Democrats looking for their Core Values

The Orlando Sentinel has a story today about the "town meeting" held by Democrat Florida Senator, Bill Nelson. He brought in Senator Barak Obama (D-IL) to lend "star power" to Nelson's campaign. Here's the complete article. The choicest part of the story involves the answer to a tough question from the town meeting audience (emphasis mine):

"I see a Democratic Party afraid to say they're Democrats, who voted for the war in Iraq and voted for tax cuts for the wealthy," said Glenn Anderson of Orlando. "Why should I remain a Democrat?"

It was a tough question. But Nelson and Obama tried to answer it. "The Democrats at times have lost their way," conceded Obama. "We are trying to decide what our core values are."

The criterion for judging the party isn't whether it's to the left or right, "but are we true to our core values," he said. Nobody defined core values.

This is one of those stories where you can almost feel the writer pushing you to a conclusion. I mean, really! Obama says the Dems are "trying to decide" what their core values are, but they're "true" to them, whatever they are -- nobody thought it necessary to cough up a sample.

"Core values:" that's the hottest buzz phrase for the Dems now; maybe that's what Professor George Lakoff came up with as a winner. Doesn't matter if they can actually be articulated or enumerated; as long as the Democrats say the words, everything will be all right.