If Democrats are doing less infighting, it isn't because they've reached some sort of ideological consensus. On the main issues of domestic and economic policy, the disagreements among Democrats are greater than the gap between Bill Clinton and the Republicans in Congress. Traditional Democrats think balancing the budget is a big mistake. Liberals are still smarting over the fact that he signed the welfare-reform bill. To centrists, it was a moral and political leap forward.
Labor unions are intent on stopping trade liberalization.
Others on the party's left manifest an even more striking change in attitude. Take a look at The New Majority , a recent collection of essays by left-wing economic populists. As recently as a couple of years ago, many of these left Democrats couldn't go a paragraph without denouncing the moderating tendencies of the Democratic Leadership Council. These days, most offer only a gentle tug in the opposite direction. Building the Bridge , a collection put out earlier this year by the DLC-affiliated Progressive Policy Institute, omits the usual DLC tirades against the paleolibs.