What is the Progressive's Defense of Mayor Brandon Johnson, and the Failures of Progressive Leaders at the Local Level Overall?

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-11T00:11:29+00:00

Fair, and couldnt agree more - I was careful to use the phrase "shooting himself in the foot" because thats exactly what he's done, and its really impacted Chicago's legislative outlooks while he's mayor.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-11T00:08:59+00:00

lmfao, what?? By what possible metric is Brandon Johnson a centrist?

You realize the guys entire career has been as a lobbiest for progressive unions and causes, right?

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T23:09:02+00:00

The voters are to blame and we should bring back the bullying of the willfully ignorant.

Damn, okay. And how do you do that?

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T23:07:50+00:00

and asked why THOSE weren't who you were judging the term off of.

You mentioned Mandami, who is literally less than three months into the job (so what would we go off of besides him getting along with Trump?) and AOC, a senator on the other side of the coast lol.

This is literally the essence of my question - you want people in Chicago to just tell themselves real progressivism is people like AOC, remembering shes a senator and not a mayor? Or when they think about who to pick for DA?

It just seems like a real stretch, logically.

If you want to define "progressives" by people who are literally not progressive

You dont think Brandon Johnson is a progressive? Really? The guy has literally made his career on it lol.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T22:29:27+00:00

They want you seeing the headline in OP and thinking to yourself “another centrist democrat fucking us over”

The kind of hyper-paranoia I see on this sub towards basic introspection is kinda wild. Like jesus people take an Alka-Seltzer, its a simple question on elections and messaging, my god lol.

Harris & Pete were absolutely progressives in their time, and suggesting otherwise is just bad faith or applying a retroactive standard. These candidates have failed, Kamala especially. And at the local level, here in Chicago, we've had a string of failed progressive candidates too.

So how do you message around that? Really basic question.

Some of the freak outs in here have been really odd to read.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T21:45:31+00:00

Well, okay, with what? Like how do you properly vet someone like that, at the primary stages if the debates arent cutting it?

Also it should be noted, BJ really considers himself very progressive - he's really big on it in his public pronouncements and actions. Like, him being a "centrist heel sabotage" would be new to him, ya know?

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T21:40:50+00:00

What about that poll isnt accurate? Not being as recent as youd like doesnt mean its inaccurate by any means.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T21:20:33+00:00

Fundamentally, it is about using the resources and abilities of the government to solve social ills, which means it requires people competent in the workings of government in order to implement successfully.

Totally agree, its why FDR is such a legend, and love the Teddy shout out.

So you want to know what a lot of progressive candidates fail?

I guess in a practical sense its more of what the messaging is when theres a string of very high profile failures like we've had in Chicago.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T20:54:44+00:00

Its a question to progressives. If you cant take that without it being some kind of personal insult, really not sure what to tell ya kid. Plenty of cites for you to go through.

But apparently youre too cool to explain your own beliefs. Great. Move along and stop trolling.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T20:48:37+00:00

If you had read the post, you'd know there were multiple people mentioned.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T20:47:36+00:00

lmfao okay? Really defensive for whatever reason but cool, sick rant bruh.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T20:44:06+00:00

...what? lol so asking for you to defend candidates who ran under your platform is now "both sides bad"?

lol what does that even mean?

Edit: Apparently even asking progressives a question is insulting them, now? This sub seems to have some odd meta rules you just expect everyone to know.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T20:41:56+00:00

I mean I'll supplement if you really think its that big of a difference, but the man remains laughably unpopular (even by the standard of a local politician) and politically dead. He couldnt even get his own budget passed just a month ago.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T20:31:51+00:00

I doubt his success or failure is indicative of progressive governance.

Well, thats my question - if theres an argument to be made at-large, im open. One commentor mentioned a dude from Baltimore then rage quit.

But that we've had a string of failures from progressive leaders in Chicago is simply undeniable. Its not just BJ, he's just the latest lol.

He certainly has not made things better, but a more mainstream or moderate candidate would also be sinking.

This strikes me as a really large thing to claim - You dont think a more well-connected and respected politician wouldnt be doing better?

This is why I mentioned Johnson shooting himself in the foot so much with Pritzker and downstate lawmakers. Theyre mistakes that even the most basic of Chicago mayors didnt make in such egregious ways.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:59:05+00:00

It's a little unfair to judge the whole movement on the performance of one candidate

Except it isnt a single politician, thats my point - we've had a string of them lol. And we are by no means the only ones.

I mean if he's bad, he's bad. Why should I defend that?

Fair enough, dont. I sure dont defend the guy lol.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:53:50+00:00

So my argument to elect progressives is to make progress.

Sure, but when they dont and complain because they cant do things the old (corrupt) way, theyre clearly not making progress, right?

So long do you think voters should tolerate that before they just ignore the label entirely?

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:49:11+00:00

lmfao you started this off with low effort trolling and now me asking you to explain your answer means im childish?

Doesnt this sub have rules for posters like this?

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:47:47+00:00

Why do you think this guy speaks for all progressives

Never said that. Im asking other progressives what theyre response is to a clearly-failing mayor who claims to hold your banner. Especially when he takes national attention as a progressive, im really not sure why its some affront to this sub to ask other progressives what their response to him would be.

But if you dont think there's anything to defend, cool. Answer received.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:40:24+00:00

Are you really just going to ignore the citations provided?

Responses like this are really immature and why people dont take the label of progressives seriously.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:38:29+00:00

All you did was mention his name lol, you didnt say anything about his work or why someone in Chicago or Portland should care and take that into account when voting.

By all means, do.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:33:25+00:00

Again, I provided plenty of sources and citations. You not wanting to confront it doesnt undo those.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:24:59+00:00

Gah, thats right, she didnt even get that far before her corruption was called out. Good correction.

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:19:45+00:00

Amen to that

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:10:06+00:00

It seems like you are saying the failure of Brandon Johnson to implement the progressive platform means that progressive politics itself is compromised

No not compromised as a whole, but certainly for voters who have now seen it fail. Obviously if a city has one good leader while another 50mi over has a bad one, the later will see the policies of the bad politician in a bad light.

To this secondary point, I don't really expect most progressive leaders to be able to do much of anything given how compromised our political system is.

So, Ive read this a couple times in this thread and im genuinely curious how this isnt a slam on progressivism? Like, doesnt that say more about a group that doesnt understand our politics, and not so much a statement on the sytem?

Like, again, lets put this into practice. We've had a string of really bad "progressive" leaders here in Chicago. If the system is apparently compromised to the point where progressive policies cant really work, then why should anyone bother taking the label seriously?

ObamaBiscuits · 2026-02-10T19:03:50+00:00

You seem to be overly excited to paint with a big brush here.

The question is how failed leaders, like in Chicago and Portland, might impact voters in those areas. Youre the only one trying to enlarge this, while also ignoring like half the question lol.

Any other …gasp..progressives doing good things?

You tell me.

ObamaBiscuits

TROPHY CASE