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Michelle Cottle's article examining the relationship between Mark Penn and the Clinton family is among the more enlightening things I've read on the subject. This passage, in particular, is striking:
Penn's defenders say it's no mystery why the Clintons have stuck with him through the years: He's loyal, he's brilliant, and, most importantly, they've never lost with him. He also compliments many of their political and strategic biases. Hillary's recent populism notwithstanding, people note that Penn's centrist politics jibe with the Clintons' positioning of themselves as New (and improved) Democrats. "They are moderates," says a pro-Penn ex-Clintonite. "They believe in trying to accomplish things through active, centrist means." Moreover, say defenders, since Penn isn't tied to the party's traditional interest groups (most notably labor unions), he offers a fresher, less-dogmatic perspective than other party pollsters. (Certainly, Penn, Schoen & Berland, part of the Burson family since 2001, isn't a dogmatically Democratic firm; between 2004 and 2006, it received hundreds of thousands in consulting fees from the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee.)Penn, of course, is tied to his own set of interest groups. Corporations, for one. They're where Penn made his money before he worked for the Clintons, where he made his money while he worked for the Clintons, and where he'll make his money after he's finished working for the Clintons. Penn is also a longtime, and very active, DLC member -- which is to say, he has an ideological horse in the race. So it's not that Penn reaches some ideal of objectivity, or is free of entangling alliances and responsibilities to other clients. It's just that the Clintons were more comfortable with interest groups near to Penn -- corporations and self-styled centrists -- than more progressive power centers, or more disinterested pollsters. Penn had a point of view and a vision of the party's composition that the Clintons shared.
