Has Dean and Kucinich pulled the Democratic Party to the left ?

[kentuck]

With the possible exception of a couple of presidential candidates, it seems most of them are talking more like leftists. They are attacking the military blunder in Iraq. It was not always that way. And they are proposing "people" programs like healthcare and prescription drugs. And they are attacking Bush...

[Fovea]

1. Not yet

They have brought the presidential rhetoric a bit to the left. But look at the Governors, congress, etc.t

[Stuckinthebush]

2. Yes...but...

This isn't an editorial or article.

[cprise]

3. Let's see...

Bill Clinton's talking points:

* Socialized healthcare

* Forgiving all third-world debt

* Lifting military ban on gays


Well, they were talking point at least.

His accomplishments:

* Don't ask, Don't tell

* NAFTA

* Media de-regulation

* DOMA

Hmmm....

[DuctapeFatwa]

4. Dean is left in the same way security is improving in Iraq

And the chocolate ration will be doubled tomorrow.

If you like Dean, fine, but the man can only be called "left" if you are comparing him to Rutherford B. Hayes.

[Mairead]

5. Says it all, really.

Right on.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

6. They say Dean has really changed the whole contour of the race

And that a lot of candidates are readjusting their campaigns to fight him, when they had originally expected him to be no more than a little annoyance (and most of the campaigns welcomed him because they thought all he could do was weaken Kerry enough for one of them to get the nomination). I have definitely seen evidence of that in terms of campaign tactics (the other campaigns are racing to catch up with Dean's savvy use of the internet) but I am not so sure that I have seen a shift to the left in policy by most of the candidates as a result of Dean's surge.

As for Kucinich, I am not sure he has pulled the field that much, but I do think his calls to cancel NAFTA and the WTO have forced the other Democrats to explain their support for it and to call for a lot of changes. In general, I think he has had the effect of moving the Democrats to adopt a more protectionist view on trade and a more progressive position on labor issues in general. I think part of it is the heavy influence of organized labor in the Iowa caucuses, but I also think the Kucinich, and Gephardt to a lesser extent, have pulled the debate further to the left on labor and trade issues.

[birdman]

7. Dean isn't pulling the party - he saw where it was and went there

He saw that the party faithful were against Bush's war
and for national health care and opposed to Bush's
tax cuts. He put together a campaign to emphasize
those issues. The primary voters are from the
activist wing and he went there. He'll (gasp)
emphasize more centrist issues in the general
election if he gets there. That's not selling
out; it's simply pragmatic politics.

As for Kucinich he has such narrow support that
he won't have any real influence in the direction
of the party.

[loyalsister]

8. Dean is all over the map

It's very hard to say, I think.
I have a friend who appreciates Kucinich because he makes Dean's leftist ideas look comparatively "sane." He sort of neutralizes any areas where the rwers might try to call Dean a ragin liberal. It's very strange what you discover when you listen to opinions from a sampling in the real world.
There are only a few people in my area who love DK, and I happen to know that some are progun, anti-choice Democrats. (They must be hoping that change of heart was just rhetoric.) Trade is their issue.
Most Democrats in my area were against the war from the beginning. Around here, they seem to be holding off on choosing, or at least endorsing, but many seem to be leaning towards Dean. Healthcare has always been a big issue here.
After seeing all of these things, I've decided that it's very hard to define "progressive."
Day after day people beat their heads against the wall here about people not being "progressive enough." The accepted lore here is that DK is the "most progressive" candidate, yet look at the DK people in my area. While the Dean people have been actively working on health care, choice, anti-death penalty issues for years.
I really think this idea of "pulling to the left" is a fallacy. I really don't think the whole party moves to the left with one idea or even a few ideas that seem to lie left of what has been proposed in the past. There are a number of conservatives who I have talked to who find the idea of universal healthcare acceptable. I'm not so sure it's such a leftist policy.
The health care crisis is becoming more and more serious. It's not some sort of nationwide epiphany that makes the idea of universal healthcare more palatable. It's the heightened awareness that it is becoming more and more likely that this equal opportunity problem could hit any given person. People begin to care about things when they know it can or does effect them directly.