Maybe Someday...

In response to a message from Paul Berendt which quoted an article from the Nation dated 12/28/04, I wrote the following email. I was offended by the article the first time I saw it, and still more so when it was forwarded by my Party Chair. I guess you could say it got my dander up.

Subject: Fwd: Maybe someday, if the Democrats really want to win the presidency, they will nominate someone like Christine Gregoire.

I read this article and disagree with it rather strongly! If the point is that, in a state which hasn't elected a Republican Governor in 20 years - a state which is generally more inclined to vote Democrat than Republican, Christine Gregoire squandered a compelling lead and required two recounts to squeak by, then I fail to see how such a candidate could possibly win the presidency. In fact, I would further submit that John Kerry was almost exactly that kind of candidate.

John Kerry was the clear choice of the Democratic leadership, the mainstream (mostly Republican owned and operated) media and, in my humble opinion, the Republican leadership as well. At the Feb. 7 caucus, his "electability" was the main reason I heard put forward for supporting him rather than other, more passionate, hard-charging candidates. That he was ultimately unable to unseat the worst President in many years, if not ever, clearly reflects his inadequacies as a candidate.

John Nichols said, "...Gregoire had one thing going for her, and that was her determination to win." I would submit that she had at least two other things working in her favor. One is that the law was on her side, and the other is that Washington is, for the most part, a blue state. I would add to that the large number of grassroots workers brought into the fray by the above-mentioned passionate, hard-charging candidates.

I appreciate that Chris stayed in to the end and did not concede precipitously as Kerry did. But, given the closeness of the race here in Washington, she would have had to be even more spineless than Kerry not to have done so.

To give John Kerry his due, he did provide a significant chunk of money (from his left-over multi-million dollar campaign fund) in support of Washington's recount. Also, he has made some gestures of support to the Ohio recount effort, if somewhat weak in my opinion.

I am glad Christine Gregoire will be our next Governor, if only because it means Dino Rossi won't. But I don't have high hopes for any kind of real progressive leadership from her. Unfortunately, I fear Rossi will now set his sights on a Senate seat and the party faithful will once again find themselves in the uncomfortable position of supporting a candidate who voted for the war resolution, among other bad Republican bills.

In case it isn't clear from my comments above, I believe it is time for the Democratic Party to stop playing patty-cake with Republicans. It is time to stop trying to "be like Mike" and start standing up for the progressive values that are at the core of what most of us want to work for. Staying with the recount process all the way through is a step in the right direction. But let's not get too excited. There is still a long, steep road to recovery ahead of us, with many unpleasant bumps along the way.

(Though I copied my email directly to Mr. Berendt's email address, I have, as yet, received no reply.)