Thursday, December 24, 2009

A Fair Warning From William Daley (UPDATED) (UPDATED)

"The leaders of the Democratic Party need to move back toward the center," so warns William Daley, former Clinton Commerce Secretary.  Some brief excerpts:

"The announcement by Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith that he is switching to the Republican Party is just the latest warning sign that the Democratic Party -- my lifelong political home -- has a critical decision to make: Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course or risk electoral disaster not just in the upcoming midterms but in many elections to come.

The political dangers of this situation could not be clearer.

Witness the losses in New Jersey and Virginia in this year's off-year elections. In those gubernatorial contests, the margin of victory was provided to Republicans by independents -- many of whom had voted for Obama. Just one year later, they had crossed back to the Republicans by 2-to-1 margins.

All that is required for the Democratic Party to recover its political footing is to acknowledge that the agenda of the party's most liberal supporters has not won the support of a majority of Americans -- and, based on that recognition, to steer a more moderate course on the key issues of the day, from health care to the economy to the environment to Afghanistan."

A fair warning by a centrist Democrat to the liberals who now "lead" his party. It is a Christmas present to them if they are listening - and a present to those of us in opposition if they aren't.

Be sure to read it all.

UPDATE: Jennifer Rubin observes that Daley's warning may just be too late:

"You see, to move back to the center, the Democrats and the White House would have to do a political about-face and repudiate a year of tax-and-spend policies. That might be advisable, but how likely is it? Not very. After all, Democrats fought tooth and nail for ObamaCare and Nancy Pelosi made her troops walk the plank on cap-and-trade."

Rubin is probably correct.

UPDATE: Cover?

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