THE CURRENT THEME
Entries from January 1, 2008 - February 1, 2008
Campaign 2008
A Positive
Vision
of 21st
Century
Democracy
We need to be as ambitious in envisioning political process integrity as John Edwards has been honest in talking about political process corruption.
By Hank Edson
For supporters of John Edwards, the end of his 2008 campaign for the presidency should not be spent in either deep gloom or false bravado. The future of the cause Edwards champions remains open and John Edwards’ influence on the rest of this campaign and perhaps on the next four years is unknown. We would be mistaken to write him out of our script just because he has bowed out of the race for the presidency. At the same time, clearly his campaign is lost and what is most appropriate in the face of this political loss is to take stock of the lessons we can learn from it. They are not Edwards’ lessons to learn alone, but are instructive to the entire nation.
What we learn from the Edwards campaign is that American politics requires from its populist candidates the highest standard of vision: It requires much more than the ability to see and speak the truth about corruption. It requires much more than the ability to set forth a ground breaking plan to address our problems. For a populist candidate to win in America, he or she must ring the bell of our ideals loud and clear. We need a positive vision of our democracy that is pitch perfect, resounding, and inimitable.
Back in August when John Edwards began to aggressively challenge the Democratic Party to look honestly at the corruption and inequality in our nation, he promised his campaign would be about “real change,” saying: ... READ MORE!
Hank Edson
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Campaign 2008
What the
Reagan-Flap
Really Says
about Obama,
Clinton,and
Edwards
By Hank Edson
The recent flap over Barack Obama’s comments on Ronald Reagan speaks volumes about what distinguishes our three democratic presidential candidates. But what it says is not complementary to either Obama or Clinton. Instead, once again, it shows us that John Edwards is the real candidate all Democrats should support.
Obama’s Intent
When Obama described Reagan’s Republican Party as the “party of ideas,” his intention was to use Reagan as a sort of yardstick for measuring whether or not a candidate has the mojo to rally a large majority of the nation’s political support. By invoking the concept of “the Reagan Democrat,” Obama intended to show that the Clintons did not measure up to the Reagan yardstick and to suggest, however, that he would.
Obama was thus casting a Clinton White House as one which would lack a governing majority, one that would only perpetuate an entrenched partisanship the nation would not willingly choose if offered an alternative.
By contrast, an Obama White House, he implied, would, in a Reaganesque manner, make the Democratic Party once again a “Party of Ideas,” capable of maintaining a governing majority. This governing majority would attract “Obama Republicans” discontented with the Presidency of George W. Bush, who, however, would never vote...READ MORE!
Campaign 2008
Goldilocks
and the Three Candidates
By Hank Edson
It was primary day in the forest and so Goldilocks told her mother she was going to go vote. Goldilocks was a democrat and she was terrified at the terrible condition of her country. Her vote today mattered a great deal to both her and her country.
She left her home and went down the path to the local library where the voting booths were all set up. The kind young man at the welcome counter had her sign her name in the register and gave her a voting card to take into the poll booth.
When Goldilocks had pulled the curtain closed behind her and sat down on the stool in the voting booth, she was surprised at what she saw. Instead of a computer screen with a touch pad, there was a counter with a slot for her voting card in the side and three porcelain mugs resting on top. Each mug had the face of a different candidate on it.
Goldilocks impulsively picked up the Barack Obama mug. She had heard so much “buzz” about him. Below his picture were the words, “It’s not about me; it’s about you.” Goldilocks wondered why, then, it wasn’t her face on the mug. Then she looked at what was in the mug, and much to her disappointment, the mug was empty. At the bottom of the empty mug, she read the words, “The people are thirsty for change.” Goldilocks did not know what to make of this mug. She was thirsty, but the mug was empty. She set it down. “There’s nothing there,” she said to herself.
Then she picked up the mug with Hillary Clinton’s face on it...READ MORE
Campaign 2008
The Survivor, The Meteor, and the Champion
By Hank Edson
They all can win in the general election; therefore, the question is which will be best for our nation? Consider:
The Survivor: Hilary Clinton has a record of change. She also has a record of failure, a record of compromise, and a record of working with corporatists who have corrupted our system and turned it against the American people. Clinton, in short, has the record of a survivor.
She aspired to heroism in attempting to overhaul our health care system in ’92, but the abuse she suffered taught her to be more calculating. Her husband had the strength and intelligence to balance the budget, but this achievement was a matter of fiscal common sense; it was not a demonstration of a moral commitment to justice and liberty for all.
If our country was a corporation, Bill Clinton might be regarded as the best leader we ever had, but our country is much more than a corporation. If our political system wasn’t corrupt, if we weren’t fighting an unprovoked, unjustifiable war, if the debt and financial peril the American people are currently shouldering did not exist, Hillary might be the perfect candidate for “getting things done,” but we need much more than a government that just gets down to “business.”
We need a government that is principled, a government that will stand up...READ MORE!
Campaign 2008
It’s Our Democracy, Stupid.
Why the Progressive Movement
Needs to Unite Behind John Edwards
By Hank Edson
Last August I proposed in two sequential opinion pieces that perhaps John Edwards was the man progressives should rally around in order to have the most beneficial impact on our direction as a nation. (See Edwards, Does He Mean It and Edwards/Kucinich 2008? ) At that time, however, we were still months away from the primaries and many readers were not persuaded by my argument. I am hoping that following this weekend’s New Hampshire democratic presidential campaign debate, the time may now be ripe for an organized effort to demonstrate unified progressive endorsement of John Edwards for President of the United States.
Saturday night saw four democratic candidates at the debate podiums: John Edwards, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, and Hillary Clinton, from left to right across the TV screen. Each candidate urged the voters to apply a different standard in selecting who should be President. Roughly put, the candidates made the following claims:
Edwards argued that what mattered was whether the candidate had a personal commitment to reclaiming for the people the power stolen by corporate special interests.
Obama argued what mattered was whether the candidate could rally the American people to support an agenda for change.
Richardson argued what mattered was whether the candidate had the independence and experience required to build effective political coalitions for getting things done.
Clinton argued that what mattered was whether the candidate had a record of actually making change happen.
Here’s why we all need to get behind the Edwards campaign today with an unprecedented demonstration of energy and organization as a progressive movement:
First consider Hillary Clinton:...READ MORE!