by Simon Rosenberg of the New Democrat Network NDN.

He predicted it in 2004 after the election. Simon was one of the founders of the DLC in the 1980s. His prediction was one of the most important views I have seen yet of the direction of the Democratic Party.

I have written about this before, but just seeing it play out so blatantly during the health care debate has been stunning.

We have seen it more clearly than ever lately during the debate over health care in the Senate. The divides showed clearly and distinctly. The "governing class" made us angry, but it made us sit up and take notice that some in our party were more interested in what the Republicans thought than what we on "the left" thought. Can you say Olympia Snowe?

That divide has shown itself during the debate over the changing face of public education. The happiest people over what the Democrats are doing are Newt Gingrich and Jeb Bush who are seeing their dreams fulfilled for education...while teachers and unions are not so ecstatic.

Simon said it, and he was right.

There will be a clash between the activists and those who govern.



There was more about these two groups from the New York Times in 2005.

More words from Simon Rosenberg.



Exactly right. A lot of Democrats in DC don't have a clue what is happening. In these words we see Rosenberg's true views coming through...activists are annoying. The reporter Matt Bai lets his own opinions slip into this article as well. Activists not well-loved by insiders...that's the message.



Kind of sly to slip that in about "trying to govern."

Overall though, Rosenberg's view is spot on. We are seeing it now out in the open. The governing class wants to work without too much interference from outsiders like activists.

Slimy bastards!

...activist Dems have in mind ~ if they did, they wouldn't keep sending those emails to work for and support people who sell us out.

It really is that easy.

...I'll concur with anonymous: it's de facto the same thing. You can't compromise with people set on hauling everyone over a cliff. It doesn't bring you anything worth the sacrifice.

I guess I have to take my chances and just be honest about I feel.

I trust Obama much more than I trust those surrounding him.

Nevertheless, what we saw from the Senate was exactly about that clash.

You aren't an outsider and you gather incredibly important information and give it to us. You are a DU activist.

BTW, I think Dean is the best thing that ever happened to the party I once thought was mine.

where I live it is hard to not feel left out if we have progressive views. I just learned that there are some really neat people running for governor, but the party has only mentioned one..Alex Sink.

The others don't count.

I had no idea what that meant, but my grandfather, a Dixiecrat, told me to "just pull the Democratic lever" when I became of age to vote. It freaks me out to realize that all of those people now are Republicans. My grandparents, were they still alive, would be Republicans.

And hubby and I and a daughter are the only Democrats now. And we are surrounded by Republicans who are very right wing.

who said it wasn't Dim Son, but his advisors. Believe it: it WAS Dubya, and it IS Obama.

However, I do trust Obama more than I trust those around him. I think he has better motives than most of those around him have.....

The assumption is that we've figured out the right way to go.
But I don't see that we have. I think we should be arguing
much more about policy, not just tactics.
Too much is being left out, too much is misunderstood.
Many people could get hurt unnecessarily.

that we really do have very good ideas on our side...on "the left". But too often our concerns are not addressed.

What is best for the corporations is not what is best for the people. The sight I will never forget from the reform sessions is Max Baucus laughing as the single payer activists were arrested.

I think the "citizens" you mention are overall better informed that many inside DC.

at the convention I sat for dinner with one of my states top congress woman..I mentioned PNAC, she looked at me with a total blank stare, then she pulled me aside after dinner, and asked me what PNAC was, this is a congress woman who was censured for her actions on the floor of the congress..she was absolutely clueless about PNAC and Rebuilding Americas Defenses white paper..she knew NOTHING ABOUT IT, She asked me If I would come to her office after the convention and tell her all about it..I said no, i said she could pull it up or have one of her staffers pull it up, all 2000 + pages of it and read the damn thing, and Read Rebuilding Americas defenses.

8 months later I was at an event with this congress woman and I asked her if she read PNAC, she said no..she had been told it was a conspiracy "theory"...

I told her without hesitation, she had no business in our congress, and i walked away from her in disgust.

Please, no one can tell me that many of those in congress are up to date with what is going on , compared to activists in our communities.

We in my state of Fla have seen our congress people and senators ignore the deplorable voting machine bullshit here..it took activists fighting to get the DRE voting machines thrown out of our state..is the new system better, most likely not, but we knew without a shadow of doubt the DRE machines were stealing our votes. So what happened when the activists forced changes here..in our state legislature..we had a dem party that stood by and watched without hardly lifting a hand and saw the Republicans manipulate the system in state legislature, and change our primary date and tied it to the legislature that removed the DRE machines from our voting system..and then what happened, our own party punished us and took half of our delegates, another manipulation of the system that allowed our votes to be stolen by our own party.

Many of us worked hard and put our own money up and feet on the ground for Audits of these machines to prove the DRE's could not be audited, only to see our own party leaders ignore the problem and in many cases ignorant to the problems , some deliberately ignorant i will say..and try to shut us up, and then steal our primary votes.

We were told don't speak publicly about this..be quite and go away ..in many different words and ways..

Well i for one will no longer be silent..or be silenced.

They send their little thugs to try to shut us up, and try to intimidate us, they smear and sneer at us, but I have seen in the recent days , there are fewer and fewer of them..DU can be used as an example..look at the cheer leading threads..same people and fewer and fewer of them, they are actually showing their cards quite ASTUTELY.

I WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR MY DEMOCRATIC VALUES AND PRINCIPLES..IT IS MY DUTY AS AN AMERICAN..just as it is my duty to serve a a juror this coming week..IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY TO BE ACTIVE IN EXPOSING THE LIES AND DECEIT. The right and the wrong.

My democratic principles are not for sale, nor are my values nor my integrity.

I will not go along to get along..I will stand for what is right..I taught my children right from wrong..how could i stand up for what i know is damn wrong , because it is being done by my own party???????? Nooooooooo

I WILL NOT!

There is much being done right now daily that if the republican party was in leadership..Dem's would be screaming bloody murder..but now..not so much..why?? have so many sold their souls ..no they haven't and we are witnessing it right now , the numbers of dems speaking up!

Keep speaking up..we are different , embrace that difference from Republicans or people that have no values , or integrity or principles..we all know who have sold their souls, we see it right here on DU ..and again, their numbers are diminishing daily!

If one has too many opinions here they are ignored as being fringe or something. It's hard to fit in unless you go along.

Your post is inspirational.

Do they just listen to the think tanks and polls? It's turning out that the "activists" on our side are pretty well-informed....we use our internet access to research and dig into issues.

I fear too many in Congress hear only what it said in the DC bubble.

The rest live in that DC bubble that you mentioned. That's why you get shit "compromises" like the watered down Public Option.

it's like the Democrats all live in a bubble...unaware of real things. The candidates are picked, the campaigns are run before we catch on to it.

as life knowledge, I am way, way ahead of just about anyone in the Obama administration in many areas. The folks in D.C. and the folks on TV are not all that knowledgeable. You can't build the kinds of careers they have out here learning and living in the real world.

I'll pretty much match any of them when it comes to the kind of wisdom you get by having a well-rounded education, an adventurous mind and soul, intelligence and good character. That includes Obama. I know I sound conceited. And I also know that like everyone else, I make mistakes. But I did not spend my life brown-nosing the influential. And I'm the smarter for it.

But his analysis is still correct. The "governing" class is pissing us off, and they will lose us if they are not careful. I hope they will heed Rosenberg's warning.

:dem:

-Laelth

Or the Republican-controlled Congress' actions during the Bush administration that Matt Tiabbi and others pointed out (see Worst Congress Ever for an over view.)

He also fails to note that Clinton came into office with a deficit that put the govt in the shitter, had to abandon policies he backed in order to deal with this, then faced Republicans attacking him for spending when their deficits didn't matter suddenly (sort of like now.)

So, honestly, Rosenberg's analysis is sort of bullshit.

He's foolish to think that the Dobson wing of the Republican Party wants anything other than total control. The only way to get rid of them is to destroy them, politically, to make then so noxious to the American people that they will not vote for theocrats.

When the Republican party is sane again, then it might be possible to work with them. When they have elected officials that have no allegiance to reality, there is nothing to gain by compromise. Instead, Democrats alienate their base.

I'm sure establishment Democrats hate Dean. But DEAN made Obama possible.

If it were up to establishment Democrats, people would just shut up and vote. But that's not democracy. Al Franken is going to shake up their asses real good too. At least I hope so.

America needs Democrats who will FIGHT FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

THAT'S what has been wrong with Democrats for too long now.

The DLC is a menace. Thanks for the response.

:dem:

-Laelth

"you can't compromise with extremists"....and that is still true.

.

:hi:

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,750765,00.html

"For Democratic activists tired of Washington insiders, Dean remains an option. His bid for the nomination helped spark the activism that transformed the party and revolutionized the way Democrats raise money. "Dean needs a serious image makeover," says Jim Jordan, who helped run two of the pro-Democratic independent groups that aired ads and organized massive get-out-the-vote campaigns across the country. "But he also has a serious constituency out there with a lot of energy. He'll be a power."

If Democrats want a fresh face and a candidate who can't be tagged as a liberal, they could turn to Indiana Senator Evan Bayh. A former Governor who consistently wins in a heavily Republican state, Bayh is a centrist's dream on paper. But after Kerry's defeat, Democrats may want to steer clear of nominating another Senator, even a former one like Edwards. After all, no member of Congress has won the White House since 1960. Governors have fared much better. For that reason, expect New Mexico's Bill Richardson, Iowa's Tom Vilsack and Pennsylvania's Ed Rendell to hit the party speaking circuit to gauge support. Other possibilities include Governors Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. With the exception of Rendell, all these potential candidates come with a built-in regional advantage: they can't be labeled Northeastern liberals.

No matter who emerges as the next leader of the Democratic Party, he or she will be under tremendous pressure to take the fight to the G.O.P., and to win. The Democrats have now lost five of the past seven presidential elections and seven of the past 10. Over the past 30 years, the party has seen its majorities in Congress, in Governor's mansions and in state legislatures all disappear. For the first time since the 1920s, more Americans identify themselves as Republicans than as Democrats. Which means that losing again in 2008 wouldn't just be disappointing for the Democrats. It could leave the party in the wilderness for many years."

Times changed quickly after those predictions. The fact remains that the article was right about taking on the GOP....and we are still not doing it strongly enough.

the toilet.

That any legitimate Democratic "strategist" would suggest Evan Bayh as a Democratic Presidential candidate is just frickin' mind-blowing.

Once our Representatives and Senators get to D.C., they become the targets of a giant dis-information campaign by our intelligence/military/corporate complex. They are introduced to the "seasoned veterans" of Washington politics and policy-making (aka the usual suspects). The newly-elected Reps and Senators AND THEIR STAFF MEMBERS are duly impressed simply by sharing the rarified air that these respected, well-known "experts" are breathing. After being befriended, they are treated like they have been inducted into a very elite club. A club that the hoi polloi cannot join and will never understand. A club so exclusive and so important that the average working-class stiff--I mean, voter--would never understand it or appreciate it fully.

Thus begins the seduction of the elected.

Then, whenever a critical matter is on the table, these "highly-respected advisor/mentors" are there to offer their perspective. They bring in other "experts" to bolster their position. They use big names and big credentials to impress and persuade our elected officials that the "club's way" is the right way. They wine and dine and cajole and "educate" key staff people who have the ear of the Congresswo/man or Senator.

So the disconnect is made and fed by attention, lots of congratulations and adulation when things go the "club way", and the disapproving "tsk tsk" when the Rep or Senator dares to be an independent entity.

When you are constantly exposed to the "insider" information and the esoteric knowledge that only those in the highest places in government are privy to, it's not long before you are operating under the illusion that you know what's best for the country and for your constituents (the ones who cast the votes--not the ones who bankrolled the campaign), so you become a creature of the Beltway rather than a representative of the people.

This is what elitism is all about. It's a very effective methodology, as we are now seeing.

Thank you, Madfloridian for another excellent post. You are doing the lord's work. May you always be strong and your path be clear.

Governing class folks would like to pretend that they don't need to be held accountable by those pesky activist folks.

And the activist folks would like to pretend that governing is as simple as advocacy is.

I can tell you what the Republicans stand for, and I certainly don't want any more of that

But is there anything at all that the Democrats would draw a line in the sand about and defend? This is a problem.

As much as I'm against Republican principles, I am more opposed to those who seek power, not to get something done, but just to have power. They have no principles and can never be relied upon. Unfortunately, that is how I am seeing almost every elected Democrat. Anybody who tells you a limited Public Option is a win, has sold you because they think it will help them keep their power.

Does anyone want to argue against single payer on any basis other than it will be hard to get the thieves to stop stealing from us all at once? Everybody understands that paying over 25% of a sixth of our economy just to handle the payment processing is grossly unwarranted. Even if the Insurers stopped there, they should be put out of business. But they follow that up with denying the claims of thousands of people who frequently are at their weakest and most vulnerable. For that they should be put out of business. Not stopping there, Insurers fill our airwaves with disinformation, sometimes intentionally creating fear and worry among some of the credulous people hearing their propaganda. For using terror tactics to coerce Americans to support legislative efforts agains their own interests, the insurance companies should be put out of business. Gaining momentum, they are openly bribing our elected officials, for there is no mistaking the correlation between contributions and position of authority and actions taken for anything but a bribe, and the action paid for. For bribing our Congress, the insurance companies a should be put out of business

For having accepted those bribes, if Congress passes anything but single payer, they should be put out of business, because lacking principles, they will have sold us out to retain power.

Even Clinton had to keep turning to the public to get anything done. Those DLC Governators were just too prima donna to go along with the CinC.

I was one of Howard Dean's first couple of hundred supporters, way back in October 2002. The first couple of thank you notes for the checks I sent were signed by Dr. Dean....anyway, I am a Deaniac going way back and in my opinion Howard Dean helped the Netroots and the Grassroots gain a foothold within the Democratic party. If you listened to Dean's early speeches, he admits that waht needed to be done was to "retool" and change the Democratic party from within. The Progressives needed to over time strengthen their numbers through electing like minded people of the Progressive persuasion and drive their agenda hard when they got to DC. This will take time, but the Deaniacs are now in the process of slowly getting rid off the DLCers and the DINO's and the Blue Dogs. In our view they are not true Democrats and what is going on now only makes the Progressive point stronger. The Dems have the majorities we all wanted, but we can't make headway with the Progressive agenda because the Blue Dogs and Conservadems like Baucus are holding things up.They all need to be primaried...

a seat at the table in the 1960s.

And the California Democratic Party is the stronger for it. Diane Feinstein is a DLCer but even she, for example, claims to support a public option. Because of the work and dedication of grass roots members of the party, Democrats vote quite a bit in California.

I can speak for myself: I have walked my precinct a number of times. How many DUers from states in which grass roots members have no place in the Democratic Party can say that?

Building a place for the grass roots within the party -- a really active place, a powerful place -- is the secret to making being a Democrat interesting for ordinary people.

I remember attending a Democratic Convention as a delegate in LA some years ago. It was just fascinating to me since at the time I was pretty new to the whole scene. One evening I was sitting in a hotel waiting to meet someone. A rather drunk man sat down beside me. He asked me why I was there. I explained. He said "Democrats are boring." I had just had an exciting day and disagreed with him. But I would agree that the national Democratic Party before Dean was boring. Michael Dukakis was a wonderful guy, but oh my. When the Democratic Party runs party bureaucrats like Gray Davis, they fail to capture public support. You have to have exciting, creative candidates. In general, Democratic candidates who capture the public imagination have grass roots stories.

Here, on revision, I have to add that one of the reasons that California Democrats have lost so many gubernatorial races is that they tend to run party hacks, insiders. I think it is a financial issue. The state is very, very large. Grass roots people are given a place in the party, but they are not given opportunities to build statewide profiles -- to get statewide public name recognition. Xavier Becerra is really great, but he is known locally, not across the state. So, the party, over and over turns to the more conservative, more boring party hacks. The Republican Party has lots of money, lots of TV ads and builds name recognition with their money and ads. Of course, with Schwarzenegger, they had a candidate whose name was a household word. I think Jerry Brown may be able to win the gubernatorial race this time. He has the statewide name recognition. Thus far, the Republicans have no comparable candidate. We shall see.

Obama has proved to be less of a real grass roots kind of guy than he pretended to be (Remember all the neighborhood organizer propaganda? So, how does that fit in with Bernanke and Geithner and Summers?), but still he has actually had some contact with grass roots organizers and knew how to at least make us think he was one of us. The jury, as far as I am concerned, is still out on the extent to which Obama really is grass roots. But he is living proof that if Democrats want to win elections in tough races at all levels -- they need to make room for grass roots involvement or at least the illusion of it.

I'll come back to it later.

... when Dean ultimately got it instead? I seem to remember Chris Heinz or one of Teresa Heinz-Kerry's sons being a huge cheerleader for Rosenberg's appointment to lead the party.

Glad it didn't work out for him.

in the party. I remember Pelosi and Reid backing him. They did not want Dean because they wanted someone whom congress could control.

Here you go....
Pelosi, Reid support Tim Roemer



I remember we got very upset because they were backing Roemer even though he was anti-choice.

Now look what we have...a DNC chair who is anti-everything just about..and we don't even get upset.

Tim Kaine on abortion, stem cells, same-sex marriage, civil unions, and labor issues.



And anti-union in many ways.

At least some here are trying to see straight.

Doesn't carry all that fundamentalist baggage that "evil" does, anyway...

Who are Corporate Tools and who "want to work without too much interference from outsiders like activists,"
I say

SHAME!!

And That INCLUDES YOU, Mr President!