Abstract

An Idea Factory for the Democrats

The author discusses whether an newly established Washington think tank will accomplish its goal of popularizing liberal ideas. For Democrats suffering from Scarecrow Syndrome ("if we only had a brain"), John Podesta, the man behind the curtain at the Center for American Progress, thinks he has the cure: a $10-million-a-year think tank now taking shape in Washington. In a city heavy with well-funded right-wing think tanks, the center is designed to provide some ballast for the other side. Starting in the 1970s, the conservative tanks have forged the ideas that built Fortress GOP. Podesta believes that what the Democrats need to "balance the national debate" is a Heritage Foundation of their own. Finally, the Democratic Party will have a "brain." As yet barely known outside policy-wonk circles in Washington, within that world Podesta's center had generated lots of buzz even before it opened its doors last fall. But both Podesta's and the center's close ties to the Clintons, and their desire to appeal to Democrats across the political spectrum, have many people asking how much the center will accomplish in the end. The idea for the center began with discussions in 2002 between Halperin and George Soros, the billionaire investor. Soros, whose money has jump-started a panoply of anti-Bush political organizations, wanted to help create an institution that would be big enough, and well funded enough, to get off the ground right away and have an impact. But beating Bush is one thing; forging a "center-left" policy consensus is another.