Hillary Clinton's Ghosts: A Legacy of Pushing the Democratic Party to the Right

[FreakinDJ]

A discussion about how the Democrats could be compromised by their relationship with the financial institutions that fund their campaigns was unthinkable in past presidential debates. Such a discussion falls way outside the narrow parameters of debate that have dominated political discourse in the mainstream media for decades. But at the Democratic debate in Iowa this November, this issue was front and center: Hillary Clinton was forced to defend her financial relationship with Wall Street numerous times on network television.


Within the DLC, populism was not merely out of favor; it was militantly opposed


Clinton's response to populist attacks on her Wall Street connections has largely been to adopt similar language and policy positions as her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders. In many ways she is trying to minimize the differences between her and Sanders, rather than emphasize them. "The differences among us," she said of her opponents at the Iowa debate, "pale in comparison to what's happening on the Republican [side]."



But the party's latest generation of "New Democrats" - self-described "moderates" who are funded by Wall Street and are aggressively trying to steer the party to the right - have noticed this trend and are now fighting back. Third Way, a "centrist" think tank that serves as the hub for contemporary New Democrats, has recently published a sizable policy paper, "Ready for the New Economy," urging the Democratic Party to avoid focusing on economic inequality. Former Obama chief of staff Bill Daley, a Third Way trustee, recently argued that Sanders' influence on the primary "is a recipe for disaster" for Democrats.



Clinton adopted the DLC strategy in the way she governed.


The DLC's goal was to advance "a message that was less tilted toward minorities and welfare, less radical on social issues like abortion and gays, more pro-defense, and more conservative on economic issues," wrote Robert Dreyfuss in a 2001 article in The American Prospect. "The DLC thundered against the 'liberal fundamentalism' of the party's base - unionists, blacks, feminists, Greens, and cause groups generally."



http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/33869-hillary-clinton-s-ghosts-a-legacy-of-pushing-the-democratic-party-to-the-right

[Thinkingabout]

1. Like the RW votes against the Brady Bill?

[leftofcool]

3. Or the vote against immigration

[FreakinDJ]

6. The DLC led efforts to take down Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign

The DLC led efforts to take down Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, citing his opposition to the war in Iraq as an example of his weakness. Two years later, the organization played a similar role against Ned Lamont's antiwar challenge to Sen. Joe Lieberman, which the DLC decried as "The Return of Liberal Fundamentalism."

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/33869-hillary-clinton-s-ghosts-a-legacy-of-pushing-the-democratic-party-to-the-right

[cali]

2. Bill and Hillary are more responsible for pushing the democratic

party to the right than anyone else.

[WillyT]

5. Bingo !!!

As is evident by "modern" day Democrats.

[FreakinDJ]

7. So what makes anyone believe that is going to change now

[Octafish]

4. In matters of war and peace.

In matters of prosperity for the few or the many.

In matters of justice versus just-us.

Thank you for the OP, FreakinDJ! Lots of stuff there that doesn't get the attention it deserves. Cough DLC.

[RiverLover]

8. We need to STOP this TRAIN.

& Get back to FDR Democratic principles.

We allowed Bill Clinton to remake the D party as the party of Wall Street.

We cannot allow Hillary to drive the train further. Its got to turn around. Otherwise, why have 2 parties?

So one can tell us things that make us feel good, while sticking the knife in our back with the republicans? (which was Clinton1's presidency.)