The Nation -- Into the Breach

The most comprehensive election day polling available--that done by Greenberg/Quinlan for the Institute for America's Future and the Democracy Corps--showed that voters were most concerned about the economy, but got no clear idea from either party about what to do about it. Republicans used war and the President to rally their base. Democrats did better among independents than in 2000, but didn't match the Republican turnout.

Yet the DLC once more wants to blame the debacle on liberals. In a "confidential" memo titled "The Road Ahead," the DLC's Al From and Bruce Reed argue that the party suffers from being "too liberal," too associated with tax-and-spend politics, "not tough enough" on terror, too identified with gun control and prochoice politics, and too beholden to its base. Their remedy? Democrats should be tougher than Bush on terror and Iraq. They should stop "promising the moon" on programs like prescription drugs. They should be the keepers of fiscal discipline, suggesting no program without showing how they would pay for it. They should "respect the values of mainstream America" by retreating on gun control, choice and states' rights. Above all, they should stop catering to their base and reach out to independent swing voters--presumably the white "office park dads" whom the DLC has offered up as the key target for the party--the most Republican cohort of the electorate.

It is hard to conjure up a more dispiriting example of ideology trumping reality--or a better recipe for continued Democratic decline.

Contrary to the DLC, the Democratic Party is not a dirigible that can be repositioned to fit the passing winds. It is a party of working people against the Republican Party of corporations and wealth. It is a party of diversity against the whites-only Republican Party. It is a party of prochoice women against the party of the radical right. It is a party of unions and of environmentalists against the party of Ken Lay and Dick Cheney. It won't ever be more muscular than Republicans on war abroad or guns at home. It will win elections by fighting for the causes of its base, while putting forth a bold, full-employment economic program and a real security agenda that challenges Bush for defining threats solely in military terms. The DLC may call that "too liberal." For Democrats, it's just common sense.

Absolutely, there is a growing split between the DLC and the mass of the party.