There has been much discussion here about the power struggle currently taking place in the Democratic Party, and whether that struggle is about ideology or if it’s more anti-establishment in nature. Kos just made it clear that he thinks this is absolutely not about ideology. With all due respect, I just don't agree.
My belief is that this battle is both. Clearly, we need to move away from the established Dems who have been controlling the party for the past decade. I'm actually a big fan of Bill Clinton, but that has more to do with his charisma, intelligence and persuasive abilities than with his politics. He was too conservative for my tastes, meaning that he was far too willing to move to the center rather than fighting for what he truly believed. I've always thought that Bill Clinton is a liberal in his secret heart, and I wish he had governed that way. I had great hope for him when he tried to get gays (my people) into the military, but it was one frustration after another after that. And yet, I'm still a fan. Why? Because he tried. He tried to get some comprehensive health care reform. He failed, but he made the effort. He had the courage of his convictions.
And what's the point of this, you ask? Bill Clinton is widely viewed as a centrist, but his style doesn't work for us anymore. This is certainly an establishment issue, but it's also an ideology issue, because for the past 15 years, establishment and ideology have been the same. If we lose an election (which we are expert at doing), the immediate reaction is to move to the center, try to build bridges, etc. We hear that Dems are out of touch with the rest of America, so everyone tries to pretend they are republicans. We get congressmen and senators who let Bush do whatever he likes, and never put up a fight about anything. In my view, this is as much an ideology problem as it is an establishment problem. In short, the establishment has the wrong ideology, at least for me.
Keep in mind, this is coming from my unashamed liberal viewpoint, but here's the way I see it. If we take a look at the major issues of the last several years, where is the ideology of our established leaders?
*Iraq
*The Patriot Act
*The Economy
*Tax cuts
*Gay marriage/civil unions
*"Partial-birth" abortion
We could go on, but you get the idea. Our guys were just going along with Bush on everything, trying desperately not to offend anyone. These are ideological problems as well as establishment problems. I say this because many of our current leaders are bereft of ideology. Most of them say what they think people want them to say, and I include John Kerry in this group. The repubs nailed him on being a flip-flopper, and while that's a gross overstatement, there is a grain of truth there. I don't believe for a minute that John Kerry is against gay marriage. I think he's just afraid to say it. He made about 20 different statements about Iraq before he finally settled on a message. What the hell is his ideology?
Let's look at George Bush. He has a very clear ideology, and gets his message across very effectively. Colin Powell, largely viewed as a moderating force in the administration is leaving, likely to be replaced by the Neocon nightmare Codoleeza Rice. What message might we get from that? His ideology is consistent. He's not going to reach out to Democrats by naming someone in the moderate vein of Powell; he's going to press his advantage.
Democrats must change the direction of this party, and we can't do it by naming a DNC chair just because he/she is not part of the current establishment. In my view, that's only rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We need someone with a different vision that what we've had. We need someone who has the courage of his/her convictions, and if I may say so, someone who is spoiling for a fight. We need someone with an ideology that they won't sell.
Rather than pandering to people, we need to take a step to the left, proudly. We must stand up and proclaim what we believe, with apology, and take Americans to the left with us. Americans are warm, caring people who have been mislead by silver-tongued devils into believing that they can only be safe by mistrusting each other and everyone else. We must correct this. We need to make people understand why supporting gay rights is the moral thing to do. And why universal health care is the moral thing to do.
I choose the word "moral" intentionally, because I think it's the appropriate word. It's a matter of right and wrong on some issues, and I think it's wrong that 50 million Americans have no health care. That's immoral, in my view, and I try to make the people I am in contact with understand that as a moral imperative.
It's just not enough to say we need an anti-establishment person to lead the DNC. We also need someone with an ideology.