Al From reminds Obama: We are now "post-partisan".

I needed to hear from Al From today like I needed this head-ache I have. Al even reminds Barack how hard it will be to be "post-partisan" with a Democratic congress. He says it will be harder to not let our "partisanship" show.

I knew I had heard that word a lot lately. I have heard it on TV a lot, I have read it a lot. It is front and center at the DLC..the "policy shop" for our party.

I heard it used a lot on C-Span yesterday in a forum called Behind the Scenes of the 2008 Presidential Election

It featured:



Dean used the word a lot, the "post partisan" era, he said. Remember him? He's the one that is said to be too too partisan to be in the new administration.

It was a great panel discussion, catch it when it is on again if you can.

Al From reminds us we are no longer to be partisan.

Here it is right at their website.


http://dlc.org/

From Politico, comes this article.

Keeping the promise of post-partisanship



That's right, Al. No political payback to those who acted like Republicans. Like Lieberman.

More from Al about choosing a cabinet.



A cabinet without partisans. Post-partisan?

Got it?

Unfortunately, I am just not there yet. I am still a Democrat and not ready to go the "one party" way.

awaiting war-crimes trial, along with Cheney and the rest of the lying, murdering "nonpartisan" Repukes. Why the HELL should we be post-partisan? The concept makes me ill. Seriously.

Also, why do we have to be non-partisan when the Republicans have been every thing partisan in every way the last eight years.

Not when they win.

Oddly enough our party is using every talking point still. Sometimes I go to the website and read it, and they have their thumb on party policy.

in fact, they're the WORST, least competent people.

The Republicans complain that government never works and then, when they are elected, prove it.

nt

a douchenozzle,

that's for sure.

Unfortunately

TPM has a great article up about him today.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/siegelman_new_revelations_are.php

Betcha he feels really "post-partisan" right about now. :eyes:

His candidate lost.

he deserves to be ignored...

After all his half hearted endorsement and unsought mingy advice given on talk shows did so much to get Obama elected. There's a reason Obama is working out of Chicago and not DLC, oops I mean DC.

the spelling needs help but nonetheless. :)

WE are RIGHT. The Republicans are WRONG. We can work with them as long as the compromises are reasonable. But the Democratic Party does have some basic principles that should inform everything that they propose to do. What's wrong with that? Besides we need opposition; one-party rule would definitely suck.

The biggest problem is not partisanship, it is corporatism.

Run on progressive issues and ideals, get more folks to vote for your ticket than have ever voted for one man in the history of the United States, win a smashing landslide victory, and then give the losers everything they want so that you won't be labeled "partisan" by the likes of Skidmark Al From?

Fuck that noise.

We don't have to be mean or nasty, but we have to have to have two parties.

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dprogram&record=567903257

I was very impressed by it.

The right wing of the Democratic Party has done NOTHING for the party in over sixteen years. He and the rest of the DLCers have no mandate.

All these DLCers being considered for the next administration makes me fucking ill.

We no longer mind because the Republicans no longer matter.

That's my worry.

thinks is the best for our country and that doesn't include al from having his ear.

OT, mad, but you seen this on buzzflash?

WINGS OF JUSTICE

Howard Dean

"Not only did Howard Dean pave the way for the astonishing campaign of Barack Obama with his 2004 Internet and "meet-up" presidential campaign, but he also paved the way for Obama's electoral landslide with his emphasis, as DNC Chair, on a 50-state strategy.

Dean received a lot of resistance to the concept that Democrats need to compete in every state. In fact -- ironically -- Rahm Emanuel, Obama's newly minted Chief of Staff, and Chuck Schumer so tenaciously opposed Dean's 50-state approach in the 2006 election cycle that they were reportedly barely on speaking terms with Dean. (Emanuel and Schumer headed up the Democratic campaign fundraising and strategy for House and Senate elections, respectively, in 2006.)

But Obama's realignment of the electoral map in 2008, along with many of the Congressional wins in 2006 and 2008, proved that Dean's strategy was right from the get-go. Obama's brilliant campaign team had a foundation to work with, and they rode it to victory.

Dean is stepping down from the DNC post, as is the custom when a new president of one's party comes to power. It is, however, a bit of an irony given that Dean's foresight and pioneering Internet campaign in 2004 planted the seed for the Obama campaign.

Expect to see Dean's formidable vision possibly show up in an Obama cabinet, perhaps as Secretary of Health and Human Services. There's a good doctor in the Democratic house. Why not use him to benefit the nation's health?

A lot is owed to Howard Dean. Barack Obama probably wouldn't be president if Dean hadn't set the stage for an Internet campaign and brought the 50-state approach to the DNC.

For that, Dean more than merits the BuzzFlash Wings of Justice Award. Without his vision, democracy might not have been saved."

WINGS OF JUSTICE

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/honors/093

That was very nice. We must have seen it at the same time. :hi:

I just wanted to make sure you saw it. I love buzzflash:hi:

And, Howard Dean:)

Dean was sounding very centrist on the C-Span program...supporting the party and its goals 100%.

Meanwhile the Obama staffers were sticking the knife in his back...saying he was too partisan to be in the cabinet.

Amazing.

When From and others say "centrist" they mean the center of the corporate and Wall Street agenda. It has nothing to do with the people. It is merely a variation on supply side "free market" Reaganomics. From represents the "center" of the investing and speculating class, the center of the insiders and players he hobnobs with. The people are merely a demographic and marketing challenge for him and count for nothing. The activists are seen as an annoyance and an obstacle.

and his partner in PNAC crime Will Marshall.

Those two fuckers are not now, nor have they ever been, Democrats.

Any actual Democrats who may have joined the DLC by mistake, believing they were something other than a Republican infiltration of our party have been given enough time to realize their mistake. And many have left their ranks accordingly for that reason. Others, like Lieberman, have given up all pretense and have gone running to the extreme right, even openly endorsing Repuke candidates.

We do not want, or need the DLC in this party. Democrats started winning again when we REJECTED their agenda. We lost when too many embraced it.

Damn the DLC.

He is just so full of advice, that fellow.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/10/politics/main4589947.shtml



Oh noes, a fierce partisan in the WH??? Oh Noes. We must have no partisans involved.

then we know to do the opposite.

Sorry From and DLC... you lost my trust a long time ago. You earned it!

We are to be political adversaries for a reason other than political disagreements.

Nice cover for the DLC... "we are above partisanship!"

Right, because that worked real well the last eight years, right?

A Democratic majority.

That's why you won't hear any of them make a peep out of the 2000 and 2004 elections being stolen. Instead they will castigae you as some fruitcake for even bringing the topic up. Gee... I wonder why

Thanks to those who care about Democracy, we are finding out the truth.

...after all, they call themselves "centrist" as opposed to the "partisans" on the left and right. So by their very own definition, THEY are best to decide what is "post-partisan".

The fact that merely calling yourself centrist doesn't make you the center seems lost.

. . .are why we got Silverspoon in 2000. They tried to play this game 8 years ago and gave away an election that shouldn't have even been close!

Al, your methodology is a proven failure. Shut up and sit down.
The Professor

Al From, the DLC's founder and CEO, opened a freewheeling discussion forum by arguing that Democrat Al Gore made a huge tactical mistake by continually emphasizing that he would "fight for the people and not the powerful" as the nation's first president of the 21st Century.

-snip

http://www.progress.org/goredlc2.htm

TIME TO PURGE THESE ASSHOLES FROM THE PARTY OR AT LEAST TAKE AWAY ANY WANING POWER!

and we should all be opening third party opportunities -- IRV voting

Inclusion in debates --

Cripes -- look what they did even to Dem Kucinich in debates---!!!

We'll only get more of this w/o strengthening third parties ...

:eyes:

I'm one of those left leaning Dems that would move toward the Greens should we see another DLC powered Dem Party. I'm totally done w the corporatists. The time for full exposure of just who their policies helped since Bill took office is long overdue.

The recent landslide could not have happened were it not for the fact that many people formerly voting Republican switched and voted Dem. What I heard hundreds of times in rural areas from people as the election approached was "we need another New Deal." I did not hear "we need Republican lite with the same policies but a little better management and execution of them."

yes, somewhat confused over election steals which seem to go back to mid-1ate-1960's --

after coup on JFK -- when the large computer counters used by media to report election

results began to come in --

Back that far --?? Yes ..

And fortunately two journalists did begin to investigate the computers at that time --

http://www.constitution.org/vote/votescam__.htm


Nice report--!!

There is a lot of confusion because the right wing propagandists have re-defined right and left for us along their manufactured cultural war lines. They have suckered activists into knee jerk response and into taking mirror image counter-positions on everything, which gives weight to those issues and makes them impossible to advance.

On political issues - issues of power and economics - the general public is far to the left of the Democratic party and the activists community. On cultural issues, they are moderate and cautious, but that is largely because of the fear campaigns the right wingers are always running, and because of the gentrified and fear driven counter campaigns from the activist community, which the general public has difficulty relating to.

I strongly believe that within a context of a left wing economic political program, the social issues could much more easily succeed. However, among the politicians in the party and the activists, who tend to be better off and successful, there is a tremendous amount of resistance to a left wing economic program. That makes much of the progressive and liberal community Republican lite, with a veneer of liberal social and cultural causes and positions as window dressing. On true political issues of economics and power, the liberal and progressive activist community is one of the most conservative segments of the population.

Now watch - someone will refute this by accusing me of fomenting class warfare, which of course proves rather than refutes what I am saying lol.

My recommendation would be to reform and break up corporate power --

Re-regulate capitalism until "we can drown it in a bathtub ...!!!

And, take back control over all our national resources --

Supposedly the whole reason for running to the right is to be practical and get elected. Yet we are to believe that the people would never support someone who was fighting for the people, so therefore we must run candidates who fight for the corporations. So the people do not support their own interests, and we must run against their interests to get their support?

Harold Ford said last year that the DLC of which he is chair will be the "policy shop" of the nominee.



They are that. You can go www.dlc.org and read their strategies. No doubts at all.

I am not the only one having some uncomfortable feelings that Rahm's appointment was a tip of the hat to where the party was going. I am finding out that more are concerned than are letting on about the lack of any credit given to Howard Dean as he steps down....and the fact that it was so publicly leaked that he was too partisan to be part of the administration.

I noticed something strange today after the Colbert Roast by Rahm. I know of two people who questioned the wisdom of the remarks directed at Dean right at the beginning of his comments. Some things are funny, most anything goes in a roasting. But some things are just tasteless and out of line. Rahm just got the power, he is the direction in which we are going...he did not have to cut Dean down again. The two people who questioned were rudely attacked by others trying to squelch any discussion.

Rahm said to an audience that of course laughed uproariously..."I took the job despite the fact that when first time after the story broke, President elect Obama received over five hundred calls telling him what a horrible idea it was to choose me, and all five hundred calls were from Howard Dean".

For one day Rahm's picture was at the very top of the DLC website, even above Obama's picture. They got complaints and took it down, but it was there and sent a message.

I am glad at this website and a couple of others that there is concern of the dead silence from the party leaders on this issue. I have had a couple of phone calls from people who surprised me and intend to chack some stuff out.

I think we must learn to accept Rahm's face as the face of the party now. If we don't, we really don't belong anymore.

The concerted efforts here and elsewhere to squelch any discussion of the obvious worries me.

Pogressive Dems have no "policy shop" in Dem Party---???

http://www.americanprogress.org/

But I wish that www.ourfuture.org had more influence.

It's amazing how all opinion and ideas have been so limited and narrowed --

while there's a progressive world of ideas always making more sense -

Meanwhile, when I first read Nader's platform, I nearly fainted with joy

so all-encompassing--

And it exceeded Green Party platform which, itself, was a joy...

I think most DU'ers would be shocked to read either of them ...

http://www.ourfuture.org/

The other formed by Podesta is more centrist minded. It was formed by former Clinton staffers. Podesta is leading his transition, I think, isn't he? Would have to look it up.

let the fucking republicans be treated like poor relations and kiss our asses. for a long time, until we know we have our country back for real.

And when are we dismantling DLC from Dem Party-???

but when the Democrats are in power, it's time to not be partisan.

I get it. :crazy:

My only question for Al is are you REALLY a Democrat or part of the Bushie Neutralization Wave that was meant to fufill the dreams of the Bushie Watergate Conspirators.

For even if you were not trying, you fufilled their work admirably. The Democratic Party is now largely a cowardly mirror of yourself, Al. Standing for NOTHING but it's own power and privilege, and as contemptuous of the people you rule as the Secret Bushie I think you very well might be.

What kind of man would so vociferously adviocate serial capitulation and cowardice as you do? What kind of man would speak, TIME and TIME and TIME again, in words in distinguishable fromthe Bushies, who are without doubt the greatest single enemies Liberty has on this Earth today, and if I am exaggerating, it isn't a whole lot.

And push through the necessary legislation he wants. Right on. Fillibusters are partisan BTW so we won't be seeing any of those right?

Al From is another GOP hypocrite of do as I say, not as I do style politics.

The Democrats probably do have enough class to not do the GOP what the Gingrich GOP did to Democrats.

But, From has yet to give a good reason why the Democrats should be kind. And why the GOP wouldn't exploit the gesture?

What exactly is the definition of 'post-partisan'? If this means we are going to look for solutions and programs what will work and we can actually get passed without first having to label it Democratic/Republican or progressive/conservative I don't really have a lot of problems with that. Yes like many here I would love to say that the Republicans were uber-partisan so it is our turn but I am more interested in the government actually working than adding up partisan points. On the other hand if the definition of 'post-partisan' is that we have to continue to do things the conservative/Republican way and just not call it partisan then screw that.

I think the idea should to be to get away from this constantly labeling everything as either
progressive or conservative. Not everything falls easily into those categories. We bitch about the Republicans only being worried about their party and their power I don't think it necessarily makes us any better to take the same stance. I am not saying abandon our progressive stance I am just saying take the emphasis off of party and philosophy and present it more as what will work and what we can agree on.

are two different things.

I have a funny feeling Al From meant what works for the big money as that is how they got started as a think tank.

The DLC tried their best to thwart Obama at every turn and now they want to claim credit for him?

Joe Lieberman gets free pass... Rush Limbaugh mounts a new campaign against the "Obama Recession", Henry Paulsen back for another handout and Harry Reid says he doesn't have the votes to pass Unemployment for millions of out of work taxpayers.

8 long years and the DEMS still haven't learned.