Keep the Big Tent big

cnredd · #1 (**permalink**) 12-24-2009, 09:12 PM

A liberal whose actually getting it...

From Bill Daley...Former Commerce Secretary for Clinton...

Keep the Big Tent big

Quote:

Despite this raft of bad news, Democrats are not doomed to return to the wilderness. The question is whether the party is prepared to listen carefully to what the American public is saying. Voters are not re-embracing conservative ideology, nor are they falling back in love with the Republican brand. If anything, the Democrats' salvation may lie in the fact that Republicans seem even more hell-bent on allowing their radical wing to drag the party away from the center.

All that is required for the Democratic Party to recover its political footing is to acknowledge that the agenda of the party's most liberal supporters has not won the support of a majority of Americans -- and, based on that recognition, to steer a more moderate course on the key issues of the day, from health care to the economy to the environment to Afghanistan.

For liberals to accept that inescapable reality is not to concede permanent defeat. Rather, let them take it as a sign that they must continue the hard work of slowly and steadily persuading their fellow citizens to embrace their perspective. In the meantime, liberals -- and, indeed, all of us -- should have the humility to recognize that there is no monopoly on good ideas, as well as the long-term perspective to know that intraparty warfare will only relegate the Democrats to minority status, which would be disastrous for the very constituents they seek to represent.

The party's moment of choosing is drawing close. While it may be too late to avoid some losses in 2010, it is not too late to avoid the kind of rout that redraws the political map. The leaders of the Democratic Party need to move back toward the center -- and in doing so, set the stage for the many years' worth of leadership necessary to produce the sort of pragmatic change the American people actually want.

Just 2 days ago, I wrote this in reference to Re. Parker switching parties...

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

There ARE Democrats that wanted the Democratic leadership to take "baby steps" but instead see the lurches and find issue with it...

Daley is pointing out that it's not just some Democrats that are seeing this, but the country itself...

This is basically what Daley is telling his partners in party...(languange warning)

YouTube- COLORS BULL JOKE

That right there is the Democratic leadership's problem...They're the baby bull...

Kizzume · #2 (**permalink**) 12-25-2009, 01:09 AM

I disagree with this premise. Being more towards the center is why we have this hogwash of a compromised healthcare "reform" bill.

The republicans aren't moderate, not even in the least. Why should the democrats be moderate? So the republicans can have more of a say? I don't think so.

cnredd · #3 (**permalink**) 12-25-2009, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kizzume

I disagree with this premise. Being more towards the center is why we have this hogwash of a compromised healthcare "reform" bill.

No...

Instead of making the process public (as Obama promised) and having wheelers and dealers submit to both special interests and congressweasels looking for re-election votes created this "hogwash"...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kizzume

The republicans aren't moderate, not even in the least.

Ummm...Did you miss the last 12 years before the Dems got the houses where the deficit was breaking records?...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kizzume

Why should the democrats be moderate? So the republicans can have more of a say? I don't think so.

Democrats (really...anybody) don't wake up and say "I think I'll be a moderate today" or "I think I won't be a moderate today."...

"Why should the democrats be moderate?" you ask?...Because, for some of them, that's what they ARE...

I take you back to something I wrote after the elections...

Quote:

This reminds me of the Presidential election of 1976, when so many people were so annoyed with Gerald Ford that they were willing to vote in any idiot that opposed him...And the Democrats were more than happy to provide the idiot...

But look what happened...When the people found out WHO they actually voted in, they corrected their mistake and went right back to the party of Gerald Ford...This time, the party totally revitalized, realizing what happened, got their act together and barnstormed to the Presidency where they stayed for 12 years...

Will that scenario play out again?...Only time will tell, but it probably depends on one person...Nancy Pelosi...

There is a caveat to the 1976 election...Pelosi, unlike Carter, wasn't the change the people demanded...She is a victim of circumstance...

The change was the new Senators and Representatives...These people have been unanimously considered "Conservative Democrats"...In other words, there were no far-Left candidates elected in the mold of Pelosi, Kennedy, Kerry, Rangel, and Durbin...

These are the people Pelosi will have to deal with...They were chosen with the main issue of Iraq in mind, but they are NOT there to change the domestic and social policies...

If Pelosi understands this, she will have to downplay her "San Francisco values" and play to the ideology of the new incoming Congress...which is decidedly more towards the middle...This will undoubtedly cause problems with her base, as they are the most Liberal in the country...

But if she decides to go the opposite route and try to drag the new Congress toward her ideology, that mistake will put her in the same realm as Carter in 1980...scraping and clawing for a lost cause...

The public will see this and "correct their mistake" just as they did with Carter...

This will also be depending upon what the Republicans do in the next two years...If they realize they've become exactly what they were against with the "Contract with America" in 1994 and make a thoughtful change, they will come back stronger and with greater conviction...and maybe the next time they say what they will not become, they'll mean it...

foundit66 · #4 (**permalink**) 12-25-2009, 01:11 PM

When you said the liberal gets it, were you just applauding at the criticism towards "the left" or were you listening to some other poignant comments, like this one...

If anything, the Democrats' salvation may lie in the fact that Republicans seem even more hell-bent on allowing their radical wing to drag the party away from the center.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kizzume

The republicans aren't moderate, not even in the least. Why should the democrats be moderate? So the republicans can have more of a say? I don't think so.

You'll notice you don't really get an answer to this...

As I have pointed out on repeated occasions in the past, I have asked simply why Republicans can't have their political platform match the MAJORITY of their party...
Instead, we get "RINO" responses...

When the country didn't like Iraq, including a majority of Republicans, where were the Republicans criticizing their leadership for not being more moderate?
When the country wants fetal stem cell research, including a majority of Republicans, where are the Republicans criticizing their leadership for not being more moderate?
When the country wants sexual orientation employment discrimination legislation, including a majority of Republicans, where are the Republicans criticizing their leadership for not being more moderate?

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

Ummm...Did you miss the last 12 years before the Dems got the houses where the deficit was breaking records?...

I've provided a short list of some items in the last several years regarding Republicans refusing to follow moderate positions, and refusing to follow the opinion of even their own party majority...
We didn't miss those years.
Not at all...

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