The battle for Hillary Clinton’s heart

One of the major stories of the early stages of the 2016 presidential race will be the battle for the heart and strategy of Hillary Clinton. To understand the broad contours of this intellectual and political debate, check out my new column in The Hill, where I propose that Clinton champion a call for full employment, and the recent Contributors piece by Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute, who suggests that Democrats downplay what he calls “tired old ideas” such as raising the minimum wage.

I do not disagree with everything Marshall suggests, but I do not consider raising the minimum wage a tired old idea — I consider it a timeless idea at the heart of what Democrats stand for and which has vast appeal across the political spectrum. Marshall is wrong — Democrats should not downplay the idea of raising the minimum wage; they should fight harder for it, and escalate the battle to a call for full employment with fair wages for all workers.

{mosads}Marshall suggests that raising the minimum wage “polls well.” He may not be aware of this, but raising the minimum wage also brings out voters — lots of male and female voters, voters of all races in all regions of America — who support ballot initiatives that have passed in red states, blue states and purple states.

Democrats should push for ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage in every state where state law allows it, and fight for raising the minimum wage on the floors of the House and Senate. The idea that Democrats should downplay an idea that is so deeply part of our tradition and so wildly popular with men and women of all races in red and blue states is one of the worst ideas in memory. Marshall cites the fact that what he calls a tired old idea originated under President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s. I cite that fact as a badge of honor for Democrats.

Marshall suggests that Democrats need new ideas. I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I suggested in my column — along with proposing the old idea that full employment should be a leading policy for Hillary Clinton — that Clinton should gather leading economic thinkers to devise major new plans to create full employment for all Americans.

The difference between Marshall and me over the minimum wage involves a larger and very fundamental debate about the future of the Democratic Party and the nature of a Hillary Clinton campaign for president. I believe I speak for a large majority of Democrats in this debate, and a majority of voters generally, and a majority of voters in red states and blue states alike. Championing full employment with fair wages will be a pathway to renewal for the Democratic Party and a pathway to a brilliant presidency for Hillary Clinton.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at brentbbi@webtv.net.