The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), or the Democrats of the Leisure Class as some like to call them, has a problem. A few years ago the IRS yanked their 501(c)(4) nonprofit tax status, basically because they call themselves Democrats, and (c)(4)'s aren't supposed to be partisan.
So what does the DLC do?
It sends a letter back to the IRS saying that they really are nonpartisan, and the proof is that on many issues more Republicans than Democrats support them.
Good to know...
Read the whole thing in Forbes (free registration required):
http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2006/1002/048.html
Friday, March 07, 2008
Hillary and the DLC
So we all know Hillary Clinton is tight with the Democratic Leadership Council, but do you know just how right-leaning and corporatist the DLC is? I originally posted this bit of snark about a year and a half ago, but it seems even more relevant now:
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5 comments:
Well technically they have a point. The DLC, has in its bylaws that it will support centrist candidates irregardless of party. They have in the past supported Republicans against liberal Democrats.
I think its rather biased that you mention Hillary but not Obama. Fromm and Ford earlier this year were more than happy with both the candidates. That was of course before Hillary started a more economic populist tone with health care and housing. At this point in the came they are most likely more comfortable with Obama than Clinton.
I think if Hillary could have written her own script she would be more centrist than she is currently running. Obama has forced her into many of her positions and she has had to get comfortable with them. How right Obama has been willing to go has surprised me.
I think Hillary's record is to the left of Obama's but with Bill near the White house who knows. Dick Armey hit it on the head the other night. He said Obama is a lot like Bill, more concerned about getting there than what he'll do while he's there. Hillary on the other hand has a very clear outline of what she wants to accomplish. My sense, is that she would be further to the left than many liberals give here credit for.
While it's always hard to predict how a candidate will behave once elected, Clinton has a long history of involvement with the DLC and has surrounded herself with DLC advisers, while Obama has clearly and publicly distanced himself from the DLC. Granted these positions may be strategic rather than ideological, but Obama still earns a lot of brownie points from liberals, including me, for doing so.
Which ones, from what I have seen it is the DLC Dems have come out for Obama in full force.
Obama has played this dance for years. Distancing himself from the DLC, but at the same time taking on their core issues.
Take a step back and ask yourself what is this base the DLC thinks it should be based on. Funny you got Obama's stronghold. African Americans and middle class educated whites.
Listen to Clinton, she makes Edwards seem tame. She has Gephart at the core of her economic team , hardly a DLCer. He opposed NAFTA from the beginning. Now, I am not saying Hillary is not a DLC darling, only less so than Obama.
Contrast that to Obama whose got Rubin, Gosleby and other DLC, neoliberal advisers. Obama is the most rightist Democrat I remember in my lifetime. Here is a good piece by Bruce Dixon from Black Commentator on Obama.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/holding-barack-obama-accountable/
I react to Obama the same way I do to Bush. When he comes on I change the channel. I am a class warrior and with Obama I smell a rat.
Last night Legend was on Colbert. Colbert pushed him on yes we can. Yes we can what? Change he said, we can change.
Obama is a pepsi commercial terribly gone wrong. That last ad with all that chanting seems like something that would come out of Nazi Germany rather than a "democracy". The guy scares the shit out of me, all rhetoric, no backbone.
I wanted to add one more thing. Here is a piece on Obama's connection to the DLC.
http://www.observer.com/2008/barack-obama-d-l-c-clintonite
Fromm is quoted as stating Obama has a very strong intellectual connection to the DLC. Gooslebee, that Obama adviser in the news of late is a fellow for the DLC think tank.
Hillary is a long-time member of the DLC, and is chair of the DLC's "American Dream Initiative".
Obama has never been a DLC
member. If the best you can come up with is Al Fromm, who I believe has endorsed Hillary, saying that Obama "has a very strong intellectual connection to the DLC," then your case is rather weak.
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