COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM IN A SKIRT:

Centrist Democrats Are Forcing Moderation in Party’s Liberal Agenda (Alan K. Ota, CQ)

New Democrats, ascendant during the Clinton administration, largely support President Obama’s job creation strategy: upgrades in the nation’s electric-power grid, better schools, incentives for “green jobs” and expanding renewable energy. But the group is willing to slow other Democratic priorities.

“We’re Democrats. We will stand for small businesses and little people. But we’ll do it in a way that keeps in mind how the economy works and how capitalism works,” said Rep. Dan Maffei , D-N.Y.

The group flexed its muscle on March 5 when Sen. Evan Bayh , D-Ind., and other New Democrats balked at supporting the $410 billion omnibus spending bill (HR 1105), forcing Senate Democratic leaders to delay a vote on the legislation, which would fund the government through the end of fiscal 2009. [...]

In upcoming legislative showdowns, New Democrats may wield the balance of power on several Obama priorities: a health care overhaul, a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, and a $3.6 trillion budget, as well as the reauthorization of the 2001 No Child Left Behind law (PL 107-110).

The group counts former President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman , I-Conn., among its charter members. The group has long been identified with efforts to press free trade and provide incentives to spur growth in high technology industry.

The agenda has grown to embrace an array of policies that spur growth in fast-growing industries, do not always hew to the demands of labor, and stress issues important to suburban voters rather than those in inner cities.

“We want the right policy balance. . . . We want to make sure things are done a practical way. It’s going to take all of working together to get to 60 votes to make things happen,” Bayh said.

The balance is First Way means to achieve Second Way ends.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 10, 2009 10:13 AM