In my spare time, I have been reading a book on Jesse Jackson. As I read about Jackson’s legacy and his presidential campaigns, it becomes clear the oligarchs and neoliberals were so terrified of Jackson’s movement that it spurred the creation of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC).
For those who don’t know about the DLC, it was founded in 1985 to push the Democratic Party in a centrist/neoliberal direction. It received funding from oligarchs like the Koch Brothers. It had political figures affiliated with it you would recognize: Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Joe Lieberman and many others.
After Jackson nearly captured the Democratic nomination for president in 1988, the group sought to expand its influence and push back on figures like Jackson. After Jackson was robbed of the nomination, the DLC pushed Bill Clinton for president in 1992. After Clinton’s victory, we saw one of the worst betrayals of the Democratic Party in history.
The DLC accelerated the pace of the working class abandoning the Democratic Party. They should get more blame for it.
Related Off-site Links:
Jesse Jackson, the Democratic Party, and the Limits of Racial Progress in the Late Twentieth Century – Jenna Barnes (Medium, March 16, 2026).
Jesse Jackson Paved the Way for a New U.S. Left – David Duhalde (Medium, February 18, 2026).
How Jesse Jackson’s ‘Radically Inclusive’ Vision Shaped the Democratic Party We Know Today – Adria R Walker (The Guardian, February 21, 2026).
Jesse Jackson Reshaped the Democratic Party – Richard Kreitner (The Nation, February 27, 2026).
Clintonism Screwed the Democrats: How Bill, Hillary and the Democratic Leadership Council Gutted Progressivism The End of the DLC Era – Ben Smith (Politico, February 7, 2011).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Authoritarianism With a Blue Sticker
• The Time for Illusions Is Over: Henry Giroux on the Democratic Party
• When the “Blue Wave” Is a “Blue Crackdown”
• David Norton: “The Democratic Party Serves Capital, Not You”
• Mike Figueredo: “Elected Democrats Have No Real Interest in Doing What the Base Wants”
• Tony Pentimalli on the Fallacy of the “Safe Political Center”
• Genny Harrison on Brian Tyler Cohen’s Interview with Obama
• Progressives and Obama
• Jeff Cohen on How Obama’s “Corporate Liberalism” Led to the Rise of Trump
• Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’s Book, 107 Days
• Adam Bates on the Team Blue / Kamala “I Told Ya So” Smugness Tour
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden/Harris Administration
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in 2024
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• David Sirota: Quote of the Day – January 26, 2021
• Progressive Perspectives On an American Coronation
• Marianne Williamson: “‘Vote Blue No Matter Who’ Is Not Enough to Win”
• Nick Cruse: “‘Vote Blue No Matter Who’ Is the Privileged Position”
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
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