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[../../../../Includes/michael_carmichael.htm] archived: 20 - 26 Jun, 2004 Back Next
JUNKIE EDITOR MICHAEL CARMICHAEL On Thursday the 17th of June, Howard Dean came to London. He did the round of media interviews stopping by the BBC for a morning chat show that was broadly admired. He excoriated Bush and graciously praised Kerry at every opportunity. In the evening, a huge audience of 300 assembled at the Royal College of Physicians in London’s Regent Park to hear Dean address the UK chapter of Democrats Abroad at an event billed as a Party Unity Rally. The largest group of Democrats Abroad ever to assemble took place in our London caucus earlier this year, when some 5-600 expatriates attended to back their respective candidates for our small group of delegates to the Democratic National Convention. There had been over 100 Dean supporters at that record-breaking caucus. So, the turnout of 300 people to hear Dean over three months after he dropped out of contention for the presidential nomination is a huge tribute to his many contributions to the revitalization of the Party. Dean arrived at the Royal College of Physicians, where he did the obligatory round of photographs with the expatriate delegates. From there he swiftly moved to the podium where he delivered a spellbinding speech on the political realities of 2004. Dean explained his position. He kept it simple. Either Bush or Kerry will be elected president in November. Dean urged strong support for Kerry, and none for Nader. He described his many appearances with Kerry on the campaign trail in America. He praised Kerry for the dramatic differences between his positions and those of Bush. Dean’s comments on Kerry’s impressive voting record on the environment made a definite impact on the audience. To further his progressive agenda, Dean is endorsing lists of progressive Democrats running for many offices this year. He referred everybody to his website: Democracy For America. People visiting his website are invited to nominate progressive Democratic candidates for Dean’s endorsement. (See below) Dean is a brilliant orator, by far the best of the Democrats who stood for president this year. His speech was interrupted by applause at least a dozen times. After speaking for 20 minutes, he opened the floor to questions. A woman in her twenties made an eloquent appeal to him. She had supported him, but she had not been impressed by Kerry’s message. “He has not been critical enough of Bush,” she explained. Moving on, she said that she would feel much more comfortable with the Democratic ticket if Dean were on it as Vice President. At that moment, the audience broke into thunderous applause. Earlier this week, I read reports of Kerry being jilted by Republican Senator John McCain. According to reports that have yet to be denied, Kerry pleaded with McCain on at least seven occasions to join him on the Democratic ticket to defeat Bush. McCain refused. On the morning of the Dean rally, I read a report that McCain is now burying the hatchet with Bush, and they are well on their way to forming their closest public alliance than ever before in their sometimes tempestuous political relationship. (See TPJ’s “Them Dems” today for further details) The bottom line on this tactical aspect of the Kerry campaign is perfectly clear: courting John McCain was a mistake, and it is being reported as a stupendous public failure. From any perspective, the McCain gambit was an unmitigated disaster for Kerry. Whomever deserves the blame, the candidate or some misguided advisors, Kerry committed a huge blunder by attempting to entice John McCain to switch sides. McCain is a Republican anti-abortionist and dyed-in-the-wool NRA supporter. He supports the war in Iraq as a vital chapter of the war against terror (analogous to pouring high octane gasoline and other explosives onto a raging fire). From the progressive perspective, McCain has a poor voting record to put it mildly. By now, Kerry must be deeply disappointed at the outcome of his courting this reactionary politician and suggesting that he change parties to become his Democratic Vice Presidential candidate. This fiasco is bad enough but it is compounded, because we have so many more qualified and capable people bursting the seams in our own party. If anyone else on Kerry’s staff spearheaded this dreadful misadventure, they should be sacked ASAP. This overt admiration for McCain has been damaging to Kerry’s chances for it has fuelled the flames of Naderism, the single most dangerous factor in the political equations facing the Democratic Party this year. Reflecting on the choice facing Kerry, and the reaction of the audience to Howard Dean in London, I wondered, and I pondered. Kerry is now faced with a monumental dilemma analogous to the judgment of Paris. Kerry recently met with Ralph Nader. Reports in the international media indicate that he advised Kerry to select either Richard Gephardt or John Edwards as his running mate as opposed to other qualified Democrats including Dennis Kucinich, who is still campaigning for the top slot, or Howard Dean. Kerry is now known to be considering whether to select either Dick Gephardt or John Edwards for the VP slot. His decision and his handling of his decision will speak volumes about Kerry’s potential as president. In my judgement, he has failed the first test by courting McCain. While Gephardt is a fine man, he is hardly a progressive. It is hard for me to see him as any political asset on the ballot this November. True, his state (Missouri) has voted for the winning candidate in every presidential election for the past century, but Kerry can and should carry Missouri with whomever he selects, negating any political argument for Gephardt. John Edwards of North Carolina has much more political appeal to progressives than Dick Gephardt. That said, he clearly can not deliver North Carolina to the party, or South Carolina, his birth state. While he is appealing to many progressives, he is still encumbered by some non-progressive (read, ultra-conservative) ideology: i.e. his position on medical marijuana for starters. The medical marijuana issue is one of John Kerry’s strongest suits. He supports it in spades. The drug reform voting bloc is a key to any conceivable Democratic victory this autumn, and it helped Kerry immensely to win in Iowa. Ralph Nader has urged Kerry to nominate either Gephardt or Edwards, which would leave the progressives almost entirely to him – Nader – and we would have a re-run of 2000 to Nader’s joy. If Kerry falls for this transparent ploy, and Nader soars back to progressive prominence, heaven will not be able to help us this November. From my perspective, knowing nothing more than I know today, I think that Howard Dean would transform the political equation for Kerry. He would rally new support from progressives like no one else, and he would immediately trigger the implosion of Nader. No other potential candidate offers Kerry such overwhelming strategic advantages. Dean rocks. Dean rallies. Dean unites. Dean for VP! To encourage John Kerry to select Howard Dean as his Vice Presidential running mate, simply, click on the link below to sign the Draft Dean for VP Petition by clicking on the photograph below (or cut and paste this web address: http://www.draftdeanforvp.org/petition.html)
To view Howard Dean’s Democracy for America website:
(You can recommend progressive candidates for Dean’s endorsement on his website.)
Last Update: 03/23/2006 |
