Rob Kall OpEdNews.Com The DLC (Democratic Leadership Council) flat out sucks. It's been described as a front for Republicans, Republican's light, Republicans in Democrat's clothing. They attack candidates, using the same vitriol as right wing talk radio cretins like Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage and Glen what's his name.
So what's a party to do? Get rid of them? No... It's free country. George Bush could even join their little sham Democratic bow wow party. Replace them? No. They don't want to go away.
There are two ways to deal with them. First, create counter-voices that stand up to their BS and put out statements that more accurately reflect the voice of the real democratic party. What is that voice if it's not the voice of the millions. It is not the voice of a handful of spineless republican wannabes.
Second, create an alternative to them-- a new organization that offers people who are disgusted with the DLC's positions-- a chance to have their ideas spoken.
The fact is, the Republicans have moved so far to the radical, revolutionary right, in their efforts, now being done in plain open sight, to re-make America, that the DLC, when it seeks the middle ground, is really seeking the ground that old-time Republicans took. If you stretch so far to the right and then find the new middle, then those on the far right are winning just by influencing you-- if you are a spineless faux democrat.
The democrats were led by the DLC in the failed mid-term elections. Gore was persuaded by the DLC to do Gore light. It's time to throw these loser, fake democrats out of the sphere of influence of the Democratic party. Even if that doesn't happen, it's likely that they'll get themselves thrown out. They've been getting uglier and nastier-- as though their make-up is melting off and underneath they are becoming seen for what they are ditto-head Republicans Soon enough their real selves will become so transparent they will be thrown out, or laughed out. I'm sure Tom DeLay will welcome them. He is probably already good buddies with them.
Here's what Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard says about Democrats in his column in the Weekly Standard''s website:
"Democrats in Disarray. One of the reasons Republican consultant Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies throws around the L-word ("Landslide") is the sad state of the Democratic party. "Never before have we witnessed what's happened since the [September 11] attack: a sustained, almost two-year period where Americans have rated the Republican party higher on a thermometer than the Democratic party," he said. Republican leaders are considerably more popular than Democrats. Democrats are weak among independent and swing voters. Only 18 percent of voters in a Public Opinion Strategies survey are convinced any of the Democratic presidential candidates "can handle terrorism." And Democrats are conflicted on issue after issue--war in Iraq, Medicare, taxes, guns.:
Let's give the DLC credit where it is due-- the current lack of vision, lack of leadership, lack of mission, lack of guts and courage-- let's attribute all of these failures to the DLC's lack of leadership.
Worse, the DLC is attacking candidates it doesn't like. In today's Guardian, they report,
"Aides to other candidates have sought to paint Dean's campaign as 'too extremist', claiming he is 'a George McGovern for the 21st century'. (McGovern ran against Nixon in 1972 and lost one of the most one-sided presidential elections in history.) Last month the Democrat Leadership Council, the Clinton power base, called the former governor 'unelectable'."
They also attack Kucinich's as another who fits their "unelectable liberal" profile. The truth is that their profile does not work. That's not surprising. They are not trying to get real democrats elected. They may cite Clinton, but in many ways, Clinton was more republican than Nixon.
But to replace the DLC, or even to offer an alternative to the DLC, new leadership has to emerge, has to define new visions, missions, policies, platforms. This is a think tank role, or, make that plural, where the need for progressive think tanks comes in.
We have some. Let's see them get to work offering alternatives to the DLC's line, alternatives to middle of the road ideas that are really pulled-to-the-right ideas. The internet is changing the way elections are fought. Perhaps it's also the place where new ideas will bubble up and emerge as the shining chargers the left will ride to victory in 2004.
PS. Here's a potential organization to check out: where there's an article 21st Century Democrats Question DLC's Commitment to Core Democratic Values
Rob Kall rob@opednews.com is publisher of progressive news and opinion website www.opednews.com and organizer of cutting edge meetings that bring together world leaders, such as the Winter Brain Meeting and the StoryCon Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story. This article is copyright by Rob Kall, but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached
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