Obtuse Engel

[babylonsister]

Obtuse Engel
The veteran New York Democrat’s likely defeat is a cautionary tale for Washington power brokers who lose touch with their voters back home.
By Fred Kaplan
June 24, 2020
2:55 PM


Rep. Eliot Engel, the 73-year-old chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, appears to have lost his seat to Jamaal Bowman, a former middle school principal and first-time candidate. (Mail-in ballots have yet to be counted, but the in-person tally suggests a rout, with Bowman winning 62 percent of the vote.)

The race was portrayed as a contest between the traditional and progressive wings of the Democratic Party. Engel won endorsements from Hillary Clinton, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff. Bowman was backed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has backed several previous campaigns to displace moderate Democrats with leftists.

But while the schism played a part in Bowman’s upset victory (progressive groups targeted the election as a gateway to their larger ambitions), his campaign’s biggest ally was Engel, who did almost everything an incumbent can do to lose his overly comfortable seat.

Engel’s biggest sin: He almost never went home. Even during the COVID-19 crisis, when his district in the Bronx and Westchester County, New York, was hardest hit, Engel stayed locked down in his home in suburban Maryland. The final straw may have come earlier this month, when he showed up at a news conference about police brutality and was heard, on a hot mic, asking the MC, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, if he could speak. When Diaz told him there was a long list of speakers, Engel said, “If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.”

The fact that Engel had to beg for a speaking slot revealed how little his 31 years as the district’s congressman had earned him the respect of his constituents. His reason for wanting to speak revealed that Engel reciprocated their indifference.

more...

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/eliot-engel-jamaal-bowman-foreign-policy.html

[sop]

1. I take exception to "displace moderate Democrats with leftists."

Kaplan lists the many ways Engel had lost touch with his constituents, yet he frames the outcome of this primary by implying he was unfairly "displaced" by a "leftist" like Bowman. Why not write "an arrogant, out-of-touch congressman was replaced with someone who will actually represent his constituents"?

[AZ8theist]

2. I agree 100% with your objection.

Using the term "leftists" seems to play right into the Repuke narrative.