The Clipboard: Dems risk exodus of passionate left

From an article¹:

The conventional wisdom is that Democrats should worry that a Howard Dean candidacy will spark an exodus of centrists to the GOP and cost the party the election.

Forget about it. It's wishful thinking by Republicans and just plain hooey spread around by Democrats who want to be front-runners but aren't.

The truth is that the party should worry about its progressives. These are the defections that could ensure another Bush victory. (link)

The problem is that too many Democratic partisans seem to think they can make the case by bullying progressives into supporting centrist candidates, instead of working to win them over the way they should in a democracy: by adopting progressive positions to appeal to them.

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Complete text of the article, Dems risk exodus of passionate left, by O. Ricardo Pimentel

The conventional wisdom is that Democrats should worry that a Howard Dean candidacy will spark an exodus of centrists to the GOP and cost the party the election.

Forget about it. It's wishful thinking by Republicans and just plain hooey spread around by Democrats who want to be front-runners but aren't.

The truth is that the party should worry about its progressives. These are the defections that could ensure another Bush victory.

Yes, centrists can be, and often are, progressive. But we're mostly talking here of folks who can describe themselves as liberal and not feel they have to make any red-faced apology for doing so.

And there are more of these than the Democratic Leadership Council cares to admit.

The more liberal wing of the party is where the passion - and the potential for defection or inaction - is keenest. The most vocal Democrats out there are not making impassioned pleas for establishment, e.g., centrist, candidates. It's why Dean is an early favorite.

They are making the case for whoever is most willing to take on Bush and his patently faux conservatism, cloaked with a veneer of compassion and false pledges of sound fiscal policy.

You know, like how tax cuts are good for reducing deficits, that deficits are just dandy (except if they can be blamed on a Democrat), how an economy that sputters on jobs and fails to deliver appreciable wage gains is "booming" and how war in Iraq was about WMDs and international terrorism.

Those inclined toward centrism will warm to Dean if he is nominated, Republican moderates among them. Wesley Clark and Joe Lieberman will be their first choices perhaps, but they will vote for anyone thought to be in the top tier of candidates.

That's because they know Bush is anything but the moderate, centrist uniter he sold us in his 2000 campaign. They've seen his true colors. It's red ink, socially conservative, partisan at any cost, internationally unilateralist and too cozily tight with corporate America.

But listen to all this talk about Dean. He's allegedly unelectable because he will be tagged as a "flaming" liberal, a description generally unsupported by his mostly centrist tenure in public office. It's a tag Republicans will use on any Democratic nominee in any case.

Dean is labeled as liberal mostly because of his early and vocal anti-war stance.

It's quite possible, however, that the more liberal wing of the party will not think that even this is enough.

The danger is not that disaffected centrists will sit the election out or vote Republican. The real danger is in that small body of voters who are among the most passionate I've detected in this election. People like Dennis Kucinich's boosters.

Look, Kucinich is a great guy with some good ideas. He is unfairly labeled as a wacky fringe candidate. He isn't. In his visit with The Republic Editorial Board, he did far better than a certain Texas governor who wanted to be president about three years ago. But Kucinich will not win the nomination.

The danger is that although Kucinich says he will support the ultimate nominee, his supporters might not listen. They are not numerous but, along with other left-leaners, are a big enough niche to matter in a close election. Just ask Al Gore.

After the primary, we will hear even more talk of Bush Lite to describe the nominee. This because any Democratic candidate will have to run more to the center in a general election.

This could cause Kucinich supporters and those politically aligned to either sit out this election or, worse, embolden Nader to make another failed try, all for liberal principle.

Many Democrats subscribe to these notions but are guided by one other inexorable fact: None of the candidates, Republican or Democrat, represents the purest personification of civic virtue, political wisdom and sterling resume.

This person does not exist. It's about pragmatic alternatives.

It's not too early for Democrats to start worrying about what comes after the primaries.

They shouldn't fret about the centrists or moderates in the party taking their marbles home. They should worry about liberals or progressives insisting on having it all but instead losing it all.

reference=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0106pimentel06.html