Vote Your Brain, Not Your Heart 
We want change, that's a given. But if Democrats, Independents & progressives want to win the 2008 presidency and, more importantly, achieve a landslide takeover of Congress, Democrats need a candidate that can beat anyone the GOP comes up. In addition to being able to win, our candidate needs to be one who won't stir up the vindictive passions of conservatives. Why? Because conservatives are in the minority, yet they continually out-vote progressives when they're angry, fearful or spiteful. Even with the ongoing Iraq quagmire and recent lying, cheating and stealing firmly tied to the Bush Administration and its policies (CIA outing, war profiteering and record oil profits), 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 some kind of badge of honor. At least two of our current 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 real 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.
Hillary Clinton is the GOP's best Get Out The Vote strategy in 2008. Obama's a close second.
We can get mad about what elected Republicans have done to our country in the past seven 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 is easily portrayed to "Middle America" as the worse thing that could happen to our country.
For that matter, plenty of people would vote against Barack Obama simply because he's black or because they think he's Muslim even though he claims he's a Christian. Even Muslims believe Obama is Muslim because his father was and that automatically makes him one too. While we should not dismiss his prospects just because racism and voter ignorance stand in his way, we can and should be realistic about what Republicans and conservatives will do to beat him. Even his name will be used against him: Barack Hussein Obama. Whew. I can hear the pundits and right wing talk show manipulators already.
Savvy voters need to take a step back to look at the big picture.
It's time for progressives to face reality: A Primary win for either Obama or Clinton will likely result in a huge loss next fall. Yes, I'm inspired when I hear Obama speak, and I'd love to see a woman President in my lifetime. But this year we have the unprecedented opportunity to fire all the Bush-policy rubber-stamping & obstructionist Republicans in the U.S. 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 elected as Prez. Instead, let's vote for someone who can actually beat anything the GOP offers up in 2008. John Edwards is the only Democrat who can win when paired against each of the Republican candidates, according to surveys last month. If we end up with an "Anybody but Hillary" race next fall, or if Obama can't shake free of his name, childhood school experiences and racism, we'll end up with yet another Republican president, or at the least, lost opportunities in the Senate. Is Sen. Obama willing to acknowledge that he could win the Democratic nomination but his well-known inexperience and the fear of terrorism will cost Democrats the presidency for another four years? Would he admit that his ethnic heritage would be an unacknowledged GOTV inspiration for racists who would otherwise sit out the election? Could John Edwards win the Democratic nomination if either Obama or Clinton teamed up with him and brought their skills and voters to the table?
My heart yearns for change, and my brain tells me neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton can win.
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."1 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, if we know in advance what the plan is and if Edwards commits to a running mate before the end of the Primaries. Oprah/Obama can you hear me? Maybe it's time to tell Clinton and Obama that we'll support them, but only if they're willing to run for VP. Email them, call them, tell them to do what's right for America. In the spirit of Molly Ivins, let's try something different this time.
Comments open. Behave.
Newt
KEYWORDS: 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Hussein Obama, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton
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