By the way the Holiday is falling this is the closest publishing date prior to Christmas so today I’m going to do my annual mythical gifts to a handful of progressives. In no particular order, here we go.
Nakiema Williams:
You probably don’t recognize the name but you have benefited from her deeds. She is the Representative from Georgia’s 5th Congressional District; the late John Lewis’ seat. As a freshman member she has done a good, if quiet, job but that didn’t land her on this list. She is also the State Chair of the Georgia Democratic Party and as such was instrumental in Jon Ossoff’s and Raphael Warnock’s runoff wins. Among other things those wins took control of the Senate away from Mitch McConnell.
We wish her continued success and a long career in Congress.
Raphael Warnock:
To be completely correct I believe it is the Rev., Dr., Senator Warnock. That’s a lot of hats to wear and he does it incredibly well. I love great orators and Warnock certainly is one. If there were a rookie of the year award in the Senate, he would get my vote.
We wish him luck in his reelection contest in November. America and democracy need him!
Pramila Jayapal:
Jayapal does a wonderful job of representing her Seattle district in the House and in addition has proven to be a formidable and capable stateswoman as Chair of the House Progressive Caucus. She is constitutionally ineligible to hold the office of President or Vice President but I’d love to see her in higher office sometime in the future when the House can afford to lose her.
Chris Hayes:
I don’t know him personally but along with being extremely bright he strikes me as a man almost devoid of ego. We wish him more recognition in the new year and selfishly another book from him in the near future wouldn’t be all that bad either.
Patrick Radden Keffe:
In 2021 Patrick followed up his earlier book, Say Nothing, with the transformational work Empire of Pain. We wish Mr. Keefe the inspiration and time to turn out another book; the world will probably be a better place as a result of it.
Kamala Harris:
I think Joe Biden is doing a great job (for which he doesn’t get enough credit) and with the benefit of hindsight was the best person for the job in 2020. That said I readily admit that before the dust settled in the primary Harris was my first choice. I think there is more than a fair amount of sexism in the criticism she has received to date about her job performance as Vice President. If Joe can’t or doesn’t go in 2024 she is the heir apparent.
We wish her success in a high profile assignment to quiet the critics.
Sherrilyn Ifill:
Outside of liberal political junkie circles she is not a household name but she should be. The extremely talented Ms. Ifill just left her position leading the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP and is currently a free agent. (I love to put things in baseball terms.)
We hope she enjoys her time off but doesn’t stay on the sidelines too long. Sherrilyn, America needs you!
Tish James:
This may sound sexist and I’m not sure an old man is allowed to say this to a woman in 2021 but especially in regard to your law enforcement efforts regarding the former guy; you go girl! We expect to see you in the New York Governor’s Mansion or U. S. Senate someday but you have a few things to do first.
Well, there you have it. However you do or don’t celebrate Christmas have a good weekend!
This article was written well ahead of publishing in order to accommodate my year end hiatus and is the property of tellthetruthonthem.com. Its content may not be used without citing the source. It may not be reproduced without the permission of Larry Marciniak.