A winning Democratic presidential team 
If Democrats, Independents & progressives want to win the 2008 presidency and, more importantly, achieve a landslide takeover of Congress, Democrats need a presidential team that won't stir up the vindictive passions of conservatives. Why? Because conservatives are in the minoity, yet they out-vote progressives when they're angry, fearful or spiteful. Even with the Iraq quagmire and lying, cheating and stealing (CIA outing, war profiteering and record oil profits) firmly tied to the Bush Administration and its policies, the Democrats' showing at the polls is dismal. The left simply doesn't use its majority political clout to ensure the country is run the way we want it to be run.
Next year there is more at stake than just the presidency. We have a potentially historic opportunity to take back the Senate. The conservative movement is faltering. We need to be careful not to reinvigorate it with a bad choice in the Democratic primary. Remember Barry Goldwater? The people who voted for his losing presidential bid did so as if it were a badge of honor. Some of our candidates in the Democratic pool could inspire that type of spiteful, negative voting again next fall, which would result in a lost opportunity to elect new Democrats in Congress as well. If progressives want to enact change in Congress and take our government back, we need to face up to reality before our wishful thinking sets us up for failure next fall.
We can get mad about what elected Republicans have done to our country in the past six years and vote in the Democratic Primary for any candidate who says they'll do things differently. Or, we could proactively determine how the election is likely to go next year if our candidate strikes a hugely negative chord with "Middle America." For instance, if Sen. Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, she will inspire conservatives to vote as no one else has ever before. Right-wingers don't just dislike her, they actively despise her! They'll vote in droves to ensure she doesn't win the Presidency. Clearly, Hillary Clinton against any of their hopefuls is the Republicans' best GOTV tactic, even more so than their anti-gay and anti-choice strategies that have spurred their followers to vote in the past. While at the polls, they'll also vote for all those rubber-stamping, obstructionist Republican Senators we'd like to fire. For that matter, plenty of people would vote against Barack Obama simply because he's black or against Bill Richardson because he's Hispanic. While we should not dismiss either of them just because racism stands in their way, we can and should be realistic about their prospects as number one on a presidential ticket.
It's time for progressives to face reality: A split vote between Obama and Edwards will likely result in a huge loss next fall. Savvy voters need to take a step back to look at the big picture. We have the unprecedented opportunity to fire all the Bush-policy rubber-stamping & obstructionist Republicans in the Senate and replace them with Democrats who can get us out of Iraq, enact true election reform, and get big business out of our government. We might even get a handle on health care, equal rights and immigration issues on the way! But let's stop hoping and pretending we'll finally have a woman or person of color or maybe even a Real Progressive elected as Prez. Instead, let's decide on a team that can truly win, before the Democratic Primary occurs, a team that not only can do the job, but that will actually beat anything the GOP offers up in 2008. We have some good leaders in the presidential candidate pool. Unfortunately, we're likely to split our vote between the top progressive candidates and end up with Clinton winning the Primary. Which means next fall turns into an "Anybody but Hillary" race, and we end up with yet another Republican president, or at the least, lost opportunities in the Senate. If Molly Ivins were alive, we could ask her to publish her pick for President and VP, and try to create a solid voting block that way. She said, "There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times." Progressive Democrats who heed those words can aim for NO REPUBLICANS LEFT BEHIND in 2008. To do so may take some initiative on our part, given the likelihood that not even Oprah could convince Obama that his running for VP would better serve America. But we could do it for him, or for any other progressive candidate, if we know in advance what the game plan is and if one of our top candidates declares who they would select as their running mate.
So what's our winning ticket? What two Democrat contenders paired together can actually run and win the presidency without inspiring right wing voters to flock to the polls in anger? Are any of our top candidates willing to compromise and go for the VP spot, and to state that publicly, before the Democratic Primary? The top contenders in the polls so far are Clinton followed by Obama and Edwards, with Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson and Christopher Dodd clumped together behind. Is Sen. Obama willing to acknowledge that he could win the Democratic nomination but his well-known inexperience will cost Democrats the presidency for another four years? Would Edwards win if he teamed up with another solid Democrat like Obama or Richardson who'll bring skills and voters to the table? Most importantly, are any of the candidates willing to do what's right and team up before the Primary in order to help us consolidate votes? In the spirit of Molly Ivins, let's try something different this time.
Newt
Discuss this online here or at http://www.dailykos.com/sto ryonly/2007/11/28/162114/27
KEYWORDS: Democratic Primary, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama
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