In the 90s DLC demanded Bill Clinton move Social Security and Medicare "into the marketplace." [View all]

[madfloridian]

They went so far as to threaten to pull their support if he did not do so. To his credit he did not. They had it seemed moved with him into the White House and expected him to do their bidding. I wonder how strong the pressure is at this time on the wife of Bill Clinton.

What they wanted from him was quite clear.

From TIME 1997:

Democrats at the Crossroads

DLC President Al From is urging Clinton to undertake a "fundamental restructuring of our biggest systems for delivering public benefits -- Medicare, Social Security, and public education, for openers." Similarly, Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), the DLC's think tank, argues for moving Medicare and Medicaid "into the new marketplace."

But Democrats are going to lock horns over this sort of DLC advice to the second Clinton administration. Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future (CAF), a populist advocacy group launched last July, says Clinton won't swallow the privatization pill unless he forgets the reason he won the November election: "People want him to protect Medicare."

The DLC then opposed the minimum wage increase and expected Clinton to follow suit. Joe Lieberman butted in with his two cents, but again Bill took a more populist way.

During 1995 and 1996, the New Democrats opposed the popular minimum wage increase. They also urged, in the words of DLC chair Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), an end to "the current system of unconditional government entitlements market-based system." Had Clinton taken such advice, the populist Democrats argue, he would not have trounced Dole in the election.

Ruy Teixeira of the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute points out that Dole and Clinton remained even in presidential polls for some time after Clinton embraced the balanced budget goal in June 1995. "Clinton did not pull away from Dole," says Teixeira, "until he joined with congressional Democrats in defense of Medicare and other popular programs and the Republicans made their disastrous decision to shut down the government. By December of 1995, Clinton was 10 points ahead and never looked back through his re-election."

From a book review in 2000 of a book by Ken Baer.

It tells how this group got such power over the party as to have the nerve to threaten a president if he didn't toe the line.

First, they gave themselves a little bit of distance. After several unsuccessful attempts to influence the party establishment from within, the reformers formed the DLC as an extra-party organization in 1985.

Second, they worked the rules. They pressured the party to create a new class of "super delegates" consisting of state party leaders and elected officials who, they hoped, would balance out the interest groups that had come to dominate Democratic conventions. They also lobbied to cluster Southern and Western state primaries on "Super Tuesday," so that candidates who were strong in that part of the country (especially conservative Southern Democrats) would get an early boost that could offset a poor showing in more liberal Iowa or New Hampshire.

.....And finally, they squawked when Clinton strayed. Baer describes the rising fury within the DLC when Clinton spent his early political capital on "Old Democrat" issues like gays in the military, Lani Guinier, and universal health care. After the disastrous 1994 elections, Dave McCurdy (an Oklahoma congressman who had lost his job) denounced Clinton as a "transitional figure" and PPI began working on a "Third Way Project" that might be the basis for a third-party movement. An embattled Clinton mended the fence by "triangulating" toward more conservative positions and pushing ahead on welfare reform---and by the 1996 elections, the DLC was confident they had him back in the fold.

I find myself wondering what price candidates pay for those huge donations. I honestly believe Bill Clinton at times tried to avoid their pull.

The fact that the policy maker think tanks openly advocated putting Social Security and Medicare into the marketplace has made my turning away from their influence even more determined.

I feel no satisfaction in any events right now. It hurts to see the Clintons resort to name-calling when I realize they have done a lot of good. It hurts inside to see them acting in a sort of desperation. I wonder how much of the resistance to us on the left is deep down sincere, or if it is a necessary element in pleasing their donors.

It's a painful primary no matter what happens, and I blame a lot of it on the small but powerful think tanks that seized party policy years ago and don't want to let go.