Cross Post
The Democratic Leadership Council was formed by Al From in the wake of Reagan's victories. Its aim was to move the Democratic Party to the center. Bill Clinton is its most prominent former head. Also, Zel Miller and Joe Lieberman. Currently it is chaired by Harold Ford Jr.
The DLC is struggling. America no longer looks so center-right. In fact, it looks kinda center-left these days. It is the Republicans who need to correct course towards the center,dragging the mighty whale Rush Limbaugh .
Politico
The Democratic Leadership Council .. is on the brink of a major shake-up.
...
At the same time, the Progressive Policy Institute, an influential think tank closely affiliated with the DLC, will soon part ways with the council. Will Marshall, who heads the think tank, said the recent Democratic electoral gains and a massive new agenda being pushed by the Obama administration "require us to think anew."
Duh.
The Democrat Lite Council, as it is sometimes called, serves no purpose anymore. The people who argued that the only way to win is to appeal to the Southern White middle class which feels alienated from the Democratic mainstream were proved dead wrong in the last election. Obama lost Arkansas, which is a DLC state if ever there was one. The only region in the country in which Obama lost votes compared to Kerry was along the Appalachian spine, another DLC area. He even gained ground, still short of victory, in Republican strongholds: Utah for example. He lost ground in AZ, but without McCain, it is up for grabs in 2012.
Obama won his resounding victory without doing any of the things that the DLC stood for. When they tried to include him in a list of candidates they supported (back when he was running for the Senate) he dissed them and asked then to remove his name from it. Obama won by amplifying Dean's movement and by forming a new coalition of North, East and West coasts, with a couple of victories in the South. This is the new Democratic Party. It is not the Party that elected Bill Clinton and not the one that lost to Reagan and the Bushes.
The Party changed because the country changed. The DLC is irrelevant. No rearrangement of deck chairs is going to save it after its collision with reality in the election of 2008.
The worst thing that the DLC did was to support the Iraq war. They deserve to be thrown in the dustbin of history for that alone.
The Republican Leadership Council on the other hand, has an opportunity. May be they can learn a thing or two from the DLC and come up with an intelligent, articulate moderate-conservative who will steal our slogans to advance their agenda. What they need is their version of Bill Clinton, not another Ronald Reagan. Reagan would not get anywhere in today's political climate.
Added Note: Thanks for getting this into the Rec List.