U.S. Rep. Kennedy: Democrats must heed voters’ economic fears
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
BOSTON >> He’s heir to a famed political family that traces its roots back to Boston’s bare-knuckled campaigns when Democratic ward bosses kept a close ear to the city’s narrow streets and tenement hallways.
Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy says contemporary party leaders could take a page from that history by listening harder to the economic worries of Democratic voters who bolted the party in November.
It’s not always an easy message for Democrats still reeling from Donald Trump’s win to hear, especially in a state that handed Hillary Clinton a 27-point margin.
But Kennedy said Democrats have little choice.
“There was a message sent on this Election Day where many voters that had traditionally come back home to the Democratic Party didn’t,” Kennedy told The Associated Press. “I think not taking the time to ask the question why, to listen to their response, and to try to understand why we lost some folks that had been in support of Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party for so long is folly.”
Kennedy said Democrats can do that while also sticking to their progressive roots, including standing up for “people that feel marginalized and voiceless.”
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“We’ve got a proud history of that and we should never back away from that,” he said. “You can do that while also recognizing there are an awful lot of people in our country hurting and that we have to do a better job addressing the economic needs of working class and middle class voters.”
Kennedy — the grandson of Attorney General Robert Kennedy and grandnephew of President John F. Kennedy — said he’s willing to work with Republicans, emulating the political deal-making his great-uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy, used to build coalitions across party lines.
Kennedy said there are few other options for a member of a minority party in an institution where bills need Republican support to pass.
“You’ve got to fight, but you’ve got to also try to move an agenda forward,” he said. “If you’re just out there screaming and yelling, there are people out there who need help and need help now and they deserve progress, too.”
Kennedy’s pragmatism was also at the root of his decision to attend the Trump inauguration out of respect for the presidency, while dozens of other House Democrats refused.
His more measured tone contrasts to others in the party like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has positioned herself as a top political foil to President Trump.
Kennedy’s 4th Congressional District is a microcosm of Massachusetts, encompassing communities like Newton where Trump got just 17 percent of the vote to Rehoboth, where Trump received 53 percent.
One of the biggest political questions in Massachusetts politics is where Kennedy may be headed in the future.
For now, all he’ll say is he’s planning to run for a third term in 2018.
21 responses to “U.S. Rep. Kennedy: Democrats must heed voters’ economic fears”
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Time to put on your big boy pants snowflake and face it and move on your party lost the election and the people won. Kennedy won the electorial votes but lost the popular vote but did the republicans cry like you? no. Face it Trump will do more in Two years for American than Obama did in eight and you can’t take it. Those people on CNN and MSNBC got to also face it as their ratings continue to drop they got to get back to reporting real news or they won’t be around soon.
What are you talking about? Kennedy received 112,827 (0.17%) more votes than Nixon nationwide. He also won the electoral college.
We shall see if the Donald does more than Obama in two years. Just exactly what do you expect to see happen? Can you be specific?
The Donald is getting off to a wonderful start with protest marches dwarfing his inaugural. But he might do something good. Time will tell.
IRT Peter (aka Boots), and what truly happened to your repeated economic news that Hawaii born ex-President Obama created? I guess no one on the liberal democratic side were listening. Voices like yours were the trees in the forest and therefore, your people did not vote. Representative Kennedy makes a lot of sense, don’t you think?
I didn’t support everything Obama did but on the whole I think he was a pretty good president, The stock market did rise over a thousand points while unemployment fell. We shall see how the Donald does.
Yes many democrats did not vote but not all due to choice. See GregPalast.com
But be proud that republicans have succeeded in restricting voting. That is true democracy, just like in Russia. lol
Boots, lead, follow or get out of the way. Your vitriol isn’t worth 2 cents. It accomplishes nothing.
The stock market rose because there was a scheme going, never seen before in US history on any scale like this, in which massive amounts of money were being printed up and borrowed out at almost zero rates.
This is very good for investors, and that in part explains the stock market, but it does not build a sustainable economic base.
It also robs from those who are living on saved capital, such as the retired and elderly.
At some point, the piper has to be paid.
Republicans love fake news. It supports what they’ve been saying.
Not Fake News it is “Alternative Facts” LOL lies!
if there is a brand name that will rally democrats back to the voting booth it’s kennedy. any kennedy. smart to make his name available for the media to churn and fawn over.
Very nice of SA to give a platform to some east coast statist. Now all he has to do is drive his car off a bridge killing a woman and he’ll be guaranteed a seat in the ruling class. So I ask again why is SA giving this statist punk a voice?
Because people like you go crazy and its fun to watch!
Why does the SA or any media think that we care what this Kennedy or that Clinton think? The Kennedy Family, or Bush or Clinton or anybody. I look at where the ‘ruling families’ have taken us and I’m sick and tired of being told who to vote for. I’ll figure it out on my own thank you very much. This last election was a wake-up call for BOTH parties. It’s time that elected government officials (INCLUDING the state of Hawaii) remember they work for the people. DO YOUR JOB.
You can celebrities to the list. Elected officials need to care for all people, not only those in the coastal areas [the reason why Dems lost so much ground in the elections]. As for Hawaii, the politicians are in never never land and not working on real issues that face us today. Not worth getting into since they don’t care.
Wow…Amazing. At least he’s a Dem that isn’t blaming anyone but the Dems themselves. Finally some sensibility from one of them instead of whining, boycotting, and pointing fingers at everyone else.
Fun fact on media bias. These are biased towards the left/democrats: ABC, Bloomberg, Buzzfeed, CVS, CNBC, CNN, HONOLULU STAR ADVERTISER, NBC, New York Times, People Magazine, Politico, The Week [I thought of all media sources they’d be neutral; ugh], Yahoo news, etc. etc. Vast majority of the major media outlets including SA are left biased. Pretty amazing that Trump won and republicans across the nation won so many elections despite the media bias. But then again, many folks don’t trust the media. Neutral media sources? USA Today, Reuters, Financial Times … lot of foreign country sources.
The truth is that Democrats listen to special interests like Black Lives Matter, Non-profits like HRC or labor unions, or caucuses within their own party like the environmental caucus. These groups have taken over party leadership and we all party members hate to criticize our brothers and sisters of the other groups. What little conflict we have is magnified in calling “like herding cats”.
Poor rural whites do not have a special interest strongly within the party. Part of the reason is that we have an intolerance of bigotry and extremism.
As an example, we should note the amount of grief that a Sanders supporter has gotten for her disrespect for our party and our Democratic leadership on N ational TV during the Democratic Convention. IIRC she has not responded to the Party committee dealing with her behavior.
We cannot tolerate disrespect and abuse from any member. But, hopefully, we can learn to tolerate dissension. The other problem with this committee is that it should include members outside normal party lines like our politicians themselves. These outsiders generally do not want to take sides and hate to be caught in the middle of these disagreements, but perhaps that is the best time to ask our retired kupuna for their opinions. They have nothing to lose for speaking their minds.
Representative Kennedy is saying that politicians need to listen directly to these unrepresented groups even if no one is lobbying for them.
Wiliki BS times 1million times
Nope Kennedy is giving good advice – not BS.
I think it may be over for the Democratic party, and maybe the Republican also.
The Democrats became the party of the you know what’s and the you know who’s.
The Republicans had crazy ideas like privatizing Social Security, which ruins the very idea of it.
The ordinary decent hard-working American was no longer of interest to either one.
The Democrats were in love with their own words, their grand generalizations and their demeaning categories.
Trump may have reformulated the Republican party as the people’s party.
Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats were any longer the people’s party.
In his inauguration speech there wasn’t the usual hot air about progressivism and conservatism.
Just problems and let’s get them solved. Real problems, not someone’s make-believe world agenda.
At the National Prayer Service the next day, I heard he asked for no sermon.
Instead he had about 10-12 representatives of traditional faiths say a few words: rabbi, bahai, sikh, islam, protestant, catholic, hindu.
I found it to be very moving.
The Democrats will try anything to resurrect their party, they still dont get it and can not believe that they lost and their party is in shambles. No one cares about the Kennedy’s any more. Their is a new sheriff in town and he is changing the face of Politics and the way things are done. The sooner the Democrats realize this the better of they will be but until then sit back and enjoy the ride you just might learn something.
Nope… the problem is not one that candidates are unaware of. They know the concerns of these unrepresented folks. These folks don’t have lobbyists so have gone unrecognized. No more. If the competition takes up the the populist case, then surely Democrats will lose. But just a little effort to campaign there will bring victory to Democrats the next go round – assuming Trump does some real st**id stuff.