First Read runs an interview (a couple of clicks down) with Al Fromm, the chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (remember them, the organization founded by Clinton, Gore, and Liberman?). Fromm is pretty clear. How should the Democratic Party be rebuilt? "You’ve got to reject Michael Moore and the MoveOn crowd." Fromm called MoveOn "elites, people who sit in their basements all the time and play on their computers."
Finally someone with some real ideas of what needs to happen for Democrats to move on! (Not MoveOn.org, thank God!) The left has been drifting too far left at times, and it needs to be yanked back to reality. The thing is, MoveON and Michael Moore are easy to latch onto as they create a stir and conspiracy thoeries. (We love a good conspicacy!) Thank Fromm for having the guts to come out and say what too many Dems are afraid of saying--and possibly alienating some MoveOners and the Moore folks.
PHEW!
Fromm is right...now all the Democratic Party needs is a platform complete with real issues on it!
Mr. From is of course right, but what are his plans for doing this? DLC has always been more talk than action.
Well, it’s a start, and who knows what can be done in 4 years. Likely a flop, but at least there’s an effort! First baby step is to wean off that baby bottle (MoveON) and learn not to cry about it (lost elections! :o)
Actually, the first step for the Democratic party is to begin opening what’s left of its brain up to some new thoughts. It also needs to begin seriously considering what’s best for America and for society, not what’s best for itself. This will be hard.
The first step for Mr. From, et al, is to denounce the Deans of this world in moral, not merely Machiavellian, terms. It’s one thing to say Dean hurts the party; another thing to say he’s unacceptable. The DLC folks will continue to be ineffective if they try to talk power. Their strength is their fundamental sanity in a party that lacks it. They should emphasize that.
David Frisk: Well said! I agree completely.