Frank's lack of specific proposals underscores a common critique: that Democrats on the national level don't stand for anything. Yet he also reminds us that Democrats do stand for something quite far-reaching: the certitude of their own virtue in a wicked world.
Or they darn well know what they do stand for will get them run out of office in any but the bluest regions of the blue states.
Hillary is leaning to the right for 2008, but her feet are still firmly planted on the left.
"Frank's lack of specific proposals underscores a common critique: that Democrats on the national level don't stand for anything."
They stand for the same thing they always have for most of our lifetime. That is, to enact a full welfare state. Most of them would be even happier to extend such a state on a global level, with the U.N. collecting taxes from countries like the US, and redistributing it elsewhere.
The Dems stripes haven't changed, just that their objectives aren't too popular right now, so they don't dare speak openly about it.
If there is one immediate task they would like to accomplish, it would be to "fix" the deficit and the economy. No, that doesn't mean cutting federal expenditures. Sound fiscal policy would mean raising taxes. The ever growing debt and widening deficit just might provide the national Dems with the chance to run with that plank in the next election. Too bad W doesn't like small government conservatism.