Napolitano heads Platform Committee

by souvarine, Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:15:49 PM EST

Politico reports that:

The DNC just announced that "Governor [Janet] Napolitano will chair the Platform Drafting Committee. Michael Yaki will serve as National Platform Director and Karen Kornbluh will be the Principal Author of the Platform."

These appointments suggest that the platform will be a more centrist document than party platforms are traditionally. Usually the candidate treats the platform as a bone for the base, with the proviso that nothing in it may hurt him politically. Candidates sometimes identify a particular issue that is important to them, such as when Kerry removed support for the death penalty from the current platform. Given this selection of staff Obama does not intend to offer the platform as a refuge for those to his left in the party, though it does suggest that choice is safe as a party principle (Napolitano is a strong choice advocate). It may be that instead Obama has decided to use the platform to mollify women.

Governor Napolitano recognized Obama as a DLC kindred spirit early:

Napolitano represents a particular subset of Obama supporters, those who embraced the "third way" moderation of Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council during the 1990s, but came to see Obama, not Hillary Clinton, as the inheritor of that legacy, updated to account for the ugly realities of the post-September 11 world.

Karen Kornbluh, who ran Obama's Senate Policy shop, is one of the leading intellectual lights of the centrist New America Foundation. She and DLC PPI Fellow Austan Goolsbee are largely responsible for the centrist, market based cast of Obama's domestic policies.

Update: NewOaklandDem suggested that I add more background and context. In the two conventions I am more closely familiar with, 1992 and 2004, the platform was used as a way to negotiate between the party's liberal, activist base and a candidate attempting to appeal to the broader electorate. Kerry's 2004 Drafting Committee chair was CT Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, one of our more liberal house members. Kucinich fought the 2004 platform's soft-pedaling on Iraq, but otherwise the platform was largely liberal. The 1992 platform was coordinated by Bill Richardson and McGovern/Hart supporter John Holum. The platform was controversial because it was more moderate, but the process was designed to mollify the liberal Jerry Brown contingent, which had 596 delegates, one of whom was my Aunt.

If you look at the Republican platforms you can see that they use the process in a similar way.



Tags: Barack Obama, DNC, convention (all tags)

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Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (2.00 / 2)

SOVARINE THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS DIARY! YOU ARE SO RIGHT THAT OBAMA IS A DLC SELLOUT!!!! HE IS PORBABLY GOING TO MAKE US THE CENTRIST PARTY SO BYE BYE RIGHTS! SIBELUS IS A SELLOUT TOO!! WHO EVEN CARES ABOUT KANSAS LOL LOL LOL!!! A GREAT PAIR OF LOOSERS!!!


by Johnny Gentle Famous Crooner on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:21:57 PM EST

Obviously by choosing Napolitano (2.00 / 3)

for such an important position, he's slapping all of Clinton's supporters in the face.

Just like selecting Kathleen Sebelius as a running mate would be a slap in the face of every woman who voted for Clinton.


by Geekesque on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:26:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obviously by choosing Napolitano (2.00 / 2)

Yeah, and Nancy Pelosi as the first woman Chairperson.

I've heard the rumors are, there is basically going to be an entire night for a tribute to Senator Clinton?

This rampant Obama sexism is just deplorable.

I'm thinking of going Republic, THERE'S a party that respects women! Oh, except for the fact they object to equal pay, and trivial items like that....


On Nov 4th, Barack Obama officially ends the Southern Strategy....
by WashStateBlue on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:38:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Nancy Pelosi hates women. (2.00 / 1)

It's obvious from the way she didn't take a stand against Obama.


by Geekesque on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 05:18:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (2.00 / 1)

Sellout?  More like the poster boy for-  he owes the nomination to the DNC.  He's their "made man" so to speak.  


by easyE on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 07:19:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

DLC member realizes DLC methods bad in 2008 (none / 0)

News at 11.


In this avalanche, the pebbles get to vote.

That One/Another Fella '08

by Dracomicron on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:28:36 PM EST

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

Seeing conspiracies everywhere, are we?  Now where's ma tinfoil hat?


by NewOaklandDem on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:30:41 PM EST

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (2.00 / 1)

What conspiracy? I'm just speculating on the likely tone of the new platform given who Obama has chosen to write it and my own experience with Democratic party platform committees in the past.

Do you have some other observation to add?


by souvarine on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:36:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

I think you're extrapolating too much.  Who was Kerry's Platform Chair?  Were they also Moderates?  How do you know that the 2008 platform will differ all that much from 2004 without providing a frame of refference?


by NewOaklandDem on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:41:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (2.00 / 3)

Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, one of our more liberal house members, was Kerry's 2004 Drafting Committee chair. The 2004 platform soft-pedaled Iraq but was otherwise a left-leaning statement of Democratic values.


by souvarine on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:51:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

From what I know of the New America foundation, it is not DLC.  It appears to conform with Obama's ideas of post-partisanship, for whatever that's worth.

One suggestion, if I may, is that you should add the info about DeLauro to the diary, to add a better frame of refference.


by NewOaklandDem on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 05:02:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Kornbluh has done groundbreaking work (2.00 / 2)

on making policy that helps working families.

But, that sort of thing isn't important to the poo-flingers.


by Geekesque on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 05:22:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

given who Obama has chosen to write it

Damn, you mean she won't even share the pen? What an ink hog!


by Johnny Gentle Famous Crooner on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 04:49:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (2.00 / 1)

Thanks, Souvarine, that's an interesting insight both into Obama's platform and the significance of the platform to nominees generally.  Makes you kind of wonder how one would define Obama's 'base' doesn't it?  It's pretty clear it was never exactly the netroots progressives, not then, not now.  From where I sit that gives Obama more strength than weakness.

I have always assumed that Obama was attempting to embrace a core constituency which extended beyond the conventional boundaries of the progressive or liberal left, though he obviously largely shares their values on domestic and foreign policy.  Whether this looks like a 'centrist' position or not probably depends on whether one still adheres to this conventional notion of the political spectrum and, if so, where one imagines one sits on it.  Something tells me Obama doesn't quite see it that way, as Al Giordano discussed recently in respect of what he calls the 'libertarian' vote.


by Shaun Appleby on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 05:14:16 PM EST

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

I don't doubt that Obama is trying to build a new base for the Democratic party. I'm open to the idea that he wants to use the platform as an actual (centrist) ideological base, and so has chosen intellectual powerhouses like Kornbluh and Napolitano to write it. That would be yet another Obama departure from the typical way to play the game.

I have Al's post open, but I have not read it yet. I'm pretty hostile to the "LibDem" idea.


by souvarine on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 05:44:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (2.00 / 1)

The thing I like about Al's post is it questions the relevance of the political spectrum among voters who really don't see themselves as aligned to one or another faction.  For just one example, Gallup always numbers the Ron Paul Iraq war opponents among those who are against the war but we, as progressives, reject them.  That's a tough row to hoe.  I see Obama reaching into these numbers on a case by case basis, largely because he hasn't alienated the potential support through ideological posturing.  Is this 'progressive' politics?  No.  Is it going to advance 'progressive' causes?  Well, just maybe it will.  We'll see.

Obama never presented as a progressive poster boy, swam upstream against a pro-Edwards netroots throughout the early primary while building a coalition of support on the web and in the grassroots.  Among whom?  That's the interesting question.


by Shaun Appleby on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 06:42:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (2.00 / 1)

Great response, and a good contribution to a worthwhile debate that we need to have as progressives.


by hello world on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 08:13:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

I think a "libertarian convergence" is interesting speculation, but largely off base. There aren't enough people who identify with left, right or "Social Justice" libertarianism to be a factor in Obama's coalition. Giordano is feeding off of Sullivan's anecdotal evidence, but the data really isn't there.

Obama's targeting people and strategists are not looking at radically different categories of people, they are working to attract independents and softer evangelicals. That is why his recent campaign moves seem so traditional, they have a traditional conception of how to appeal to the independent voters they are targeting.


by souvarine on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 09:01:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

Well, I take your point but I don't see the framing of these issues as traditional, certainly, and the very notion of a 'liberal' Democrat making a concerted play for evangelicals, especially without compromising to social conservatives, is novel in itself.  What I am suggesting is that the spectrum of left and right is dynamic and if one deals with issues one at a time, seeking coalitions discretely, rather than seeing the electorate as an ideologically dissected pie where factions grow or shrink at a glacial pace new rules of engagement emerge.

That's kind of what I had always imagined Obama was up to, and sure 'progressives' are going to get uncomfortable with it from time to time.  Let's see what the results are like, no-one really expected him to defeat Hillary, did they?  And yet...


by Shaun Appleby on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 09:21:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

And yet Obama's coalition was so predictable that poblano was able to turn the crank on a naive model of rough data and come out right, once he had enough examples.

Here I think you are correct, or at least you are feeding my own preconceptions. The party had gotten very conservative in its targeting and unwilling to reach into the Republican coalition to pull people out. Obama (and I know the people doing his modeling have been pushing for this for a long time) is looking at the Republican base and figuring out who he can peel off.


by souvarine on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 09:28:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (2.00 / 1)

Well, that's right.  It wasn't exactly rocket science, or even Obama's idea, but he actually did it, or at least seems well on his way to doing so.  But he did it without being a national security hawk or pandering to social conservatives, the 'traditional' method of contesting the centre.  And it is worth noting that he took a big leaf out of Bill Clinton's book in his adherence to 'shared responsibility' on domestic policy issues, too.  In some respects he is a legitimate ideological successor, arguably even more so than Hillary but yet avoiding becoming a DLC 'centrist.'  Funny, that.

But the important thing is winning, isn't it, in presidential contests?  Without selling your soul to the Devil in the process, that is.


by Shaun Appleby on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 09:41:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Obama became (2.00 / 1)

the "netroots candidate" because he was the only person left standing who was running against Hillary Clinton.

No one on the blogs paid attention to what he really stood for and they completely misrepresented him to be something he's not.

It's the netroots who didn't realize all their candidates lost on January 3rd.


The American people; they were for the war before they were against it.
by nrafter530 on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 08:20:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama became (none / 0)

Without possibly realising the potential of the candidate they rejected on ideological and partisan grounds at the outset.  It's a learning curve for all concerned.


by Shaun Appleby on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 08:45:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

That's why (none / 0)

if Obama loses this election because he's accused of being a flip-flopper. I place the blame squarely on DailyKos for misrepresenting the guy so horribly.


The American people; they were for the war before they were against it.
by nrafter530 on Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 08:36:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: That's why (none / 0)

I wouldn't go so hard on Kos for that, he's just doin' his thing.  But it is a justification for the lack of engagement Obama was accussed of way back in April/March 2007 when the Edwards campaign was attempting outreach to the netroots.

Frankly, as much as I support the concept in theory, I think the netroots polemic self-infatuation is their greatest liability when it comes to political influence.


by Shaun Appleby on Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 08:49:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: That's why (none / 0)

And Obama ain't gonna' lose.


by Shaun Appleby on Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 08:50:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Please (none / 0)

Accept my apoligy for my previous snarky response.  Rec'd


by NewOaklandDem on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 05:54:49 PM EST

Re: Please (none / 0)

Of course, and thanks for the Rec.


by souvarine on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 06:08:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

 I don't understand how [b]'He's a centrist!'[/b] is going to rouse the electorate to grab their pitchforks and torches and go after the big bad 'centrist'. Firstly, because there is an equally large chorus singing [b]'He's a Liberal!'[/b] and secondly, 'centrist' just doesn't sound all that scary. It seems like to me we'd all just be happy at this point to have someone who is not a Republican and who will be the smartest guy in the room 99.9% of the time.


by QTG on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 08:50:39 PM EST

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

I don't think there is anything wrong with being a centrist. Not what I'd prefer, but not all that bad. I also think that Obama, Napolitano and Kornbluh are very, very smart.

So you do understand.


by souvarine on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 09:33:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

oops <>


by QTG on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 08:51:03 PM EST

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

Perhaps the centrist appointments are an attempt to mollify the Hillary contingent of delegates?

If the argument is that platforms are designed to be a "bone for the base," then perhaps this document is being drafted as a bone to the DLCers, with a proviso that it not damage him politically with those on his left and others who supported his primary run.


Know Your Rights!
by BobzCat on Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 02:35:44 AM EST

Re: Napolitano heads Platform Committee (none / 0)

Now that is a much more interesting theory.


by souvarine on Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 08:50:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]


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