Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, his counterpart in the House, Nancy Pelosi of California, and Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean say voters have a clear choice — more of the same under Republicans or a new direction with Democrats in charge.
But some critics within the party have criticized those leaders in Washington, saying they have failed to articulate a clear and detailed policy platform heading into the midterm elections. Some question whether Democrats need a document like the "Contract with America," which was credited with helping Republicans seize power in 1994.
The DLC's effort to create an economic agenda began a year ago, when Vilsack asked Clinton to lead the charge and solicit ideas from political, business, labor, civic and intellectual leaders across the country.
The result is what Al From, the founder of the organization, called "a set of ideas around which Democrats of all stripes can rally as we head into the fall election."
Still, he and other moderates are under no illusions that every part of the party, liberals in particular, will embrace the agenda. Said From, "My guess is that there are some people who will not be happy with the ideas."
Monday, July 24, 2006
"Moderate Democrats unveil economic agenda"
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2 comments:
While I'm not much of a DLC fan, I really liked the idea of the economic agenda. This seems like a big winner to me. The LA Times ran a story yesterday that said people w/ Bachelor's Degrees experienced a 5.2% decline in real wages from 2000-2004. We know what's happened to wages and job security in industry. Running on a campaign of "economic fairness" in which middle and working class Americans get to share in a piece of the American Dream seems like a no-brainer to me. Though as another of your posts noted, a coherent Democratic policy on Iraq would help matters in November too. Still, with the unsettled nature of the economy for most Americans, with the real estate market "leveling off" (as the real estate people like to put it), withthe price of gas averaging over $3 a gallon across the country, with CEO compensation and corporate profits still skyrocketing while wages for workers has declined, I think a campaign of economic fairness for middle and working class Americans can attract some former GOP "security" voters this fall.
Economic fairness is a good issue, but I wonder why they had to imply that it was divisive issue, even as they announced it! Also, unless we can get some more integrity in our election process, I fear for the counting.
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