Bay Area

Opinion: A Bold Agenda of Change is Vital to Beating Donald Trump

Published

5 years ago

March 19, 2020

Sunday’s Democratic debate between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden made one thing clear: Sanders may not be winning the most states, but he is winning the message battle of direction and priorities. He represents where most Democrats are — in their hearts and their heads — on the issues. Former Vice President Biden is winning on electability — on the belief that he would be the better candidate to take on President Trump.

Pundits paint Biden as a moderate and Sanders as a radical, but Biden clearly understands that Sanders and the movement he has helped to galvanize represent the moral center — and slowly, incrementally if you will, he is moving that way.

Early on, Biden embraced Sanders’ proposal for a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Just before the debate, he announced his support for Elizabeth Warren’s plan to reform the bankruptcy bill that Biden helped write and pass. He announced he was moving toward Sanders’ position on making public universities tuition-free (although limiting the pledge by imposing a means test on who would be covered). During the debate, he boasted about what “Senator Sanders and I both agree we need — health care should be a right, not a privilege. We both agree we have to deal with student debt. We both agree we have a New Green Deal to deal with the existential threat that faces humanity. We disagree on the detail of how we do it. But we don’t disagree on the principle.”

Delighted to be united? Well. That word “detail” is covering dramatic differences. Sanders is for Medicare for all; Biden’s “public option” isn’t likely to cover everyone and will leave millions underinsured. Sanders is for making college tuition-free and eliminating student debt. Biden doesn’t get there. Sanders is serious about a Green New Deal — calling for investing trillions to move rapidly to meet the threat posed by climate change. Biden’s plan is much more modest, although he did, for the first time, agree that he was opposed to any new fracking.

Biden also announced in the debate for the first time that he would limit deportations of undocumented workers to those who committed felonies. He pledged that he would name a black woman to the Supreme Court (he said “courts,” but meant the former), something that Sanders had committed to me 10 days ago. Biden captured the headlines by committing to name a woman on his ticket. Sanders had already pledged to strongly consider an African American running mate.

Biden also agreed with Sanders that the government should ensure that people are made whole in the coronavirus crisis: that testing and treatment should be paid for by the government and that paychecks should be guaranteed, mortgages supported etc. Biden is essentially for Medicare for all in the crisis. He did not explain why a family that goes bankrupt when one member gets sick is less of a crisis for that family.

Biden, on the defensive for his vote for the Iraq War and for NAFTA and the corporate trade treaties that devastated America’s workers, went after Sanders for his early votes against gun control. He also bizarrely tried to indict Sanders for his praise for Cuba’s literacy program, or his statement of fact that China had been successful in reducing mass poverty. The latter statement, Biden argued hilariously, would shake our allies in South Korea and Japan. That turned what was coming uncomfortably close to red-baiting into just silliness.

When asked how he would reach out to engage the voters — particularly young voters and Latinos who have overwhelmingly supported Sanders — Biden whiffed, arguing that he already had a broad coalition that was voting for him in large numbers.

But Joe is a smart politician. He knows which way the wind is blowing. He can sense the growing demand for far more fundamental reforms than simply a return to the old politics.

His incremental embrace of elements of the Sanders-Warren agenda demonstrates that he is not impervious to that demand. That’s a good reason for Sanders to keep running and challenging Biden, even if Biden keeps winning more primaries and delegates. Contrary to the alarms of Democratic operatives and deep-pocket donors, embrace of a bold agenda of change is vital to victory against Donald Trump.

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

Posts by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

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Bay Area

Oakland Awarded $28 Million Grant from Governor Newsom to Sustain Long-Term Solutions Addressing Homelessness

Governor Gavin Newsom announced the City of Oakland has won a$28,446,565.83 grant as part of the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program. This program provides flexible grant funding to help communities support people experiencing homelessness by creating permanent housing, rental and move-in assistance, case management services, and rental subsidies, among other eligible uses.

Published

18 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao

Governor Gavin Newsom announced the City of Oakland has won a$28,446,565.83 grant as part of the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program.

This program provides flexible grant funding to help communities support people experiencing homelessness by creating permanent housing, rental and move-in assistance, case management services, and rental subsidies, among other eligible uses.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and the Oakland City Administrator’s Office staff held a press conference today to discuss the grant and the City’s successful implementing of the Mayor’s Executive Order on the Encampment Management Policy.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Bay Area

Pamela Price Appoints Deputy D.A. Jennifer Kassan as New Director of Community Support Bureau

On Monday, District Attorney Pamela Price announced Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan as the new director of the Community Support Bureau. Kassan has over 25 years of experience as an attorney and advisor for mission-driven enterprises including benefit corporations, low-profit limited liability companies, nonprofits, cooperatives, hybrid organizations, investment funds, and purpose trusts.

Published

18 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

On Monday, District Attorney Pamela Price announced Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan as the new director of the Community Support Bureau.

Kassan has over 25 years of experience as an attorney and advisor for mission-driven enterprises including benefit corporations, low-profit limited liability companies, nonprofits, cooperatives, hybrid organizations, investment funds, and purpose trusts.

Working in the DA’s new administration since 2023, Kassan was most recently assigned to the Organized Retail Theft Prosecution team.

Kassan has a master’s degree in City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. She received a National Science Foundation Fellowship from Yale Law School, and graduated from Yale Law School in 1995. She earned her B.A. in Psychology with a minor emphasis in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.

Kassan’s education, extensive legal background, list of notable accomplishments and impressive resume includes helping to found and lead multiple organizations to support community wealth building including:

Community Ventures, a nonprofit organization that promotes locally-based community economic development,
the Sustainable Economies Law Center, a nonprofit that provides legal information, training, and representation to support sustainable economies
the Force for Good Fund, a nonprofit impact investment fund
Crowdfund Main Street, a licensed portal for regulation crowdfunding
Opportunity Main Street, a place-based ecosystem building organization that supports under-represented entrepreneurs and provides education about community-based investing.

In addition, Kassan served as an elected member of the City Council of Fremont, California from 2018 to 2024, and on the Securities and Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies.

In 2020 she was named to the list of World-Changing Women in Conscious Business by SOCAP Global.

“We are excited to see Jenny accept the role as the new leader for the Community Support Bureau,” said Price. “She brings a wealth of talent, experience, and a vision to expand our office’s engagement with community groups and residents, that will level-up our

outreach programs and partnerships with local organizations with the aim of promoting crime prevention.

“We thank Interim CSB Director Esther Lemus, who is now assigned to our office’s

Restitution Unit, for her hard work and a great job fostering positive relationships between the DAO and the community.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Bay Area

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s Open Letter to Philip Dreyfuss, Recall Election’s Primary Funder

Oaklanders Defending Democracy, a group opposing the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, shared an open letter she wrote to Philip Dreyfuss of Farallon Capital, a coal hedge fund. According to Thao’s supporters, “Dreyfuss is the primary funder of the recall effort to remove her from office. He has not explained his motivations or answered one question about why he’s funding the recall or what his agenda is for Oakland.

Published

19 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao

Special to The Post

Publishers note: Oaklanders Defending Democracy, a group opposing the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, shared an open letter she wrote to Philip Dreyfuss of Farallon Capital, a coal hedge fund.

According to Thao’s supporters, “Dreyfuss is the primary funder of the recall effort to remove her from office. He has not explained his motivations or answered one question about why he’s funding the recall or what his agenda is for Oakland.

“All we know about him is his firm has invested over $2 billion in coal since 2022. Farallon Capital is a global hedge fund with $39 billion capital under management, headquartered in San Francisco, the supporters say.

The effort to recall Mayor Sheng Thao was built on top of an argument about a crime wave, pinning the blame for it on a newly elected Mayor. Now that crime has dropped massively, recall proponents are left with no compelling argument.

Oct. 30

Dear Philip Dreyfuss,

We haven’t met. As you know, I’m the Mayor of Oakland, elected in 2022 to serve and protect this city. Since stepping into office, I’ve tackled rising crime, homelessness, and budget challenges head-on, working tirelessly for Oakland’s future.

You are a hedge-fund manager and coal investor who doesn’t live in Oakland who is trying to buy our city government. But the people didn’t elect you, they elected me to protect them from people like you.

Shortly after my term began, you launched a campaign to remove me from office, pouring in nearly $500,000 of your own wealth. We’ll know the outcome of your campaign on Nov. 6, but let’s be clear about what’s at stake.

Since I took office, crime has dropped over 30%—we’re on track for less than 100 homicides for the first time since 2019, with 15,000 fewer crimes overall.

We’ve invested hundreds of millions into affordable housing, modernized our 911 system, streamlined construction permitting, and are fighting to make Oakland a safer and cleaner city.

If your recall succeeds, Oakland will see four mayors in just five years, another election for mayor the following year and a whopping $10 million cost to taxpayers. In other words, chaos. None of this will impact you because you don’t live here.

Oaklanders deserve to know who you are. I looked into your record and found that the hedge fund you help manage, Farallon Capital, has invested over $2 billion in coal since 2022.

For years, Oakland has stood tall against coal money threatening the health of West Oakland, Chinatown, Jack London and downtown.

Did you know that life expectancy in West Oakland is 7.5 years lower than the County average? Or that our children suffer from asthma at a rate twice as high as the rest of the County?

Philip, instead of trying to use your wealth to hijack our democracy and create chaos in our city you could have put your money where your mouth is.

Instead of investing in coal you could have invested in our young people—created scholarships for our college-bound kids, funded apprenticeships for those who want to learn a trade or helped rid our schools of lead.

Instead, you chose to divide us while you try to buy us. But I’m here to tell you, Philip, on behalf of the 450,000 residents of my city that Oakland is not for sale. NO to coal. NO to chaos. And NO to your selfish and self-serving recall.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, City Hall, Oakland