Dem contenders ignore the center

Members of the Democratic Leadership Council meet in Tennessee this weekend and the man who rode their sensible ideas right into the White House, Bill Clinton, will be there. So will 300 current officeholders from around the country.

But guess who won’t? Well, for starters, one Hillary Rodham Clinton. She’ll be in South Carolina, then home to Chappaqua on Sunday. And Barack Obama, why he’s scheduled to be in Iowa and then home to Chicago for most of the weekend. Not John Edwards either or even any of the second-tier candidates like New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. In fact, not a single, solitary Democratic presidential contender will attempt to court the party’s centrists.

And that, sad to say, says a lot about the candidates, about the nature of Democratic primary politics and about how a Republican managed to win the White House - twice.

“They have tunnel vision,” DLC founder Al From told the Associated Press when asked about his fellow Democrats. But this isn’t about From’s injured feelings. It’s about winning elections.

Democratic presidential contenders are too busy pounding the anti-war drums and promising everything to everyone right now to be bothered tending to the great American middle where elections are won.

Not surprisingly, while From and Co. are being treated like some loony fringe group, most of the Democratic presidential contenders will find time in their busy schedules to attend a convention of liberal bloggers the next weekend in Chicago. That ought to make for a few amusing YouTube moments.

Massachusetts isn’t alone in having a preponderance of registered voters with no particular allegience to either party. We now call them “unenrolled” and as unattractive as that may sound, some 50 percent of the state’s voters are perfectly willing to take that as their label.

Many of them would fit comfortably in the DLC mold. Many likely wouldn’t mind casting a vote for Rudy Giuliani either.

The Democratic presidential candidates ignore those voters at their peril. John Kerry learned that lesson the hard way.

But not to worry, by next summer the Democratic nominee will no doubt want to kiss and make up with the DLC. And likely the DLC’s support will be his or hers for the asking.

The RNC needs to have this phase on videotape, to counter the makeover in the general election campaign.

They ignore the middle class just like they did under Bill Clinton. That’s why, under his administration, we had some of the highest taxes in our history.....and he brags about trillions of dollars in surplus. It wasn’t his surplus.....it was our over taxed incomes that payed for it. We need a flat tax of 7%...no more.

The Democrats have to cater to the kooks first. They can go back to the middle after the convention to fool the voters again. They're counting on the public's short memory. It works... everytime.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

3 posted on 07/28/2007 2:53:44 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)

There just might be no ‘center’ anymore. Only leftists, conservatives... and stupids.

4 posted on 07/28/2007 3:17:51 PM PDT by johnny7 ("But that one on the far left... he had crazy eyes")

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