Here's the full title and caption describing a long piece of soul-searching by Bill Curry: My party has lost its soul: Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and the victory of Wall Street Democrats - A former Clinton aide on how Democrats lost their way chasing Wall Street cash, and new populism the party needs
Curry isn't saying anything that won't be unfamiliar to regular Kossacks - but it's interesting considering where he's coming from.
Bill Curry was White House counselor to President Clinton and a two-time Democratic nominee for governor of Connecticut. He is at work on a book on President Obama and the politics of populism.
Not too much more below the
Orange Omnilepticon.
Curry traces out what happened to the Democratic Party, giving a lot of thought about the role of Ralph Nader and all of the legislation his activism brought about. His contention was that Nader, in his pre-third party candidate days, was able to generate sufficient motivation among the general populace on issues that both Democrats and Republicans were forced to respond.
Washington’s rapid response affirmed Nader’s belief that people provided with critical facts will demand change and that sooner than one might expect politicians, however listless or corrupt, will give it to them. This faith in the power of ideas and of public opinion — in the educability of people and thus in the viability of democracy — distinguishes Nader from much of what remains of the American left.
Curry goes on to discuss William Jennings Bryan, what populism is - and isn't - and how the Democratic Party has lost the idea that you can force political action by energizing popular support with strong ideas. As he critiques at one point:
It pains us to watch Democrats bungle populist issues. We see Rand Paul corner the market on privacy and the scrutiny of defense budgets and wonder why no Democrat rises to expose his specious rantings. We yearn for a new politics but worry that our democracy, like that Antarctic ice shelf, has reached its tipping point. For things to improve Democrats must come up with better ideas and learn how to present them. So why don’t they?
One reason is that today’s Democrats think politics is all about marketing. While Republicans built think tanks Democrats built relationships with celebrity pollsters. When things go awry one pops up on TV to tell us how they “lost control of the narrative.” Asked to name a flaw, Obama invariably cites his failure to “tell our story.” Judging by his recent book, Tim Geithner thinks failing to tell his story was the only mistake he ever made. People don’t hate the bailout because Tim Geithner gives bad speeches. They hate it because their mortgages are still underwater.
Democrats must learn that policy precedes message; figure out what you believe, then how to tell people about it. A good idea advertises itself.
And…
Democrats think the power of money is greater than the power of ideas. Nader thinks that with the right ideas you can win even if outspent 100-to-1. Every year Democrats further dilute their ideas to get the money they think they need to sell them. The weaker the ideas, the more ads they need, the more money it takes, the weaker the ideas. As you can tell from their ads, they’ve been at this a long time.
They don’t believe in ideas because they don’t believe in people. Obama wasted years dickering with Republicans who wished him only ill. He should have talked to the people and let them talk to the Republicans.
Read the whole thing. There's a lot to think about, and while I don't agree with everything Curry has to say, it's a discussion worth having.
There's a couple of things Curry doesn't address that I think are worth including. One is the rise of the Mighty Wurlitzer - the vast right wing messaging machine constantly pumping out the ideas the right wants people to hear and believe. That, and the surrender by the rest of the media to it and its framing on too many issues.
The second is the, well elephant in the room isn't quite the right metaphor. It's the probability that the next standard bearer for the Democrat's run to hold the White House is likely to be Hillary Clinton, along with all the Democratic establishment baggage of the corporatist mentality Curry is concerned about.
The soul of the Democratic Party indeed!
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