Particularly in the wake of the surge from Howard Dean, the Democratic Leadership Council (the conservative/centrist body that has exerted a great deal of influence on the Democrats since at least 1988) has sought to forcefully combat what they feel is the leftist insurgency within the party. Knowing the history of this organization in relation to black citizens may be helpful for those wanting to separate truth from fiction. This article is only the latest in a long salvo.
Who is the Democratic Leadership Council? The Democratic Leadership Council is an organization of conservative to moderate Democrats (originally their base was in the south but they've since expanded) that was created in 1985. It is believed that its creation was spurred by two inter-related events: Jesse Jackson's first presidential campaign; and a small focus group held in Macomb County, Michigan.
After Mondale lost (BAD) in the 1984 Presidential campaign, higher ups in the party wondered where they went wrong. Their conclusion was that their party had been hi-jacked by a host of what they called "special interests." None of these interests were more "special" than the one led by Jesse Jackson. The hi-jacking of the Democratic Party by "special interests" led to "regular folks" to flee the Democratic Party like the plague. Hence the term "Reagan Democrat"...lifelong Democrats who cast their vote for Ronald Reagan rather than Walter Mondale.
This finding was emphasized further by a focus group held in Macomb County, Michigan, a population of working class whites a bit Northeast of Detroit. When people held focus groups with men and women from Macomb, specifically about the Democratic Party, what they found astounded them. They found that these voters not only thought of the Democratic Party as the "black" party, they found that these voters blamed every significant problem they faced as individual voters and as part of a larger community, on black people. The end results were so problematic that the final report was allegedly destroyed.
The Democratic Leadership Council was created in order to take the party back from the "special interests" that caused Mondale to get wacked. Clinton's attacks on Jackson and Sister Souljah in 1992 (along with the execution of a mentally retarded black Arkansas inmate) were part of an explicit strategy calculated to erase that association in the minds of white voters.
Fast forward to 2003. Howard Dean is taking the country by storm, collecting more money from more people than any other candidate through a mixture of firebrand political organizing, and the use of smart mobs (collectives organized through the use of hi-tech means like blogging, IM, e-mail, etc.). His message is populist and has a progressive tint. The DLC response?
In the article I highlight above the DLC notes that the most important voting bloc is white men...and that this bloc is falling significantly. If they aren't somehow captured and fought for, the presidential election is LOST. Again they use the spector of "special interests" juxtaposing "special interests" (and by now you should know who that really refers to) against "white men." There are at least three problems with this approach:
1. The DLC is arguing implicitly that the success of the Democratic Party comes from following the mandates of the DLC. With the exception of Clinton's elections in 92 and 96, the Democrats have lost both houses of the Senate, the majority of state governships, and a significant number of state legislatures, under the DLC watch. This signals that CLinton's election was not so much the norm for the DLC strategy as the exception.
2. White men are the most conservative voting bloc in the country, and represent a special interest themselves. Moving towards this bloc inherently leads to a conservative policy orientation. And given the choice between a conservative-lite and a conservative, there is no reason to expect that the white male will choose Bud Lite over Bud. Plus there is every reason to expect that other constituencies will stay home, feeling their policy preferences aren't being articulated.
3. If we're strictly focusing on voting blocs (ACTUAL voting blocs rather than potential ones--I know, I know, focusing on them rather than on getting new voters is another problem but I'm short on space!) the most important voting bloc is NOT the white male, but the white FEMALE. And support for the Democratic Party among THIS group is growing...largely because they feel that the Democrats are more sympathetic on gender and race issues.
Either the DLC recognizes this...and willfully chooses to ignore it, or they don't recognize it...which means they are largely ignorant. Whatever the case, given their propensity to remove black americans from the status of regular folks to the status of "foreign cell" I'm not sure we should really be paying much attention to their pronouncements. Hopefully they'll take their beer (whether Bud or Bud Lite) and go home. Or be sent home by Dean.