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In reply to the discussion: DNC rule change angers Sanders supporters [View all]Tom Rinaldo
(22,924 posts)The assumption here seems to be that Democrats typically stand united behind our leaders, and should not put up with any criticism of them or of the policies that the Democratic Party has embraced. That is historically inaccurate. And it didn't end 39 years ago. Bill Clinton ran as a "New Democrat" in 1992, positioning himself as an agent of change against tired and discredited Democratic Ideology.
My point in bringing this up is not to cast judgement for or against the wisdom or necessity of the positions Bill Clinton took in 1992 - that is a different debate, and that was a different time. My point is that both Eugene McCarthy and Ted Kennedy challenged Democratic leadership and/or orthodoxy from the Left, and then Bill Clinton did so from the Right starting in 1992 (actually earlier than that). These were not exactly marginal figures in Democratic Party history.
I found a campaign commercial for Clinton/Gore 1992. Here is the link (transcription below):
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1992/leaders-2
"There's a new generation of Democrats: Bill Clinton and Al Gore. They don't think the way the old Democratic Party did. They've called for an end of Welfare as we know it, so Welfare can be a second chance, not a way of life. They've sent a strong signal to criminals by supporting the death penalty. And they've rejected the old tax and spend politics. Clinton's balanced 12 budgets. And they've proposed a new plan investing in people detailing 140 Billion dollars in spending cuts they'd make right now. Clinton - Gore: for people, for a change"
Bill Clinton explicitly ran as an insurgent against "the old Democratic Party". In attempting to distance himself from it he validated Republican talking points about Democrats and "Tax and Spend politics". He was running as much against the Party of Walter Mondale as he was against any Republican.
In many ways criticisms that Bernie Sanders has made more recently about centrist tendencies among some Democrats is mild in comparison to the way Bill Clinton laced into "Big government" "tax and spend" "old Democrats" in his day.
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