2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Liberals aren't Democrats? [View all]merrily
(45,251 posts)Rahm, Obama and Obama's Press Secretary all publicly scolded the left of the Party within a few month-period during Obama's first term? The disdain and impatience could hardly have been clearer--and these are professional politicians, known for ability to be smooth talkers, to be "politic" when they speak.
Whenever Obama has talked about "my friends on the left and my friends on the right" as though neither is part of his own group, I've scratched my head, too. But that can parsed. Things Rahm and Gibbs said cannot.
Plus, the last four Presidential nominees have been Clinton (a founding member of the DLC), Gore (same), Kerry (a founding member of the Senate New Democrat Caucus) and Obama, who--after he got elected--self identified as a New Democrat, and later, as someone who would have been considered a moderate Republican in the 1980s (aka the Reagan Era). Besides, look at the recent heads of the DNC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category emocratic_National_Committee_chairs
I suspect, but clearly do not know for certain, that Dean and Kerry may have struck a deal in 2004. Aside from Dean........
The House has a (dwindling) House Progressive Caucus and a House New Democrat Caucus. The Senate has a New Democrat Caucus, but no Senate Progressive Caucus.
Seriously, how much more confirmation did we need?