarity
24:35
as i had never before seen it
24:38
and it was very
24:40
inspiring
24:42
to see it because it wasn’t fake it
24:43
wasn’t the martha’s vineyard
24:47
it wasn’t performing
24:48
it was real
24:50
because a lot of these kids you know how
24:52
do you find a place in new york there
24:54
are three people they need a roommate
24:57
so a person comes along they randomly
24:59
choose them there is like a co-op
25:01
screening you know what i mean
25:03
so you have
25:05
every different type living together
25:08
a black person a white person a gay
25:10
person the trans person through living
25:12
together
25:13
there was a real sense of
25:15
community there you know recognition
25:17
that blacks are getting shafted more
25:19
than
25:19
everybody else but we’re all getting
25:22
shafted by this system
25:24
and the identity politics wrecks all
25:27
that it destroys it
25:30
by
25:31
by
25:32
balkanizing
25:34
the
25:36
solidarity
25:37
creating this competitiveness
25:40
who is the most oppressed
25:43
among the group
25:45
who should get bumped to the head of the
25:47
queue
25:48
it’s such a destructive
25:51
politics
25:52
i was a maoist
25:54
in my youth i made many errors
25:57
i’m perfectly willing to
26:00
acknowledge them
26:02
but there are things about that period
26:04
that i look back and they make sense
26:07
mao’s famous slogan was unite the many
26:09
to defeat the few
26:12
unite the many to defeat the few
26:15
the slogan of identity politics is
26:18
disunite the many to enable the few
26:21
to create enough divisions
26:23
fragmentations
26:25
and so forth
26:27
uh it’s a very destructive
26:30
and at the end of course the whole
26:32
identity politics in the george floyd
26:34
demonstrations what do they what
26:36
happened instead of putting forth a
26:39
slogan which could have united people
26:41
the obvious slogan was
26:43
justice meaning justice against the cops
26:45
and jobs because all these people don’t
26:47
have work
26:49
instead of justice and jobs
26:51
it came to
26:52
pummeling
26:54
statues of
26:55
whomever they were pulling down
26:58
and if you were if you attended those
27:00
demonstrations i don’t know if you did
27:03
by the third week the first week it was
27:06
50 50 50 black 50 not black
27:11
by the third week it was about 80 10 80
27:15
white
27:16
the black people sort of
27:18
it wasn’t going anywhere and they
27:20
started to disappear
27:22
and then the whole craziness with the
27:24
statues started
27:26
and then the whole thing just fizzled
27:27
out
27:29
i had there right well i think that the
27:30
i mean there’s a lot to be said about
27:32
those protests and we’ve said some of it
27:33
on the show i would dispute that it
27:35
fizzled out i think that there were a
27:36
lot of things that happened there was
27:38
the media turned on the protests and
27:41
started characterizing them
27:43
as kind of unhinged and violent and that
27:46
the ongoing protests were direct
27:49
um
27:50
there was going to be a direct trade-off
27:51
between the george floyd
27:54
movement policing movement
27:56
and
27:58
joe biden’s electoral chances and that
28:00
deflated some energy out of it and there
28:02
was an unwillingness of figureheads as
28:04
you’ve pointed to to actually stick that
28:06
landing and create any real use it for
28:09
any real leverage in an electoral
28:10
context in the middle of a journal
28:12
election and there was a lot of there
28:13
was a lot going on there
28:15
but um i want to bring this back uh
28:18
to
28:19
the subject to hand and ask you then
28:23
in a broader critique of identity
28:24
politics why is it that you felt the
28:27
need to write a chapter on barack obama
28:30
especially if to your point the younger
28:32
generations let’s say the under 40 crowd
28:35
is pretty woke and hip to
28:38
the
28:39
failures of obama
28:42
and doesn’t need need the pitch who who
28:44
is this who is this for hey youtube
28:47
don’t forget this is a podcast to get
28:49
full episodes including ones that are
28:51
behind a pay wall go to patreon.com bad
28:55
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please do subscribe to this channel hit
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video
29:03

Democrats Elect Tom Perez as Party Chairman

Former Labor secretary, backed by party establishment, defeated Keith Ellison from the party’s populist wing

To help heal the division, Mr. Perez in declaring victory immediately appointed Mr. Ellison as the party’s vice chairman. Mr. Ellison practically begged his supporters to remain in the party and back Mr. Perez.

.. “It is imperative that Tom understands that the same-old, same-old is not working and that we must open the doors of the party to working people and young people in a way that has never been done before,” Mr. Sanders said.

..Keith Ellison was uniquely qualified to transform that anger and fear into political power and organization.”
.. Despite Mr. Ellison’s grass-roots support, large segments of the DNC remained mistrustful of Mr. Sanders, a registered independent whose supporters are aiming to transform the party by installing his acolytes in party posts.
.. The Perez victory ends a four-month campaign to lead the party that few Democrats had expected. Had Mrs. Clinton been elected president, as virtually all DNC members here thought would happen, she would have served as the head of the party and named the new leadership.
.. Mr. Perez has a résumé long on government experience and short on political campaigning.
.. Mr. Perez worked in the Justice Department’s civil-rights division under President Bill Clinton and during President Barack Obama’s first term. In 2013, Mr. Obama named Mr. Perez to lead the Labor Department, a post that made him a favorite of labor unions and liberal activists. But as a member of the Obama cabinet, Mr. Perez backed the Trans Pacific Partnership and other trade deals opposed by the party’s base.
.. He entered the DNC race weeks after Mr. Ellison with the encouragement of Obama allies
.. Haim Saban, an Israeli-American donor who funded the construction of the DNC’s Washington headquarters, in December publicly called Mr. Ellison “clearly an anti-Semite.”
.. Mr. Perez’s association with Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton was a liability for him with liberals and new voters brought to the party by Mr. Sanders’s presidential campaign. These voters are looking for a revamp of a party structure they see as too beholden to corporate interests.
.. Mr. Perez adopted much of the rhetoric of the Sanders movement and other critics of the Obama-era DNC, calling for a return to an emphasis on grass roots organizing, and a 50-state strategy that does more to channel money to state parties. Behind the scenes, though, Mr. Perez drew on the strength of the Obama network. He was endorsed by former Vice President Joe Biden and former Attorney General Eric Holder. Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett made phone calls to wavering DNC members.