For the good of humanity the Corporate wing of the Democratic Party must die. Paul Rosenberg, our old friend from Open Left and My DD has an excellent summary and analysis of our current dilemma Wrong-Way Democrats: Will a 'Blue Dog' Blue Wave Pave the Way for Future Disaster?
Democrats will win big this fall (probably). But are they just repeating the mistakes of the Clinton-Obama era?

The problem:

In short, that's how we wound up with "progressive neoliberalism," which “combined an expropriative, plutocratic economic program with a liberal-meritocratic politics of recognition.” That's what Bill Clinton and the “New Democrats” put in place in the 1990s, and at least arguably what Barack Obama continued for the most part, even after the financial crash and the Great Recession exposed its flawed foundations. In the 2016 election, progressive neoliberalism was confronted by populism on two fronts -- from the Bernie Sanders left and the Donald Trump right -- and paid the price.

The seriously flawed identity politics solution of Democratic Neoliberalism:

One way to make sense of what's going on more broadly in our politics was recently laid out by Nancy Fraser, a professor of philosophy and politics at the New School, in a recent issue of American Affairs, From Progressive Liberalism to Trump and Beyond

To explain where we are and how we got here, Fraser employs Antonio Gramsci's concept of "hegemony," meaning “the process by which a ruling class naturalizes its domination by installing the presuppositions of its own worldview as the common sense of society as a whole.” The key to that process is “the 'hegemonic bloc': a coalition of disparate social forces that the ruling class assembles and through which it asserts its leadership.”

Here's the con in a nutshell:

Although the economic and social ideology we now call "neoliberalism" came from the right, she explains, “the right-wing 'fundamentalist' version of neoliberalism could not become hegemonic in a country whose common sense was still shaped by New Deal thinking, the 'rights revolution,' and a slew of social movements descended from the New Left. For the neoliberal project to triumph, it had to be repackaged, given a broader appeal, linked to other, noneconomic aspirations for emancipation.”

And the DNC failure:

On the other hand, the party's core political functionaries remain wedded to a backward-looking and demonstrably failed model. Despite polling that suggests strong swing-district support for a progressive economic agenda, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is trying to win with a bevy of “me too” GOP-lite candidates. That may well work in the short run, as it did most dramatically in the wave elections of 2006 and 2008, but could set the party up for further failure in office and deeper disillusion down the road. (See my look back at the elections of 1994 and 2010.) How did we get here? Largely by way of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and the big GOP victories of 1994 and 2010

Here's the issue reality:

Remember that polling data I mentioned? It came from Celinda Lake, polling for the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, Democracy for America, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Roosevelt Forward. According to Lake's memo, the poll of voters in 30 swing districts finds that progressive Democrats have a tremendous opportunity "to run and win on progressive policies."

She continues: "We found that in these districts, mostly held by Republican incumbents, voters enthusiastically support progressive policies and progressive messaging works, both to persuade swing voters and to mobilize the base."

The most intensely popular policies focus on prescription drugs, health care, infrastructure, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and cracking down on Wall Street, and these policies were popular with both swing voters and surge voters [i.e., hardcore anti-Trump Democrats].

Prescription drugs are so popular that they are seen as a core value across all demographics, with even 66% of Republicans strongly in support of allowing Medicare to negotiate prices like the VA.

Covering old ground, here at c99p we already know that a huge majority of Americans favor progressive solutions:

Initially, Lake found Democrats lead Republicans on a generic ballot by 11 points (46 to 35 percent) with a similar enthusiasm gap among strong supporters (38 to 27 percent). After exposure to those progressive policy proposals, the Democratic lead rose to 18 points (49 to 31 percent). Lake's report concludes: “This shift includes expanding the margin with white non-college voters from +5 points to +9 points from the initial (43% Democrat, 38% Republican) to the final (45% Democrat, 36% Republican) ballot.”

This is an enlightening observation on the Feinstein/de Leon race in California:

Along with most other observers, Miller expects de León to finish second to Feinstein in the primary election -- but remember, that means they will face each other again in the fall. "The more people learn about him the less they'll vote for Dianne Feinstein,” Miller concluded.

It's a long way to November. This battle and others like it will serve as a foil to demonstrate the popularity of progressive issues and the failure of the Democratic Party. The battle must and will continue in the two years leading up to the 2020 election.

I have merely skimmed the surface of Rosenberg's article. Read the whole thing for an overview of specific primary races and problems.