A continuation of the article abive which illustrates, much to the chagrin of Amos, that the Clinton administration was hated as much or more that the Bush administration. Amos uses the Bush administration to try to cover up for mush worse abuses of power by past administrations like Clinton and FDR.

Clinton and his followers raked in big bucks from the rich and dumped working people, the poor and grass-roots activists. by Jeff Cohen

      While the Gore-Lieberman defeat in 2000 gave Republicans control of the White House and Congress for the first time in half a century, the Democratic debacle in 1994 was just as momentous. The Gingrich victory was the natural consequence of Clintonism, as the Republicans took over Congress in low-turnout elections with an activist base inspired by a right-wing program.
      The Democratic base, meanwhile, was disoriented and dispirited. They'd just witnessed the Clinton White House steamroll over labor, environmental and consumer rights advocates to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). And they'd seen a president and first lady unwilling to fight for Canadian-style national health insurance - instead offering a proposal supported by big insurers that was so bureaucratic and convoluted it collapsed of its own weight without coming up for a vote.
      Behind the rise of Clintonism has been the Democratic Leadership Council, a Washington outfit of largely Southern Democratic politicians that makes up for its lack of a mass base with a bounty of corporate cash - from a wide array of firms such as ARCO, Chevron, Du Pont, Philip Morris and Merck. It has become the main policy voice of corporate America inside the Democratic Party, supporting "free trade," partial privatization of Social Security, increased military spending and other positions unpopular with rank-and-file Democrats. It was set up to weaken the power of unions, feminists and civil rights activists in Washington.
      Years ago, these folks might have been called "Rockefeller Republicans"; now they dominate the party of working people. Gore was one of the founders of the DLC in the mid-1980s. Joe Lieberman was the group's chairman when he was drafted by Gore last year. Clinton, then the governor of Arkansas, was its national chairman when he launched his long-shot bid for the presidency in 1991.
      Even if Clinton were to disappear in disgrace, there would still remain a well-funded and influential DLC. A dinner last month honoring Lieberman and benefiting a DLC-allied political committee, the New Democrats Network, raised $1.2 million dollars from the likes of Aetna, American Airlines, AT&T, Citicorp and GE. When elite media pundits - many of whom cheer the DLC's economic conservatism and social liberalism - discuss Democratic presidential prospects for 2004, they regularly promote DLCers such as Gore, Lieberman and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, the group's new chairman.
      Most Democratic activists and many office-holders vigorously oppose the DLC and its Republican-lite agenda. Some refer to it as "Democrats for the Leisure Class." The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which is diametrically opposed to the DLC, has more than 50 members in the U.S. House.
      Progressive, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. recently wrote: "In 1992, a conservative Democrat, Bill Clinton, selected an even more conservative running mate, Al Gore, who in 2000 selected an even more conservative running mate, Joseph Lieberman. By helping to shift the Democratic Party and the country further right, a very conservative George W. Bush could select an ultra-conservative Dick Cheney as his running mate - and win."
      In last year's presidential contest that pitted the DLC ticket of Gore-Lieberman against the GOP, there was no debate on many issues that matter to the Democratic base - from trade, corporate welfare and bloated military spending to criminal justice issues like capital punishment and the counterproductive, racially tinged drug war, which helped boost America's prison population during the Clinton years from 1.4 million to more than 2 million people.
      Many Democrats rebelled against the presidential ticket in 2000 by voting Green for Ralph Nader. Millions more voted Democratic grudgingly to fend off the right wing. Ironically, the best way for progressive activists to fend off right-wingers might be to imitate them. Beginning about 25 years ago, cultural conservatives and the religious right became local Republican activists, immersing themselves in local elections and primary fights. Then, state by state, they took over the Republican Party and energized it for their grassroots agenda of guns, God and tax cuts. Their success within the GOP has reshaped the national debate.
      Progressive activists - for labor, consumer, environmental, women's and civil rights - might similarly enter local and Democratic primary battles to elect their own and defeat candidates anointed by big money and the DLC. Such local activists would find support in Washington from unions and other issues groups, as well as counterweights to the DLC like the Campaign for America's Future and Americans for Democratic Action. If it becomes clear that money has rendered the Democratic Party's structure impenetrable to its own activist base, the resulting exodus to the Green Party or some other third party will dwarf last year's protest vote for Nader.
      Before the pardon furor, Bill Clinton was intent on remaining the leader of the Democratic Party. Toward that end, he installed his personal fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe - a financial executive well-connected to big business - as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Once hailed by media pundits for steering Democrats toward centrism, Clinton is now tarnished by government and media probes; NBC News airs "Clinton Watch" segments on the scandal.
      In theory, Clinton has exited Washington. But the horse he rode in on - money-drenched DLC politics - is still there, alive and kicking.