Bill Clinton honors the DLC's Al From. Says policies form central part of Democratic party fabric.

madfloridian

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jun-17-09 03:21 PM
Original message

Bill Clinton honors the DLC's Al From. Says policies form central part of Democratic party fabric.

The gala was honoring Al From, who is retiring. Clinton tells them he would not have been president without them. Here is more on the topic.

Bill Clinton defends DLC role, legacy

Former President Bill Clinton launched a spirited defense of the Democratic Leadership Council Tuesday night, crediting the centrist organization with the successes of his own presidency and his party�s electoral advances in recent years.

�I would have never become president if it wasn�t for you,� Clinton told a packed DLC gala honoring Al From, who is departing as head of the DLC after founding the organization 24 years ago. �You have evidence that what you did mattered," Clinton said. Clinton�s speech comes at a time when the DLC � a third way group that has long been a thorn in the side of liberals - is undergoing a major shake-up in its ranks, with From handing the organization�s reins to longtime prot�g�, and former Clinton adviser, Bruce Reed.

More about it:

But the group � which shunned the �liberal� label in favor of a �new� Democratic brand - never shed its reputation as an organization that spurred conflict with liberal interest groups. Rev. Jesse Jackson once called the DLC �Democrats for the Leisure Class.� And former presidential candidate Howard Dean referred to it as �the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.�

But in his speech on Tuesday, Clinton argued that the DLC�s policies were now a central part of the fabric of the Democratic Party, and he said that Obama � while he hadn�t said so publicly - had taken some central tenants of his young presidency straight from the DLC playbook.

�It doesn�t matter that Barack Obama wasn�t an original member of the DLC and that he�s got his own brand,� Clinton said. The former president went on to argue that Obama�s cabinet included such card-carrying DLC members as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton....

Indeed he was correct about that. The DLC website has their New Team at the White House in a composite at their website.

He is also correct in that their policies permeate the party's agenda now. They will get their long time dream about replacing the regulated public school system with less regulated charter schools. Their long time plans for individual savings accounts for Social Security are already being favorably mentioned by this administration.

The New Team

Florida was one of the first states to embrace the philosophy of this group. I remember reading about some Florida Democratic leaders I knew in an article about the 2000 Democratic convention.

Florida Dem says the DLC is the wind in our sails

Making his way through the Florida delegation, for example, he's greeted by the state party chair, the head of the state DLC, and a gruff lawyer from Lakeland named Bob Grizzard. Defiantly wearing a t-shirt from Clinton's 1992 campaign over his checkered oxford shirt, Grizzard tells me he's a "proud member of the DLC." When I ask him about the prominence of liberal speakers on the convention docket, he says, "We're the party of diversity and inclusion," then pauses before adding, "and if they don't want to swallow DLC, we'll stick it to 'em." A minute later, he grabs the shoulders of an African American delegate and pulls him over. "He's not quite with us yet," Grizzard confides to me jokingly, "but we'll give him time." Grizzard's friends are a little embarrassed by the gesture but share his triumphalism nonetheless. "The DLC is the wind in our sails," says Bob Poe, the state party chair.

The original link to the story at The New Republic no longer works. However this comment saved is indicative of their thinking. Rosenberg explains they copied the conservatives but took over the party faster than they did.

The New Democrats, Rosenberg explains to me in the convention center cafeteria, have consciously emulated the conservative movement's gradual takeover of the GOP. He pulls out a sheet of paper from his black canvas bag and draws a timeline of modern conservatism's rise: "National Review to Goldwater to the Heritage Foundation to Reagan. It took thirty years for them to take over the party." He then draws a parallel line for the New Democrats, starting with the founding of the DLC in 1985 and running through Lieberman's addition to the Democratic ticket this month. "This all happened very quickly, much more quickly than on the right," he says, staring down at his diagram. "When I worked at the DLC, I studied the institutional infrastructure of the right, especially gopac. You need to fund candidates who support your ideas. We learned lessons from the right, and we borrowed from them."

Some of the backstory was not very pretty. The power and money still influence decisions within the party.

A 2000 book by Ken Baer mentioned how they were able to transform the party. They got rid of the "Noah's Ark problem." Or as Simon Rosenberg later put it...they got money from other sources so they did not have to worry about what their constituents like unions and minorities wanted. From a review of the book in 2000.

Reinventing Democrats

How did a group of elite politicians and operatives transform a political party?

First, they gave themselves a little bit of distance. After several unsuccessful attempts to influence the party establishment from within, the reformers formed the DLC as an extra-party organization in 1985. This avoided what Bruce Babbitt referred to as the "Noah's Ark problem"--the need to satisfy diverse constituents by taking representative positions on behalf of each one. They could also raise their own money (which DLC honchos like Virginia's Chuck Robb were notably good at), start their own think tank (the Progressive Policy Institute), and publicize their own views without tangling with the cumbersome Party bureaucracy.

Second, they worked the rules. They pressured the party to create a new class of "super delegates" consisting of state party leaders and elected officials who, they hoped, would balance out the interest groups that had come to dominate Democratic conventions. They also lobbied to cluster Southern and Western state primaries on "Super Tuesday," so that candidates who were strong in that part of the country (especially conservative Southern Democrats) would get an early boost that could offset a poor showing in more liberal Iowa or New Hampshire.

Third, they aimed for the top. After the Dukakis/Bentsen defeat in 1988, the DLC decided to groom their own hand-picked candidate for the White House. Baer reports that in 1989 Al From flew to Little Rock and told then Governor Bill Clinton: "Have I got a deal for you ... If you take the DLC Chairmanship, we will give you a national platform, and I think you will be President of the United States."

When Clinton did not adhere to policies enough, they started the Third Way project as a possible basis for a 3rd party.

And finally, they squawked when Clinton strayed. Baer describes the rising fury within the DLC when Clinton spent his early political capital on "Old Democrat" issues like gays in the military, Lani Guinier, and universal health care. After the disastrous 1994 elections, Dave McCurdy (an Oklahoma congressman who had lost his job) denounced Clinton as a "transitional figure" and PPI began working on a "Third Way Project" that might be the basis for a third-party movement. An embattled Clinton mended the fence by "triangulating" toward more conservative positions and pushing ahead on welfare reform--and by the 1996 elections, the DLC was confident they had him back in the fold.

Al From may be retiring, but they are still relevant and still doing party policy.

And those who spoke out against them are outside of the party national leadership.