Ron Brownstein of the LA Times
writes about the new Hillary/DLC alliance, saying:
Clinton linked arms with the DLC last week when she agreed to direct the group's one-year project to define a new Democratic message and agenda. Clinton has participated in DLC events before, but never so prominently.
It's easy to identify benefits for each side. While her husband was president, Hillary Clinton was often seen as a champion of the Democratic left. But since her Senate campaign in 2000, she's mostly aimed for the center.
The DLC post could help anchor her there. Since the group was formed in 1985, it's pretty much held the franchise for Democratic moderation. If Clinton runs for president in 2008, the DLC's stamp of approval will make it tougher for any Democratic rival to portray her as an unelectable leftist. "Getting that DLC moniker around her name is very beneficial," says a Democratic operative involved with another potential 2008 contender.
While the DLC offers Clinton credentials, she offers the group credibility. The council's influence crested while Bill Clinton, its former chairman, held the White House. But since his departure, it has struggled to find a productive role. Liberal activists routinely deride the DLC formula of moderate "third-way" policies aimed at swing voters as irrelevant to an era of intense political polarization.
The DLC is in desperate need of relevance. Stuck in its 1992 mindset, the DLC still sees itself as the great defender of the Democratic middle, even as the Democratic left is all but extinct. What's left can't be easily categorized as left, middle, right. We are far more sophisticated political consumers than in previous generations, and thus harder to be caricatured. I'm fiercely pro-balanced budgets, believe in the principle of free trade, support gun rights, and think the Democratic Party should do more for small business (who are being decimated by the Wal-Marts of the world).
Heck, I got an email a few months ago from a DLC higher-up excited that, hey, me and From weren't that far apart on certain issues. Yet I also believe in universal health care, strong worker protections, a strong social net, and government investment in education, technology, and the arts. So what does that make me? To the wingnuts and the DLC, I'm a radical leftist, but reality is a bit more complicated than that. And I'm guessing the same goes for most of you reading this piece.
But it's never been about issues or ideology, no matter how much the DLC wants to frame it that way. You want to talk about litmus tests? Here's our litmus test, courtesy of someone over at Steve's blog:
I suggest that we DID have a litmus test, and that Paul Hackett met every important point. It's just not any of the litmus tests that we usually hear about. While I am sure that all of us would have our favorite elements, they would have to include some or all of the following:
Does 'distance himself' from the party or its leaders, or is he proud to be a Democrat?
Does he talk like a bureaucrat or like a regular person?
Does he make it clear that he opposes Bush and the Republicans?
Does he back down when the corporate press/media or Republican pundits attack him, or does he stand by his words?
Does he respond to the nationwide reaction of the left blogosphere, or does he assign it to a junior staff member?
Does he sleepwalk through the campaign, or does he act like he wants to win?
I don't know all of Paul Hackett's positions and, since I am an old school lefty I am sure I don't agree with all of them. But he passed the litmus test I have set out for Democratic candidate I will support with time and donations.
I subscribe to all of these except the one that requires the candidate to respond to the netroots. I don't demand anything like that, regardless how nice it is when it happens. But these are the sorts of things we're looking for around these digital parts. And notice the absolute lack of ideology involved. The media won't ever make that distinction, especially with their friends at the DLC fighting hard to promote the fiction of a left/centrist split in the party.
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. Witness how often Armando has linked to the DLC's Ed Kilgore (a well-liked, genuinely nice guy) in the past. And rarely (if ever) in a way that offended my own politics (nor most of yours, I would venture to guess). Remember that when the DLC cries that the Big Bad Liberals are out to stamp out the Poor Moderates in the party.
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.
So what's left? Let the DLC fizzle out on its own? We could do that. It has a limited shelf life.
Or we can help the process along, working collectively to hasten the process. And I've got a plan to do just that.
Consider this a teaser. ETA is four weeks.