Moving Centrists
On a semi-sad note for purely selfish reasons, Jeff Lemieux is moving from Centrists.org to become a senior VP at America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). Lemieux was (if I recall correctly) a second-generation wonk at the Progressive Policy Institute where he pondered many of the same issues he worked on at Centrists.org. Health policy has always been his strongest suite, though, so the move makes sense. I just hope the guy keeps cranking out the analysis. He is genuinely one of the best in his field for my ideological stripe.
ADD-ONS: I made a note to check back on an article I saw, but never read in full by another former PPIer and got a twofer ...
UPDATE 2.0: He hasn't budged since the founding of PPI, but Will Marshall has perhaps the single best take on the latest season of politicking that I can think to agree with. More on this later, but a definite read for now. My apologies for all those who hear me repeating these words over and over and over again ....
Whatever happens in this election, Democrats need to replenish their stock of intellectual capital to stay competitive and expand their share of the political marketplace. They need to develop and unite behind their own national security doctrine, lest Republicans continue to reap unearned credit as the party of strength and foreign policy competence. They need to develop a progressive market strategy that embraces both economic innovation and public activism to equip working families to take charge of their economic security. They need big, transformative ideas for modernizing our huge social insurance systems, restoring fiscal discipline and national saving, reforming our hopelessly skewed tax system, helping parents balance work and child-rearing, speeding America's shift from fossil fuels to a "clean energy" economy, and more.Money, marketing, and turnout are important, but they can't compensate for a weak case. In politics, the power of ideas trumps them all.
UPDATE 3.0: One more DLC link to pass on, while I'm at it. I had picked up "What's the Matter with Kansas" one lazy weekend day at the bookstore, cracked it open and could not believe at how bad a single book about politics could be. Author Thomas Frank essentially tries to figure out how the poorest county in Kansas can possibly vote Republican. I put the book down without too much more thought but wondering why it was that someone could attempt yet fail to try and relate blue America with red America. Of course, I also recall switching gears to read a book about the Sex Pistols' tour through America in which they famously hit several kicker bars in the south to shock the natives. Basically, it was the same book with a different narrative. Be that as it may, NuDonk's Ed Kilgore gets one line across in his review that reminds me of exactly why Frank's book was an abysmal read:
Part economic and social analysis, part autobiography, and most of all a jeremiad, What's the Matter With Kansas? is wonderfully written, sloppily reasoned, and ultimately far off base.
Kilgore's advice to "[i]gnore the political conclusions, and enjoy the book" may warrant another glance, however.