More than 300 state and local elected officials joined national New Democrat leaders at the DLC's 2002 National Conversation in a discussion of what policies the country needs to make Americans safer, to restore opportunity and economic growth, and to promote responsibility and reform in both the business world and in government.

Around this theme of security, opportunity, and responsibility, New Democrats called attention to the "leadership gap" in Washington, and challenged both the Administration and their fellow Democrats to rise to the occasion with new ideas for strengthening America at home and abroad.

DLC Chairman Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) framed the conference theme in remarks that recalled the accomplishments of the 1990s and asked New Democrats to again stand for "leadership in the national interest." Alluding to the condition of the country during the last Bush Administration, Bayh quipped that, like zookeepers, "the DLC knows how to clean up the mess left by elephants."

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) took issue with recent claims by the White House that Senate Democrats are obstructing Administration efforts to revive the economy. "All [Americans] are hearing from the Administration is: 'Don't worry about the stock market. Don't worry about your retirement. Don't worry about the deficit. We've got it all under control.' Clearly, everything is not under control. The economy is in trouble. And there is no economic leadership coming from the White House. But that doesn't mean there are no answers. It's time for the Administration to stop being cheerleaders, and start being leaders. But if they won't lead, Democrats will."

Daschle also thanked the DLC for its work on a trade policy that combines steps to expand overseas markets with measures to "expand the winner's circle" of Americans prepared to succeed in the global economy, as reflected in the recent legislation to provide Trade Promotion Authority. "We couldn't have done it without the DLC."

Former DLC Chairman Sen. Joe Liebeman (D-CT) offered his own critique of the Administration's economic leadership, noting, "in the months since December 2, the day Enron declared bankruptcy, the President has shown little or none of the moral clarity and strength of purpose he demonstrated in the aftermath of September 11."

"Sadly," said Lieberman, "this White House does not get the needs or the nuances of the new economy. In fact, the Bush Administration suffers from a profound economic leadership deficit, and we're suffering from it too. They have no growth strategy, except their one-note plan that could fit on the back of a shampoo bottle -- 'Cut taxes, increase spending, borrow, repeat.' That's not a recipe for improving productivity and creating opportunities, but for exploding deficits and losing jobs."

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) focused on foreign policy and national defense, saying: "Our country and our party deserve a conversation about all the things that will make us stronger. I believe there is a better vision for how we deal with the rest of the world, a better vision for how we build relationships in the world, a better vision for how we structure our military forces, a better vision for how you fight a war and win it, a better vision for accepting the responsibility of being the sole superpower in the world."

While sharply challenging the Administration's shortsighted unilateralism and its failure to offer a vision for winning the wider war on terrorism, Kerry also urged Democrats to consistently honor their own tradition of tough-minded internationalism. "There are today Republicans who want to pretend the only issue before our country is the war -- and well they should, because they have no domestic agenda besides a tax cut. But to those who would say we Democrats should pretend the only issues before the country are domestic, I'd say no -- we are a party for all Americans and all issues, and we will provide the vision and leadership needed to make Americans safe at home and around the world. And in so doing we will keep with the best traditions of Wilson, Roosevelt, and Kennedy."

And in keynote remarks, host Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) credited New Democrats with generating the policy ideas that created the prosperity of the 1990s. "Those ideas converted into policies and programs that changed millions of lives," she said.

She also scorned recent Republican claims that today's corporate misconduct and crisis of confidence among investors was somehow caused by the economic boom of the 1990s:

"Young people were able to afford college, and they call that a binge?"

"Millions climbing out of welfare -- that's some kind of excess ... young families getting mortgages on their own homes for the first time, and they say that's over-indulgent?

"The 1990s, economically, were not a fluke or a bubble. If all the arrows pointing up, are now pointing down, blame cannot be placed at the feet of those who led our nation during one of its greatest periods of prosperity and progress in its history."

National Conversation attendees also heard a presentation from DLC CEO and Founder Al From and pollster Mark Penn that urged New Democrats to promote a forward-looking agenda and message that forcefully deals with corporate misconduct and investor confidence without returning to anti-business and class warfare rhetoric. The DLC also facilitated twenty-two policy workshops for attendees, on issues ranging from homeland security to state and local economic development strategies.

The National Conversation concludes today with presentations by House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt (D-M), Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), new Governors Mark Warner (D-VA) and Jim McGreevy (D-NJ), and a panel on homeland security featuring Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit, Mayor Martin O'Malley of Baltimore, and King County (WA) Executive Ron Sims.