I think that Dayen in this article reveals much more than he intended about the way political power works in the capitalist-ruled United States of America, and especially about the political facade that capitalist power brokers have mostly constructed since WWII. He obscured these revelations by focusing narrowly on factions within the Democratic Party.
It's no wonder that he appeals to so many media executives of what passes for left-of-center media as described in his bio. It is his skill at reporting reality while, at the same time, truncating and obfuscating the real significance of the political realities of what he is writing about. This is a very important skill that the more reputable corporate media really values.
In this piece he lends a leftist cachet to his analysis by using Wikileaks references to emails of the co-chair of Obama's transition team, John Podesta (now Hillary's campaign chairman), that occurred before he was elected. Dayen then brings us up-to-date by describing a minority branch of the Party that represents Elizabeth Warren who wants some sops given to the middle class.
However, it's clear who is really in control of the candidates--the financial oligarchy from Citigroup, Goldman-Sachs, and the private equity firm of Blackstone. However Dayen seems unconcerned about the anti-democratic nature of political power in the US. By focusing our attention only on which faction of this financial oligarchy will determine the key figures or handlers in the Hillary Clinton's administration, he serves to normalize the rule of the highest layer of the capitalist ruling class.
Who gets these cabinet-level and West Wing advisory jobs matters as much as policy papers or legislative initiatives. It will inform executive branch priorities and responses to crises. It will dictate the level of enforcement of existing laws. It will establish the point of view of an administration and the advice Hillary Clinton will receive. Its importance cannot be stressed enough, and the process has already begun.Could this be what passes for muckraking journalism in 21st century America?
Another leaked email revealed by Wikileaks was one reported in Independent (Britain) entitled "Hillary Clinton emails leak: Wikileaks documents claim Democratic nominee 'thinks Saudi Arabia and Qatar fund Isis'" where she wrote the following in an email to John Podesta, her campaign chairman:
While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL [Isis] and other radical Sunni groups in the region.
