30 October 2005 - 12:49am
DLC all-star Bill Clinton knocks DLC tactics
Of course, that's not how he put it, but in speaking to the 10th annual Texas Book Festival, he seemed to challenge the conventional wisdom in the Democratic politocracy that it's more important to seem reasonable than take a stand against wrong-headed policies and rhetoric.
"You can't say, 'Please don't be mean to me. Please let me win sometimes.' Give me a break here," Clinton said. "If you don't want to fight for the future and you can't figure out how to beat these people then find something else to do."
[snip]
Clinton attributed Republicans' control of Congress to Democratic candidates' inability or unwillingness to "stand up and be heard" on issues that matter to people. For example, he said, Democrats too often are unwilling to talk about abortion because they're afraid of virulent reactions from anti-abortion groups.
"So how come we can't talk about it?" he asked. "Because we basically let political ads turn every player in this drama into a two-dimensional cartoon instead of a three-dimensional person."
Is Hillary listening? Is anyone in the Democratic Party?
Hey "progressive" bloggers: Can we talk about values now?
media girl also blogs at other places.
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Comments
Here's the thing, though. Remember the old saw about how Democrats form a firing squad in a circle? I think that in addition to the style questions ("in your face" versus "tiptoe through the tulips"), you have a fairly serious range of substantive opinion on issues, whether you're talking about abortion, free trade, or tax policy.
So if one Democratic politico speaks not merely loudly about an issue, but also stakes out an extreme position, then a lot of others are going to wince and start distancing themselves.
Still, you've got a point here. If more extreme liberals truly have the megaphone in the Democratic Party, it's because moderate liberals have chosen to be far too quiet.
--|PW|--
...is that to take a position on something is to be "extreme." That's the unexamined attitude in American politics that have left us at the mercy not of the extremists, who are scary enough, but the corporatists, who will go along with anything as long as someone's signing the check.
My assumption is not that any position on something is extreme, but rather that some individuals hold extreme positions on issues.
--|PW|--
...is that Democratic positions have to be mutually exclusive, such that it constitutes a circular firing squad. That analogy is loaded with assumptions.
Sadly, what we have is more like a circular board room, where everyone sits while looking at the ledgers for their own campaign coffers.
is the one Clinton makes in his speech about the budget decisions, and what they say about the people making them (i.e. tax cuts for the rich during a time of war versus cutting back food stamp programs to pay for Katrina-related damage).
How Dems don't jump all over that - like most everything else they do & don't do - is a mystery.