Mother Jones -- The 50 Year Strategy: A New Progressive Era (No, Really!)

[Odin2005]

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/11/the-50-year-strategy.html

Beyond '08: Can progressives play for keeps?

Simon Rosenberg And Peter Leyden


November/December 2007 Issue

A conservative president who is deeply unpopular with Americans. A country facing profound economic and security challenges. New technologies upending old media. A cohort of new immigrants and a bulging generation of young people ready to transform the political calculus.

2008? No, 1932, the tail end of the Hoover administration. And you know how that one turned out. FDR and his fellow progressives took on the challenges of their day and built the domestic programs and international institutions that ushered in an era of unrivaled prosperity and stability. They used a new medium—radio—to reach citizens, and fashioned a new majority coalition from the emergent demographic realities of their time.

Today's progressives face a political opportunity as great as any seen since. The election of 2006 may well have marked the end of the conservative ascendancy that began with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. George W. Bush now has the potential to do what Herbert Hoover did in the 1920s—tarnish his party's brand for a generation or more.

As in FDR's day, a new media is emerging, one that will ultimately replace the broadcast model of the 20th century. A new American populace is emerging, led by the arrival of the millennial generation and a new wave of immigrants, particularly Hispanics. And once again, the nation faces massive challenges—from climate change to health care in the era of biotech and preparing young people for a global economy. On the eve of the 2008 election, it's worth raising our sights beyond what it would take for a Democrat to win the presidency, and begin thinking about what it would take to bring about deeper, more lasting changes. The stars have aligned to give progressives a chance to permanently shift the conversation about the nation's values. The question before us now is, Do today's progressives have what it takes to do what FDR and his allies accomplished 75 years ago—seize the new politics, take on the big challenges, and usher in a new era?

(More at the link at the top...)

Hey DLCers, ready for your collective ass to be handed to you?

[Demeter]

1. Who Will Fill In for FDR?

There isn't any identifiable heir to the Greatest of the Greatest Generation.

[Odin2005]

2. Hard to impossible to know right now. In 1932 FDR was considered a political lightweight by many...

...and did a lot of triangulating and flip-flopping partly to keep the support of both the pro-business elements of various regional party machines as well as the progressive wing of the party and partly because he didn't really know exactly what to do once he got into office except to experiment with different policies. He didn't become obviously leftist until the mid 30's, when he burned the bridges he had with business interests in order to follow the left-ward, pro-labor shift of public opinion.