Mr Ford gets his wish.

"What threatens our party right now is an attitude that business is bad," Harold Ford Jr. told an overflow crowd in New York City last night. "It's wrong, it's un-American and frankly I think it's un-little-D democratic." The New York Observer writes: "The timing seemed slightly odd — more three months had passed since he abandoned his Senate bid, and it was still two months before the release of his new book, More Davids than Goliaths — but the invitation had been discussed back when he was still a potential candidate, and was just now coming to fruition. (The event was hosted by Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century — DL21C — not to be confused with the Democratic Leadership Council — DLC — which Mr. Ford chairs.)"

The short-term problem, the moderate-liberal Democrat said during his speech, was a lack of jobs. And the long-term problem was that Democrats might be perceived as anti-business. "Sometimes Democrats act as if cutting taxes is a bad thing. We are a capitalistic society. People are moved by the idea of doing better," he said.

That appeared to include Mr. Ford himself, who — in response to a question about why he chose to work for Merrill Lynch — said he didn't come to New York looking for a job in the financial world, but found himself "fascinated" by capital markets. "I thought it was not only an opportunity to learn, but also an opportunity to make a living," he said. "I didn't go into it to make a difference in that sense. I'm often tickled when I hear people say, 'I chose politics. I could have gone and made a lot of money, but I chose not to.' As if making a lot of money — and I don't make a lot of money — but it's not evil." (Mr. Ford's salary was, according to a February report in The Times, more than $2 million.) "I chair a group called the DLC, I teach at NYU and I hope to make differences that way," he said.

The Observer continues: "Mr. Ford's policy prescriptions were unabashedly market-driven. He spoke in support of charter schools, criticized the leadership of some teacher unions, said public employee contracts would have to be renegotiated and said President Obama should have passed an energy bill — with all the new jobs it could create — before he tackled health care. 'I hope sincerely that over the coming months as we get past these elections that the president and Democrats will surround themselves and be willing to listen more to CEOs and businesspeople and others who've created jobs,' he said."

http://www.bookerrising.net/2010/06/harold-ford-on-democratic-party.html