The Plight of the Dems

Interesting article from the economist about the plight of the Democrats. It's devastating, and I agree with it.

How have the Republicans succeeded in turning themselves into the party of the future? One answer is that they have been better at reinventing themselves. Over the past quarter of a century, both parties have made concerted attempts to adjust to a period of radical social change--the Republicans under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and the Democrats under Bill Clinton in the 1990s. But the Republicans have more or less stuck with the Reaganite revolution. The Democrats, on the other hand, have all but forgotten the lessons of Clintonism.

Back in 2000, Al Gore tried to revive southern populism with his talk of fighting for "the people against the powerful". ("There aren't many Tom Joads in the exurbs," says Marshall Wittmann of the Democratic Leadership Council. "If you're fighting for anything, it's probably a parking space.") Mr Kerry lambasted "Benedict Arnold corporations". Having built a bridge to the 21st century under Mr Clinton, the
Democrats have since been busy building another one back to the 19th century.

There are plenty of short-term excuses for this. The Lewinsky affair persuaded Mr Gore that he needed to rebrand his party. The Howard Dean insurgency made Mr Kerry focus on Bush-bashing. But what is worrying for the Democrats is that there may be two bigger forces turning them into a party of the past.