I think the DLC is hijacking the DNC's agenda. Presenting my thoughts.

[madfloridian]

DNC Fall Meeting to be held in Phoenix in September.
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2005/07/18/daily5.html?t=printable

It is said that the party agenda will be discussed at that time. Howard Dean's goal has been to get feedback from state and local groups, organize it, and put it into a condensed form from which all states can work. It is being done from the bottom up.

I like the idea Dean has of building the party by the people and for them, trying to set the agenda actually through them. That is an awesome task, since we seldom agree on anything.

Meanwhile another group called the DLC has sort of hijacked the efforts of the DNC, and they have made Hillary Clinton the head of a committee to travel and form an "agenda" called the "American Dream Initiative."
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=137&subid=900111&contentid=253475

Well, that sounds like an agenda to me for sure. Here is what it is about from the website.
Sounds like they are making up their own agenda, forming a committee to set that agenda. It is almost like hijacking our agenda at the DNC.

"The American Dream Initiative is a year-long project of the DLC that will engage political, business, labor, civic and intellectual leaders in a "national conversation" to help shape a positive agenda for our country and the Democratic party. The Initiative will focus on challenges facing America including: keeping our country safe, building an opportunity society, standing up for families and making sure our political and electoral systems work for all Americans.

Gov. Vilsack said: "I have asked Sen. Clinton to chair a special project at the DLC called the American Dream Initiative. I'm very happy to announce that she has accepted, and I look forward to working together to shape a positive agenda for the country. Sen. Clinton's expertise on policy issues and deep understanding of the challenges we face as a party and as a nation make her an ideal person to lead this important effort."

Sen. Clinton said: "I am proud to take on the task of leading the American Dream Initiative for the DLC because its mission goes to the heart of why I am a Senator, and what I believe about public service -- that we are here to leave our children a richer, safer and stronger land than we inherited from our parents. I look forward to working with Gov. Vilsack and all interested Americans on this project."

The article also states that over 300 elected officials from across the country were in attendance. So those 300 are planning on setting the agenda, it seems.

So I have a question. It they are making their own agenda, will they coordinate with the DNC on its agenda? Will they work with the DNC which is the group to which I belong? They have more money so far, I guess, at least they did. That happens when you sell out your constituencies to become dependent on the corporations.

So are they going to hijack the party agenda this time as well? Here is how they did it in 2000. They just did it right under our noses. I think they are doing it again.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_10_64/ai_65952690

"At the national convention of a major political party, an ideologically rigid sectarian clique secures the ultimate triumph. It inserts two of its own as nominees for the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Heavily financed by the most powerful corporations in the world, the group's leaders gather in a private club fifty-four floors above the convention hall, apart from the delegates of the party they had infiltrated. There, they carefully monitor the convention's acceptance of a platform the organization had drafted almost in its entirety. Then, with the ticket secured and with the policy course of the party set, they introduce a team of 100 shock troops to deploy across the country to lock up the party's grassroots."

"Founded in the mid-1980s with essentially the same purpose as the Christian Coalition--to pull a broad political party dramatically to the right--the DLC has been far more successful than its headline-grabbing Republican counterpart. After Walter Mondale's 1984 defeat at the hands of Ronald Reagan, a group of mostly Southern, conservative Democrats hatched the theory that their party was in trouble because it had grown too sympathetic to the agendas of organized labor, feminists, African Americans, Latinos, gays and lesbians, peace activists, and egalitarians.

And they found willing corporate allies, in corporate America, who provided the money needed to make a theory appear to be a movement. In the ensuing fifteen years, the DLC's impact on the American political debate has been dramatic. The group now controls much of the upper-level apparatus of the Democratic Party."

So our beloved Jim Hightower said it very well back in 2000:

"With the DLC in a position to influence the Democratic Party, Wall Street wins either way," says populist Jim Hightower, who has abandoned his lifelong loyalty to the Democratic Party this year in order to back Nader's candidacy. "If the Republicans win, the corporations have a party in power that will do their bidding. And if the Democrats win, Wall Street knows the DLC will keep them in line."

And I think they most certainly will try.

I stand with the DNC and its agenda.

[napi21]

1. Why are you looking at this as a hijacking and not a merger of ideas?

Who cares who's ideas are who's? We would all be better off if there was some kind of meeting of the timds between the DNC & the DLC. If you really listen to both, each one has some good ideas, and some not so good.

We as a Party would be much better to stop the infighting.

[madfloridian]

2. Merging ideas would be done at the DNC meeting.

Did you read the snips from the article from 2000?

I said, "I think", and I presented my thoughts. I could be wrong. I often am wrong.

[Eloriel]

8. Because a "merger of ideas" would have been COORDINATED

with DNC from the get-go. There's not even any MENTION of working with the DNC, just taking the functionality AWAY from the DNC.

This is so revolting I'm not sure I can --- aaargh, I HATE these DLCers, these lying, conniving, thieving, corrupt, self-serving traitorous so-called Dems.

Dean needs even more of our support now.

[napi21]

13. Oh for god sake! Where's your faith in Howard Dean?

He's not going to lye down and play dean and you know it!

EVERY time there is a difference of opinion between party's, be it Co./Union, internal political party differencs, of anything else, the leaders have to talk, and find common ground.

The DNC doesn't have a wuss leading them, they have a hard a** fighter. Trust him to negotiate agreements that will benefit the DNC and the Democratic Party!

[madfloridian]

14. We have faith in him and ourselves...being aware is the first step.

I was not aware of all this before, and I think that is the first step. Trojan horses come in all shapes and sizes.

No, Howard Dean will not lie down and play dead. Neither will we.
We were at a reception for Jim Dean recently, and I heard the same clear unequivocating message from him.

[Gyre]

3. The "American Dream Initiative"

is a stupid name for an agenda. Perfect for the DLC.

Gyre

[KoKo]

5. yep...sounds like an attempt to do a "Rove." Weak...and stale.

:-(

[KoKo]

9. Just think of the other "Intiatives" they could have put forward:

"The Take Back America Initiative" (no need to explain that to folks)

"The American Initiative for Right to Fair Wage and Universal Health" (by next year every American will understand that one)

"The Americans for Fair Trade and Corporate Repsponsibility." (that's a no brainer given what's been going on out there)

There must be dozens of slogans that fit our times and would acknowledge that something is terribly wrong here in America. But, NO! They try to water down the "I have a Dream" of MLK with a little Jack Kennedy thrown in and instead make it so passive that no one will care.

I should just stop posting tonight, I'm too cranky and I'll just rant.

sorry.

[KoKo]

4. Bush has dismantled so much, yet he will have another year and a half

to finish the job before we can even have mid-term elections. The DLC
can come in and promise to build it's American Dream Initiative on the piles of rubble left by the Repugs. Meanwhile the DNC will be left out of the debate. My cynical view of this. They've co-opted the message once again but the cow is out of the barn and has disappeared over the hill, not to be found.

They need to marginalize Dean to keep him in his DNC Box raising money and bringing in the crowds while they write the message for the Party once again.

Many will find the "American Dream Initiative" catchy but the Right Wing will turn it into something ugly and trite. I'm probably being too harsh, but the Bolton and other stuff has got me very cranky.

I was hoping we on the "grassroots left" could craft our own message...but it might be too late. There's already a backlash against us Lefty/Populists in my state. We are asked to submit to the DLC and not make "waves." Party unity for the Big issues and all that. :shrug:

[madfloridian]

6. There are more of us.

There really are more of us. I know what you mean at the ground level. In our DEC no word is too be spoken in criticism of any Democrat. It is not a good idea. We need to hold our leaders accountable.

Our DFA here is pretty outspoken, and we are often sort of asked to not be that way.

My guess is that the party has been so cowed not to offend that it will take a while.

The DNC is much larger than the DLC. I don't blame myself for letting them take over before, because I did not really know what was going on.

Now I do know.

[Eloriel]

7. Oh, the irony

Howard Dean has been PREVENTED from "setting policy," and yet the DLC -- with no OFFICIAL place in the Party -- is appropriating for itself that function, with "help" from one of its most prominent members.

Un-freakin'-believable.

And of course Vilsack asked Hillary. And of course Hillary accepted. (I dislike and distrust her more every single day.)

You bet they're co-opting Dean and the populist inclination the Party has taken lately. The NERVE of those delegates to go around the Party Elite, thumbing their noses at them, to elect Dean.

Well, the Dark Side has plenty of practice co-opting people's agendas, haven't they? BilL Clinton himself taught the Repugs, and now everyone's doing it to everyone else, or rather the Dark Side is repeatedly doing it to everyone else.

If it's any consolation, I feel strongly that this little effort will fail. There'll be NOTHING to come of it -- it's all just window-dressing and show, anyway -- and it will simply leave in its wake an even higher number of Dems who are thoroughly disgusted with the DLC and now newly aware of their deceits and corruption.

Just like Lincoln said: you can fool some of the people some of the time....

But that doesn't mean I don't think we should raise holy hell, everywhere we possibly can, and continue to educate people about these vile faux Democrats.


Edited: Thanks for posting this, and my congratulations for discovering this, with your increasingly savvy political instincts.

[madfloridian]

10. No official place...you are right. They are a think tank, nothing more.

I think I turned a corner this week in my thinking. I made some calls to the DEC leader here about some things. It was not easy, as everyone here is so proper. But she is completely a class act, she and her hubby called back...and we worked it out for now.

I have a lot of friends among the state committeemen and women in the state. They and the vice chairs of the party were not even consulted or apprised of a huge recent addition to the state party.

They stifled their thoughts for now, but it is building.

I was a good girl last year, and my hubby and I worked for, donated to,and voted for Kerry. Actually, I did like him after a while.

This time I will remember something Howard Dean said in that recent interview....you can't win if you are afraid to lose.

That is how I feel now. I do not regret staying with the party last year, and I continue to do so. But I will do it my way now.

[madfloridian]

11. Check your inbox

:hi:

[bloom]

12. I heard something along the lines

of HRC going to the "heartland" or whatever and seeing what mattered to people.

My first thought, "I live out here in the Midwest farm country - I could tell her what I think".

My second thought was, "She wants to "hear" what the conservatives think - because she already knows her agenda. And it's not what I think. I don't fit the mold she has in mind."

[madfloridian]

15. Yes, that's the "American Dream Initiative".

That is supposed to be their agenda, I think. They are part of the Demcratic Party, I would think they would work on it together. But they don't.

[madfloridian]

16. It's all about the money, a quote from Kos tonight.

This is very long, about the Ron Brownstein article regarding Hillary's new position at the DLC. Kos made some very pertinent points.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/2/0381/52938

"But the reality is less sexy than an ideological war, and really boils down to that old standby -- power. The DLC became a power player in the party by becoming a conduit for corporate money at a time when the Democratic Party was starved for funds. The price -- the party had to abandon working-class Americans on behalf of those Big Corporate interests. As for the DLC, it was the financial gatekeeper, and enjoyed all the associated perks.

Suddenly, a centrist governor burst into the scene -- Howard Dean. Just a year or two prior, Dean had been lauded by the DLC for his centrism, yet they weren't happy with the new-look Dean. Part of it was his anti-war stance, in an organization stock-full of chickenhawks. But more threatening to the DLC was the source of Dean's funding -- people. Regular people, like me and you. Dean no longer had to prostrate himself before the DLC's corporate masters and pay proper homage. The DLC no longer played gatekeeper. And if From and Co. can't control the flow of money, they lose their influence.

That's the root of this feud. It isn't about middle, center, right, left, liberal or whatever.

"In reality, it's about who controls the money. And that's why the DLC is becoming irrelevant (hence the importance to them of the Hillary pact), and why it is doomed to irrelevance. There are plenty of "centrist" organizations within the Democratic Party that have not earned the ire of the rest of the party. The DLC stands alone."

Kos is right. In reality it is about us. It is about our taking responsibility for our party. In 2000 few of us realized what was really going on agenda wise. Now we know. It is our responsibility.