Centerfield

Misstep by the DLC

The leading organization for centrist Democrats, the DLC, held a meeting yesterday in D.C. They kicked off the festivities by reading a memo from Al From and Bruce Reed, chairman and president of the DLC.

Among other things, the memo expressed opposition to Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Dick Gephardt, both of whom are running for the Democratic nomination in 2004. Unfortunately, the terms in which they expressed that opposition were in some cases personal, rather than strictly policy-focused. For example, they dismissed Dean as "an elitest" who thinks he "knows better than everyone else".

This is both unwise and inappropriate as a form of political discourse. It's natural for the DLC to promote a centrist vision and to contrast policies they believe in with some of the liberal policies they reject. It's very possible to have that debate on that level. But we want to talk about ideas, not personalities.

And as a purely tactical matter, the DLC needs to remain on good terms with other party factions. Instead of dismissing and criticizing party activists, we should all be working to get more activists of our own. Invite yourself to the party, rather than criticizing those already there.

There's a buzz going on right now among party activists quite angry with the DLC memo and increasingly dismissive of their role within the party. That's not a step forward for any of us.

Here's the Washington Post story about the whole thing.