Comments by White House communications director Kate Bedingfield over the weekend have touched a fresh nerve among progressives already frustrated by the Biden administration’s tepid response to the right-wing attack on abortion rights including the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last month.
Quoted in a detailed piece of reporting by the Washington Post, Bedingfield referred dismissively to those frustrated by the administration’s slow and less-than-forceful response to the Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
“Joe Biden’s goal in responding to Dobbs is not to satisfy some activists who have been consistently out of step with the mainstream of the Democratic Party,” Bedingfield said in on-the-record remarks to the Post on Saturday.
The White House’s goal, she continued, is “to deliver help to women who are in danger and assemble a broad-based coalition to defend a woman’s right to choose now, just as he assembled such a coalition to win during the 2020 campaign.”
It was the phrase “some activists” that many on the progressive left recognized as a specific dig to those who have loudly advocated for an emergency-level response and openly criticized Biden and his lieutenants for failing to adequately acknowledge the level of the crisis.
“What activists are asking for isn’t different from what the average voter is looking for — leadership,” tweeted Shauna Thomas, co-founder of the women’s rights group Ultra Violet, in response to the comment. “To trust that the President is doing everything in his power to save lives and protect our rights. No one is asking Biden to do the impossible. We’re asking him to do the maximum.”
Thomas specifically pushed back on the suggestion by Bedingfield that a more forceful response to protection of abortion rights wasn’t somehow “mainstream” — a claim belied consistently by public polling.
Mainstream?
Biden could double his approval rating and he still wouldn’t be as popular as abortion rights. https://t.co/AZo9gGdFbM— Shaunna Thomas (@SLThomas) July 10, 2022
Others, like Rolling Stone journalist Noah Schachtman, argued that Bedingfield’s comment should not be considered a casual comment taken out of context.
“This is not a blind quote from some random staffer,” said Schachtman. “It’s on the record, from Biden’s top communications aide. So you can safely assume that shanking pro-choice activists is the White House’s official position.”
Pro-choice people who want the admin to do something, anything, ffs, are now “activists who have been consistently out of step with the mainstream of the Dem party?” Does the admin need some polling to tell them what most Dems think about abortion? https://t.co/KqjNoSY0NV
— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) July 10, 2022
Since the Dobbs ruling was announced on June 24 — and previously once a leaked draft of the ruling was published many weeks earlier — progressives have repeatedly asked for the Biden administration to forge a forceful response that would include declaration of health emergency and a robust set of policies and a political program designed to help impacted woman and other pregnant people while laying the legislative groundwork to codify the protections afforded by Roe into federal law once and for all.
Critics of Bedingfield said the mindset exhibited by her comment is not just offensive to many fighting tirelessly for abortion rights and reproductive care, but signals a serious and potentially devastating political blind spot for the Democratic Party come the crucial midterm elections this year.
“Republicans refer to their most involved voters as ‘the base,’ and deliver for them, while Democrats refer to theirs as ‘some activists’ and ignore them,” said Monica Keane, an independent researcher, on social media. “This is why they lose.”
This statement would be vile enough even if it managed to accurately characterize the prevailing political dynamics. But it doesn’t even get that right. It’s Biden – not “some activists” – that has been consistently out of step with the mainstream of the Dem Party re: Dobbs.
— Patrick Giamario (@PatGiamario) July 9, 2022
“Such smug arrogance,” said Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, professor of African American studies at Princeton University, in response to the White House comment.
“Biden apparently has no idea how his moribund, left for dead, campaign actually won in 2020,” Taylor added. “The right rampages and the leadership of the Dems wage war on the left.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.