What it Means to be a Democrat: Mario Cuomo's Rousing 1992 DNC Speech/ Parts 1-4

[KoKo]

This is the famous Cuomo nominating speech for Clinton. Watching it is a fascinating look back in time to what was viewed as important by our Party in 1992. After the Reagan Bush I years in 1992...we were "Fired Up and Ready to Go." In 2008 we were "Fired Up and Ready to Go." But, something has fundamentally changed in our Party Governance in the intervening years. We've morphed from the "Party of the People" to something else.

Was it Neo-Lib/DLC policies that got us off track from from the policies of FDR and the Labor Movement? Or was it pressure on Clinton to go too far in deregulation in his second term because of his impending impeachment? Why has Obama seemed to go so "off track" in his own Presidency by being so insistent in working with Republicans?

Re-listening to Cuomo's speech might offer us hope for repositioning going forward.

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Mario Cuomo gives an amazing speech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. In nominating Bill Clinton, he also laid down the party platform (which many Democrats seem to forget these days). This speech is even more relevant today.

?list=PLG6u_6h_j_AK3546I0z3tfZ6pbMITiVl5

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Cuomo Nominates Clinton 1992 - Part 2
Uploaded on Oct 22, 2006
Part 2 of 4. Mario Cuomo gives an amazing speech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. In nominating Bill Clinton, he also laid down the party platform (which many Democrats seem to forget these days). This speech is even more relevant today.

?list=PLG6u_6h_j_AK3546I0z3tfZ6pbMITiVl5

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Cuomo Nominates Clinton 1992 - Part 3
Mario Cuomo gives an amazing speech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. In nominating Bill Clinton, he also laid down the party platform (which many Democrats seem to forget these days). This speech is even more relevant today.

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Cuomo Nominates Clinton 1992 - Part 4
Mario Cuomo gives an amazing speech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. In nominating Bill Clinton, he also laid down the party platform (which many Democrats seem to forget these days). This speech is even more relevant today.

[NYC_SKP]

1. However, the platform text foreshadows the harm that followed.

See the sections on drugs and crime, the military, and trade and labor.

NAFTA and GATT will make us stronger!

Trade.

Our government must work to expand trade, while insisting that the conduct of world trade is fair. It must fight to uphold American interests—promoting exports, expanding trade in agricultural and other products, opening markets in major product and service sectors with our principal competitors, and achieving reciprocal access. This should include renewed authority to use America's trading leverage against the most serious problems. The U.S. government also must firmly enforce U.S. laws against unfair trade.

Trade Agreements.

Multilateral trade agreements can advance our economic interests by expanding the global economy. Whether negotiating the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) or completing the GATT negotiations, our government must assure that our legitimate concerns about environmental, health and safety, and labor standards are included. Those American workers whose jobs are affected must have the benefit of effective adjustment assistance.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29610

I have to look further back to FDR to find good Democratic principles, though I do enjoy the Cuomo clips, KoKo.

[KoKo]

3. Correct. "DLC written Party Platform" and it's gotten even worse....

And NAFTA, GATT, before Lewinsky became a factor and part of party platform.

I think the Cuomo Speech shows "what we could be again" rhetorically. Agree that FDR's "Second New Deal" which he wasn't able to implement was better. Someone might dig it up and post it here.

Still, it's obvious we do well (election wise) when we have Charismatic Presidential Candidates...who have inspiring rhetoric (the Kennedys, another example) who lift "the people" up with Populist Ideals .... but our follow through in the way the Party Ops Govern is another story. NeoLibs Economic & Trade Policies Rule...and now with the unlimited Campaign money from PAC's, 501-c's and Dark Money, etc.--it has become worse.

[sabrina 1]

6. Yes, I agree. Cuomo was an amazing orator. I can't say I know a whole lot about his

policies. His son is our Gov right now and probably only won because the other guy was so awful even his own party didn't want him.

But Gov Cuomo is for fracking, close to big Corporations, perhaps he's trying to bring business to upstate NY, but this area would do great with some GOOD business, such as Green Energy eg. People here are already, on their own, switching to alternative energy sources, I now see Solar Inc trucks around the area. Several small Solar energy businesses are starting to appear, and many people are using Wood Burning stoves to offset the cost of oil. Most of our neighbors use very little oil anymore, they use wood, a few have build their own windmills etc.

So encouraging althernative energy, rather than Fracking is something that would be very welcome here. But Cuomo doesn't seem to be doing that. Fracking Corps are his friends.

[L0oniX]

2. "being so insistent in working with Republicans"

As Republicans are today ...that should be embarrassing. Of course its just part of the good cop bad cop show where the good cop isn't a real FDR Dem good cop.

[fadedrose]

4. Chris Cuomo is an appealing young man

and the Gov should be proud of him. I can see him running when the time comes.

[NYC_SKP]

5. More on that 1992 platform (really moving in the wrong direction):

This is where we began to lose our way, IMHO.

Since 1992, when the first Bill Clinton-era platform broke sharply with two decades of Democratic promises to use government to redistribute wealth, direct social change, and empower minorities and women, the party has sharply altered its rhetoric. Democrats have adopted words and phrases such as “opportunity,” “choice” and “smaller government” that their opponents began using during the Ronald Reagan years to win support from middle-class voters. The words “faith” and “God,” which appear only in passing or not at all in platforms from the 1960s through the ’80s, can be found 18 times in the 2004 document, as in “We honor the central place of faith in the lives of our people.”

Democratic platforms still spell out positions distinctly different from Republican stances on social and environmental issues, supporting abortion rights, affirmative action, and tighter regulations on polluters and financial institutions. Democrats consistently back a more expansive view of government’s role in science, the arts, and aid to the poor and the elderly.

But the party has struggled in recent decades to find the sweet spot between principle and political reality on issues such as guns, health care, the death penalty, school choice, nuclear power, relations with Cuba, and taxes.

In 1960, Democrats state plainly that they are open to “higher taxes [and] we will not allow political disadvantage to deter us from doing what is required.” Four years later, they call for tax cuts. Then, in 1968, they explain that in some years, reductions are necessary “to stimulate the economy” while at other times, the nation needs “tax increases to restrain inflation.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democratic-party-platform-an-uneven-progression-over-the-years/2012/09/04/b793213e-f144-11e1-a612-3cfc842a6d89_story.html

[demwing]

7. Pin of the Week

Last edited Sat Nov 15, 2014, 02:28 PM - Edit history (1)

thanks for bringing the awesome!

[demwing]

8. Thanks Koko!

FYI to all, a new Pin of the Week will be up tonight.