Dean errs in battling New Democrats(DLC&Clinton showed base "+" needed)

[papau]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/12/31/dean_errs_in_battling_the_new_democrats/

Dean errs in battling the New Democrats

<snip>... Paul Tsongas used to point out that Democrats couldn't love jobs but hate employers. It's just as true that Democrats can't love the Clinton years but hate the DLC. An emphasis on fiscal discipline -- achieved without a middle-class tax hike -- helped set the stage for a long run of economic prosperity. An expansion of the earned income tax credit provided a huge boon for the working poor. Although the view here is that the welfare reform Bill Clinton signed was too Draconian in imposing a five-year lifetime limit for recipients, that legislation has been widely judged a success. And it's true that by imposing a work requirement as a condition of receiving welfare, that law underscored the idea of reciprocal responsibility while largely eliminating complaints about welfare as a government giveaway. Meanwhile, the charter school movement has given families a welcome array of educational options, while AmeriCorps, the Clintonian national-service program, has helped undergird the idea of civic responsibility espoused by JFK.

Clinton's legacy as the first successful Democratic president since JFK should have put any lingering resentment about the DLC to rest. But this year the doctrinaire left has persuaded itself that a new, solipsistic paradigm obtains: One can win merely by energizing the base.<snip>

This election will be won -- or lost -- among moderate, independent-minded members of the middle class, a group defined less by anger toward the current administration than anxiety about the future.<snip>

[Jim Sagle]

1. WhaddacrockaDLCbullshit.

[Bandit]

3. I agree with you

Just because President Clinton was a very successful President does not mean Democratic values should be thrown out the window. IMHO DLC does not represent true Democratic values and they are learning most Democrats feel likewise. That is why Dean and Kucinich are doing so well and Leiberman is last place. People don't care for Republican-lite.

[MGKrebs]

2. Ack.

I mean, by definition, the "moderate, independant, middle class" doesn't speak with one mind. There is no magic issue that will attract them all.

Winning campaigns are built on coalitions (my opinion). You get most of the anti-war people, many of the environmentalists, a bunch of teachers, a fair amount of fiscal conservatives, a bunch of union people, a couple of hundred thousand first time voters, a whole lot of gays, and about 90% of minorities, you'd be pretty close to winning. And many of all of these groups are in the "moderate, independant, middle class".

[IrateCitizen]

4. Why is this thread still in this forum???

This seems like the kind of campaign thread that the GD-2004 Primaries Form was created for.

Plus, the premise of the article is complete bullshit. The NYT ran an excellent article the other day titled "In Search of the Swing Voter". Its premise was that there really is no such thing as a "swing voter" between parties -- but that the real goal was getting Democratic voters who "swing" between voting and not voting out to the polls.

IOW, getting these voters to the polls won't be done by advancing a Repuke-lite agenda. It will be done by giving a clear alternative to Bush -- something that goes completely against the mindless antics of the DLC.

[HereSince1628]

5. Pretty funny to besmearch the Liberal base...DLC has NO base.

The DLC advocates going after votes no matter where they are. I

Could have been taken from the DLC manual "how to get re-elected: 101"...you know the one with the picture of a donkey head inside the triangle on the cover.

1) Stick finger in mouth, raise finger to detect direction of wind.

2) In the event the wind is blowing opposite the interests of corporations, have a running mate to assuage the fears of those bidbusiness types donating the big dollars.

[cosmicdot]

6. the DLC topic has seen more rounds than George Foreman

what's 'new' about energizing the base? one builds from there

certainly not from the ego of an Al From who has found, IMO, that he's isn't what he think he is or was ... and, now is on a crusade seeking the spotlight for his faux sense of power ... he's a legacy in his own mind ... Simon Rosenberg is a Crown Fellow of the conservative Aspen Institute (Michael Powell is, too) ... are they worried that they may lose their self-appointed salaries?



... it was Bill Clinton who was the politician ... Bill Clinton who built his network ... Bill Clinton carried himself ... he was the vehicle ... not the DLC ... certainly not by Al From who crowned himself "CEO" of an organization with links and seed money to conservatives and right-wingers, i.e. The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.; Smith Richardson Foundation; John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.; CATO and Bush supporter David Koch and his oil and business conglomerate and supportive tax shelters (foundations); and, his buddy heads up the the likely misnamed Progressive Policy Institute which contributed to the attempt to label the media as having a liberal bias ... which we well know does not exist ...

"...National Desk itself won its regular but limited presence on public TV from a political shoving match on a bigger scale than the recent feminist response. The program might never have gotten CPB backing if conservatives had not exerted political pressure on the system to correct a perceived "liberal bias."

When Congress reminded CPB in its 1992 reauthorization bill that it is responsible for ensuring "objectivity and balance" in programming, CPB provided funds to help develop the series (then called Reverse Angle). Chetwynd, an experienced Hollywood producer and political ally of pubcasting critic David Horowitz, teamed up with conservative columnists Fred Barnes (editor's note: how 'bout Fred Barnes getting government money!) and Morton Kondracke to create the series. The producers butted heads with PBS programmers over the first few installments; but, under the leadership of former President Ervin Duggan, PBS and the producers agreed to repackage and relaunch the series as National Desk in 1997...


http://www.mediatransparency.org/stories/national_desk.htm


my guess, Al From knocked on his door, and Bill rubbed his chin and squinted his eyes, and said ... com'on in ... he just made use of the resources available.

Is the DLC policy by portfolio?

A lot of people are not looking at the same portfolio, if they were fortunate enough to have one to look at while Bill Clinton was President. Things, IMO, have drastically changed and the paradigm, if one existed, shifting from Raygun-Bush to more people-oriented, populist themes of being left out and behind ... that's why Al Gore did so well ... I think the DLC threatened and Gore got Lieberman, the DLC then chair. Al From was still able to pitch the image; and, Donna Brazile was likely mis-advising Gore.



"the doctrinaire left" - gee, there's that 'left vs. right' rhetoric again ... vs. 'right vs. wrong' ... what needs to be done in order to get our country back, our civil liberties secured, our national compass back on track after way too many years of drifting toward personal fortunes, greed and corporate rule vs. power of, by and for the people ... through common sense, common destiny, common denominators


'doctrinaire' is having principles - there's nothing wrong with that


Al From and his gang seen to be lobbying hard going from one medium to another with their pitch ... I don't think they have principles, and certainly are not and should not be the alternative to the Party organization. Power, control freaks trying to buy their way into.

If the DLC was Bill Clinton, he should be hanging out with Al From.


I think we've moved beyond where the country voters and potential voters were in 1992 ... corporate angst has increased ... stress and anxiety coupled with *'s fear factors are pushing Americans to the max ... individuals and families tire of dealing with the corporate animal and the abuse it stressfully puts on them ... from HMOs to downsizing, from energy scandals to seeing savings wiped out since 2000 ... even the simple lack of having anyone who can answer a simple question (i.e., customer service), a the labyrinth of networks and phone menus where someone thousands of miles away cares nothing about your issues ... push the pound # key to repeat the options ... if you don't know where the pound key is located, a recorded voice will often tell you ...


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