Fetterman is pointing to a different path for the Democrats, where the party doesn’t have to cater to its left and, in fact, can pivot off of it to appear more reasonable.
John Fetterman, as someone put it, is doing a Bulworth in reverse.
Bulworth was a fictional California senator in the 1990s movie of the same name who suddenly abandoned his establishment politics for an outspoken leftism, and all ended happily ever after.
Fetterman is the real Pennsylvania senator who has suddenly modulated his leftist politics, outraging his former supporters and pleasing his former critics.
The senator is demonstrating how — through theatrical dissent from a few fashionable left-wing causes and strategic rebranding — it’s possible to create a Democratic politics shorn of some of its dumbest, most unnecessary cultural vulnerabilities.
Fetterman has distanced himself from the excesses of the left on a couple of key things and done it with a devil-may-care verve that has drawn added attention and underlined his independence.
He has had, to use the term from the Clinton years, some Sister Souljah moments. One of the advantages of such a moment is that, when done correctly, it generates benefits out of all proportion to the significance of the underlying issue.
