A Crystal Clear View of Democrats' Problems

Now that I am back in Montana, I have some time to reflect on my trip to DC this week. I was really impressed with a lot of the people I met with - there seems to be an awakening among progressives there that we're at rock bottom, and we need to fundamentally rethink how we are going to move forward and start winning again. That said, when I read this article, I realize just how far a journey we have in front of us in making the Democratic Party return to its roots - and to its prominence.

The story is about the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) holding a three-day conference in Ohio about how to reverse conservatives' gains. The story quotes the DLC's ultimate Beltway insider Bruce Reed saying "If Democrats can't win in Ohio, we don't deserve to win the presidency." That's a true statement. But it's ironic coming from the head of the DLC, a group that has ardently pushed the very "free" trade policy that has destroyed Ohio's job base, and has pushed that policy at exactly the right time to stab the Democratic Party in the back.

As USA Today reported during the campaign, trade is one of the most important issues in Ohio. And yet the Beltway insiders from the DLC - the very people who have used corporate money to buy Democratic support in Congress for "free" trade - is arrogantly coming into Ohio to tell Democrats there the way to win is to support their agenda. This is the kind of arrogance and lunacy that could only come from Washington, D.C.'s corporate money circles - it is totally divorced from political reality, yet these well-heeled clowns over at the DLC still claim they have a model of success.

It will be interesting to see if, just as the DLC viciously attacked Howard Dean, the DLC will try to make life harder for people like Ohio's popular Congressman Sherrod Brown (D), should he jump into the state's U.S. Senate race in 2006. Brown has been a leader in pushing for fair trade, and in whipping up opposition to CAFTA - an opposition the DLC tried to undercut last week.

What's most funny/sad about this, is that these same DLC leaders told the Christian Science Monitor that they are worried that "voters know too little about what their own party stands for" - and yet absolve themselves from any blame for that. There is no awareness that when Democrats rhetorically claim to be standing up for the middle class, and then vote the DLC's way on fundamental economic issues, the public catches on and understands they are being misled.

The DLC also tells the Monitor that "If Democrats are smart, they also will avoid copying Rove's strategy of polarization, using controversial issues to whip up support from a loyal base of voters." How, may I ask, is that "smart?" Last I checked, Karl Rove has won almost every political campaign he's been involved in with that strategy, and now Republicans dominate every branch of government. How is it "smart" not to take some tactical lessons from him? I'm not saying we take our ethics lessons from Rove - but to say that he hasn't been politically successful in winning elections is beyond tone deaf: it's just plain stupid.

Maybe if I put it in corporate terms that the DLCers could understand, it would be more clear. Going to places like Ohio to tell Democrats to continue pushing the DLC's corporate "free" trade policies would be like being the guy who ran a company into the ground, showing up to give a presentation to the company's board, and telling the board that the company should keep doing exactly what its been doing, even it if means complete bankruptcy. The fact is, if you did that, you'd be fired. But in Democratic Party politics, these people aren't fired - they are venerated, as if they have the keys to success. And then we wonder why Democrats continue to lose, and lose, and lose, and lose. What's really amazing is that these professional election losers still can spew their drivel with a straight face.

DLC CEO Al From told the Monitor that there is "a lot of concerns in this country about the way Washington is run and about the arrogance of power in Washington." The same could be said about how the Democratic Party is still influenced by From and his corporate cronies, and about the arrogance of the DLC's corporate-cash power that continues to try to drive the Democratic Party into the ground.

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