I remember dining with a group of younger folks when Obama's star was rising during his first Presidential campaign. I was excited, too, but I hope it was realistic excitement. At that dinner, I told the younger folks that Obama, as President, would have to bomb enemy combatants and civilians would die. They weren't happy with me. And I've been saying the same about Kamala Harris. She's also gonna have to bomb enemy combatants and civilians will be killed. And people aren't happy with me for saying it. I'm talking about the extremes here but your post reminds me of the more subtle and bureaucratic ways that Presidents, even the ones we support, can create and help create damaging and destructive policies.
I’m glad that SOMEONE else is still pissed at Uber and the rest being so welcomed and glorying in their destruction. One of my favorite things about the Biden administration has been its actual opposition to monopolies and actual support for unions.
The only thing you left out, and honestly the thing that I am angriest at Obama for and will never forgive him is Arne goddamn Duncan and charter schools and “school choice” horseshit. He didn’t start the tilt but he embraced it fully and naively just like Cory Booker letting Facebook into Newark’s schools. The fuckers.
I don't have the beef with common core that so many who hate public education do. I don't like some aspects of it but that was not part of what I was critiquing. NCLB and "school choice" and state funded vouchers are all much more awful and deliberate hobbles to public education. It is clear from your own page that you are one of those people, and although it seems your viewpoint is from a place of hurt with which I sympathize, we don't have anything to talk about I'm afraid.
Fantastic! Beautiful hook. Ok, erasing my earlier placeholders. Actually thinking about a political economy that we are proud of is very difficult, on an individual basis and even more so publicly. So the deep synergies between "progressive" Democratic politics and progressive (with a vengeance) Silicon Valley are hard to parse, and imho make the Dems far less democratic than many, maybe, sincerely believe -- much of what passes strikes me as a stalking horse for unbridled capitalism. Anyway, longer conversation. For now, kudos and bravo.
Great post. Great comments here. Thanks. Pulls so much together. Reading all this helps me think through why I found speeches by the Obamas and the Clintons at the convention so upsetting. Lots goes back to Clinton and before that, maybe Gary Hart.
Trump has completely converted the Dems: it's all about name calling and vibes. And the narrative of both parties is about Trump. Whether or not he wins the election, and absent a transformative force I don't see, Trump has redefined American politics, and in that sense, won.
The Dems converted themselves. They could have chosen to be more substantive, more forward-looking, and less reactionary, all things that many voters want to see in major party leaders and candidates, but they unfortunately didn't.
Yes. Of course, nobody said “I agree with Trump that this is how we should conduct electoral politics.” But imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Definitely, I can see this being just imitation if it were just some of the speakers throughout the DNC, but it's been essentially everyone. Polymarket odds for the election have flipped and inched further in Trump's favor over the course of the DNC; that's how fed up voters, even Democrat ones, are of this pettiness and obsessiveness from Dem leaders while they simultaneously claim to be above it all.
If you want to do a follow up to this, I recommend you look at Ireland. That parallel universe where regulation stopped the decline of the taxi industry is here. Today, we have no Uber or Lyft. Their apps work here, but simply call into the same national taxi system that has always been there. The prices are regulated across the country by the government, as are the vehicles and their markings. Case in point? I got the train home from Dublin last week, and there when I stepped out was a taxi rank - cars waiting to go.
Admittedly this is perhaps more accident of previous regulation than reaction to Uber, but it is certainly one that has been attacked by Uber and defended against. And? That regulation means that the taxi industry is not viewed as being nearly so corrupt.
This is an important piece. The media echo chamber has been celebratory to a fault with Harris, reminiscent of the starry eyed treatment of Obama that fueled the 2008 Democratic victory. Within a year my optimism was gone. Joe Biden accomplished more in his first year than BO managed in eight. And Biden didn't illegally invade an Islamic nation (Libya) or perpetuate a forever war (Afghanistan). Biden ended it.
Now's a really good time to remind ourselves not being Trump or not being really old isn't a policy, a position or a commitment. Harris needs to start providing hard information and journalists need to get over the gush and ask specifics. Are we getting more Holders and Plouffes? I sure as hell don't want Trump but I don't want Obama Redux either. This country has huge problems. We know who couldn't address them when given the opportunity--let's find those who can.
💯 Biden is/has been truly for the people. I’d really like assurances that Kamala will be, too. It won’t change my vote, as I would never vote for Trump, but I don’t want another bait and switch, so I’d appreciate her transparency so I can manage my expectations.
No president since Roosevelt inherited the mess Biden did. We were all in lock down; the economy was in a free fall and unemployment was soaring. People were at risk of losing their homes or being thrown out of apartments. Biden provided relief and steady leadership.
I was leery of him at first--afraid he was too moderate. I was absolutely wrong. Biden showed us what caring about middle and working class people looks like. This country has seen government so meaningfully engaged since the Great Society. I agree he is now too old but I sincerely wish he wasn't.
I hope KH follows his lead. I hope she continues programs. Keep David Plouffe on his 5 corporate boards and in his Montecito McMansion.
Ross When are you going to write about the NYC retirees all 250000 of us— who are in jeopardy of losing our Medicare and being dumped into Medicare Advantage. We have won nine time in court over the last three years. Contact Marianne Pizzitola at nycretirees.org
Did the city ever attempt to make the taxi drivers whole or at least not leave them totally holding the bag? I remember reading a few of those stories where the immigrant taxi driver who thought he bought a piece of the American Dream ended up taking his own life. Sad stories.
I was very surprised when I saw high level Democrats signing up to lobby for Uber. At the time I didn’t understand why a taxi service had a need for lobbying, and why ex-Obama people, who I thought were the good guys, to push for an industry looking for an unfair advantage. But I’m an old guy in Brooklyn used to car services. I’m not someone who needs the security of having my whole like controlled for me on a phone. But it turns out everybody else I know thinks Uber is a necessity, I am the outlier.
As a newspaper publisher I am quite susceptible to cynicism, especially when it comes to politicians. But I am learning to try and be less cynical, and at least for now let’s give Harris a chance to be great, and if it takes a little suspension of disbelief, so be it.
I like the hopefulness, but this is one step above picking people by lot. And maybe we should. But we would have to admit the ground has shifted, we are not what we once believed ourselves to be.
Perhaps. If we were 18 again we might join those trying to break up the convention in support of Gaza. I think growing makes us understand that change usually comes in small increments.
But as far as Uber, that’s just the world changing. 40 years ago it took a production staff of around ten to put together a local paper. Today, I’m the whole production staff.
> If Obama didn’t make this happen, he let it happen.
Wow, sorry to be late to Revisionist History 101 on the 1st day of class. Does anyone remember the vicious opposition Obama faced - including from his own party - on literally everything? The admin had to pick its battles - and donors - carefully. Obama married progressive ideals to corporate America by making the former a recipe for the latter's success, a cultural shift that has endured to this day. In reality MUCH of the social progress the US has seen has been the result of for-profit interests getting behind it. Yes, this came at the expense of megamergers, but as a black engineering manager I'd rather have my job now than still be an individual engineer while FB and IG are separate companies.
Predictably, this article was written by a WM (no fault of your own, identity blinds you to some things) with little concept of how Obama absolutely changed things for black professionals by charming corporate America.
I'm mostly on board with this message except for the core example - rideshare apps are just sooooo much better than the taxis they replaced. Yes there's the occasional exception like this DNC snafu, but for the most part it's just a lot easier to get a ride than it used to be, both due to the technological improvements and the busting of limits on how many taxis were allowed to operate in a given area.
Maybe we shouldn’t be, but remember that much of the growth of ridesharing depends on gig workers. These workers have no control of their rate of pay, they’re dinged for declining less lucrative rides, they have no benefits (other than the opportunity to participate in a self-paid group plan, no retirement, no compensation for wear and tear on vehicle or gas, and on and on).
This ultimately means the gig workers will need government paid benefits. I don’t object at all to government paid benefits, but I don’t see why Uber should be able to grow at taxpayer expense which is what this is.
What would those workers be doing if we still had a strictly limited number of taxis and they weren't able to find work as a driver? Presumably not something that would result in them receiving fewer government benefits.
No way of knowing. They aren’t all unemployable. Many left actual jobs for the false promise of working in their own schedules. They found out that working their own schedules wasn’t gonna pay the bills.
Actual employees actually hired by companies to drive all day are not required to use their own vehicles and rack up mileage and repairs on their own dime.
I'm certainly not claiming they're unemployable, just that they're not such idiots as to be doing gig rideshare work when there's some other better option available to them. They'd either be unemployed or they'd be working a job they apparently like worse.
I remember dining with a group of younger folks when Obama's star was rising during his first Presidential campaign. I was excited, too, but I hope it was realistic excitement. At that dinner, I told the younger folks that Obama, as President, would have to bomb enemy combatants and civilians would die. They weren't happy with me. And I've been saying the same about Kamala Harris. She's also gonna have to bomb enemy combatants and civilians will be killed. And people aren't happy with me for saying it. I'm talking about the extremes here but your post reminds me of the more subtle and bureaucratic ways that Presidents, even the ones we support, can create and help create damaging and destructive policies.
You sir, speak too much truth.
I’m glad that SOMEONE else is still pissed at Uber and the rest being so welcomed and glorying in their destruction. One of my favorite things about the Biden administration has been its actual opposition to monopolies and actual support for unions.
The only thing you left out, and honestly the thing that I am angriest at Obama for and will never forgive him is Arne goddamn Duncan and charter schools and “school choice” horseshit. He didn’t start the tilt but he embraced it fully and naively just like Cory Booker letting Facebook into Newark’s schools. The fuckers.
"Race to the Top", "Common Core", "We're building the plane as we are flying it" ... the destruction in the school world from those years is palpable.
I don't have the beef with common core that so many who hate public education do. I don't like some aspects of it but that was not part of what I was critiquing. NCLB and "school choice" and state funded vouchers are all much more awful and deliberate hobbles to public education. It is clear from your own page that you are one of those people, and although it seems your viewpoint is from a place of hurt with which I sympathize, we don't have anything to talk about I'm afraid.
Fantastic! Beautiful hook. Ok, erasing my earlier placeholders. Actually thinking about a political economy that we are proud of is very difficult, on an individual basis and even more so publicly. So the deep synergies between "progressive" Democratic politics and progressive (with a vengeance) Silicon Valley are hard to parse, and imho make the Dems far less democratic than many, maybe, sincerely believe -- much of what passes strikes me as a stalking horse for unbridled capitalism. Anyway, longer conversation. For now, kudos and bravo.
thank you!
Great post. Great comments here. Thanks. Pulls so much together. Reading all this helps me think through why I found speeches by the Obamas and the Clintons at the convention so upsetting. Lots goes back to Clinton and before that, maybe Gary Hart.
Ah, so you couldn’t let us just coast along on the good vibes this week? Sigh. Maybe if the Uber pickup had gone more smoothly? But you’re not wrong.
Trump has completely converted the Dems: it's all about name calling and vibes. And the narrative of both parties is about Trump. Whether or not he wins the election, and absent a transformative force I don't see, Trump has redefined American politics, and in that sense, won.
The Dems converted themselves. They could have chosen to be more substantive, more forward-looking, and less reactionary, all things that many voters want to see in major party leaders and candidates, but they unfortunately didn't.
Yes. Of course, nobody said “I agree with Trump that this is how we should conduct electoral politics.” But imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Definitely, I can see this being just imitation if it were just some of the speakers throughout the DNC, but it's been essentially everyone. Polymarket odds for the election have flipped and inched further in Trump's favor over the course of the DNC; that's how fed up voters, even Democrat ones, are of this pettiness and obsessiveness from Dem leaders while they simultaneously claim to be above it all.
If you want to do a follow up to this, I recommend you look at Ireland. That parallel universe where regulation stopped the decline of the taxi industry is here. Today, we have no Uber or Lyft. Their apps work here, but simply call into the same national taxi system that has always been there. The prices are regulated across the country by the government, as are the vehicles and their markings. Case in point? I got the train home from Dublin last week, and there when I stepped out was a taxi rank - cars waiting to go.
Admittedly this is perhaps more accident of previous regulation than reaction to Uber, but it is certainly one that has been attacked by Uber and defended against. And? That regulation means that the taxi industry is not viewed as being nearly so corrupt.
I'd be very curious to look at the Irish example, thank you!
This is an important piece. The media echo chamber has been celebratory to a fault with Harris, reminiscent of the starry eyed treatment of Obama that fueled the 2008 Democratic victory. Within a year my optimism was gone. Joe Biden accomplished more in his first year than BO managed in eight. And Biden didn't illegally invade an Islamic nation (Libya) or perpetuate a forever war (Afghanistan). Biden ended it.
Now's a really good time to remind ourselves not being Trump or not being really old isn't a policy, a position or a commitment. Harris needs to start providing hard information and journalists need to get over the gush and ask specifics. Are we getting more Holders and Plouffes? I sure as hell don't want Trump but I don't want Obama Redux either. This country has huge problems. We know who couldn't address them when given the opportunity--let's find those who can.
💯 Biden is/has been truly for the people. I’d really like assurances that Kamala will be, too. It won’t change my vote, as I would never vote for Trump, but I don’t want another bait and switch, so I’d appreciate her transparency so I can manage my expectations.
No president since Roosevelt inherited the mess Biden did. We were all in lock down; the economy was in a free fall and unemployment was soaring. People were at risk of losing their homes or being thrown out of apartments. Biden provided relief and steady leadership.
I was leery of him at first--afraid he was too moderate. I was absolutely wrong. Biden showed us what caring about middle and working class people looks like. This country has seen government so meaningfully engaged since the Great Society. I agree he is now too old but I sincerely wish he wasn't.
I hope KH follows his lead. I hope she continues programs. Keep David Plouffe on his 5 corporate boards and in his Montecito McMansion.
Fantastic post. Bravo
Thank you! And I wanted to thank you for your kindly shoutout. I enjoyed seeing your piece in my print copy of The Nation
Ross When are you going to write about the NYC retirees all 250000 of us— who are in jeopardy of losing our Medicare and being dumped into Medicare Advantage. We have won nine time in court over the last three years. Contact Marianne Pizzitola at nycretirees.org
Did the city ever attempt to make the taxi drivers whole or at least not leave them totally holding the bag? I remember reading a few of those stories where the immigrant taxi driver who thought he bought a piece of the American Dream ended up taking his own life. Sad stories.
I was very surprised when I saw high level Democrats signing up to lobby for Uber. At the time I didn’t understand why a taxi service had a need for lobbying, and why ex-Obama people, who I thought were the good guys, to push for an industry looking for an unfair advantage. But I’m an old guy in Brooklyn used to car services. I’m not someone who needs the security of having my whole like controlled for me on a phone. But it turns out everybody else I know thinks Uber is a necessity, I am the outlier.
As a newspaper publisher I am quite susceptible to cynicism, especially when it comes to politicians. But I am learning to try and be less cynical, and at least for now let’s give Harris a chance to be great, and if it takes a little suspension of disbelief, so be it.
I like the hopefulness, but this is one step above picking people by lot. And maybe we should. But we would have to admit the ground has shifted, we are not what we once believed ourselves to be.
Perhaps. If we were 18 again we might join those trying to break up the convention in support of Gaza. I think growing makes us understand that change usually comes in small increments.
But as far as Uber, that’s just the world changing. 40 years ago it took a production staff of around ten to put together a local paper. Today, I’m the whole production staff.
> If Obama didn’t make this happen, he let it happen.
Wow, sorry to be late to Revisionist History 101 on the 1st day of class. Does anyone remember the vicious opposition Obama faced - including from his own party - on literally everything? The admin had to pick its battles - and donors - carefully. Obama married progressive ideals to corporate America by making the former a recipe for the latter's success, a cultural shift that has endured to this day. In reality MUCH of the social progress the US has seen has been the result of for-profit interests getting behind it. Yes, this came at the expense of megamergers, but as a black engineering manager I'd rather have my job now than still be an individual engineer while FB and IG are separate companies.
Predictably, this article was written by a WM (no fault of your own, identity blinds you to some things) with little concept of how Obama absolutely changed things for black professionals by charming corporate America.
I'm mostly on board with this message except for the core example - rideshare apps are just sooooo much better than the taxis they replaced. Yes there's the occasional exception like this DNC snafu, but for the most part it's just a lot easier to get a ride than it used to be, both due to the technological improvements and the busting of limits on how many taxis were allowed to operate in a given area.
Just give taxis apps, which they now have in NYC.
Sure no reason they can't be one more competitor in the app-based rides market, but why should we be upset that the other competitors exist?
Maybe we shouldn’t be, but remember that much of the growth of ridesharing depends on gig workers. These workers have no control of their rate of pay, they’re dinged for declining less lucrative rides, they have no benefits (other than the opportunity to participate in a self-paid group plan, no retirement, no compensation for wear and tear on vehicle or gas, and on and on).
This ultimately means the gig workers will need government paid benefits. I don’t object at all to government paid benefits, but I don’t see why Uber should be able to grow at taxpayer expense which is what this is.
What would those workers be doing if we still had a strictly limited number of taxis and they weren't able to find work as a driver? Presumably not something that would result in them receiving fewer government benefits.
No way of knowing. They aren’t all unemployable. Many left actual jobs for the false promise of working in their own schedules. They found out that working their own schedules wasn’t gonna pay the bills.
Actual employees actually hired by companies to drive all day are not required to use their own vehicles and rack up mileage and repairs on their own dime.
I'm certainly not claiming they're unemployable, just that they're not such idiots as to be doing gig rideshare work when there's some other better option available to them. They'd either be unemployed or they'd be working a job they apparently like worse.
Terrific. Thanks.
thank you!
Also now speaking at DNC is Kamala Harris' brother-in-law who is Chief Legal Officer at Uber.