Marshall Whitman takes a look at leftwing Democrats and pronounces them "McGovernites with modems" - pointing out that for all the MSM fawning over the leftwing "netroots", they have failed miserably at the polls, and advocate polices (surrender in Iraq, eg) which are not popular with the American people, even when they aren't in love with President Bush and the Republicans. Whitman's analysis is excellent, right up until we essentially asserts that what the Democrats need is to follow the Clintonite model

Not only did Clinton offer a new vision of opportunity, responsibility, and community, he also put flesh on the bones, with concrete proposals of welfare reform, national service, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. He offered an optimistic, pro-growth, free-trade approach to the economy. He ran against type as a hard-headed progressive and eventually became the only Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term.

And yet, Mr. Moulitsas suggests, "Clinton's third way failed miserably." If that is failure, what would you consider success?

If Kos is wrong that a dose of leftwing policy is what the Democrats need, Whitman is also wrong in saying that they need a dose of Clintonism - what neither man acknowledges (and, seemingly, can't acknowledge) is that both leftism and Clintonism are losing propositions. The model for a successful Democratic Party going forward is Joe Lieberman, and once included Zell Miller.

It is in America's long-term interest that the Democratic Party be a strong Party able to challenge and beat the GOP on a level political playing field. What the Democratic Party is, however, is a conglomeration of corrupt political operators (like Clinton) and fanatic leftwingers (like Dean) and those who try to cobble together the two halves by being slick fanatics (like Al Gore). The flaw in the Democratic Party is pervasive - and until someone, somewhere comes along to lead the Democrats back to sanity, they will continue to get beaten.

For the Democrats to become viable, they will need to purge the far left from their ranks (ie, get rid of their Michael Moore wing) and then accept that for a period of years (perhaps ten to twenty), they won't be in power - Democrats will have to give up their feeling that they are entitled to power. They need a long stretch in the political wilderness (as the GOP was - essentially from 1932 until 1980) in order to regroup, rethink and adjust themselves to the new reality and figure out how their core principles fit into it.

They won't do this, of course - at least not until after 2008...the only problem is that by the day after the 2008 election, there might not be a Democratic Party left for anyone to save.

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