Barack Obama has chalked up a resounding victory with some truely impressive, populist stats that reach beyond race, sex, and party affilitation, while John Edwards has secured second place, slightly ahead of Hillary Clinton.
Progressive Democrats Win! Iowa wins too, with record participation in their caucus!
So, it's victory for many of us, but what about five days from now in New Hampshire? Hillary Clinton is several points ahead in the latest polls, and due to New Hampshire primary rules, Independents and disillusioned Republicans won't be able to help either Obama or Edwards chalk up another progressive victory.
Hi, I'm Mark Kraft, a progressive Democrat who supports Barack Obama -- Gore, sadly, didn't enter the race this time around -- but who is not affiliated with any political campaign or organization.
I created this blog to share my thoughts with you -- and ideally allow you to share your thoughts with all of us -- about how I believe that we, as Democrats, as independents, as disillusioned Republicans, as Libertarians, and, infact, as Americans, need change and real reform.
I believe the best, most certain guarantee for us to obtain that change is for all of us to demand the one likely ticket available to us that can beat deficit spending, dollar deflating Republicans (you disillusioned Republicans and "I'm goddamn mad..." independents out there know which people I am talking about), beat the "special interest lovin', partisan politics as usual" Democrats, and elect the most honest yet electable candidates available to us.
After last night, I feel pretty sure that America needs Barack Obama and John Edwards. Are they perfect? No. But they are the best shot we have.
Because several of the upcoming primaries require voters to register as Democrats in advance, Barack Obama is going to need John Edwards supporters to come on board as soon as possible if he's going to beat Hillary Clinton... no two ways about it. If Edwards cannot climb in the polls PDQ -- ideally before New Hampshire -- I believe that he should do his constituents and the issues he believes in a favor, and gracefully bow out of the race, endorsing Barack Obama as the most likely candidate to bring change to this country.
If, however, Edwards stays in the race too long, there is a risk that he could find himself the Ralph Nader of 2008, splitting the Democratic reformists and giving us a series of Hillary Clinton victories, followed by an ugly national election, four to eight years of partisan squabbling, stonewalling, mudslinging, backbiting, scandals and gridlock... until, most likely, the next deficit spending, dollar deflating Republican steps up to the plate and does their level best to wipe out what's left of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the American middle class.
None of us can afford this. As Ben Franklin once said, "We must all hang together... else, we shall most assuredly hang seperately."
It's time to start talking about how we're going to make Obama / Edwards a reality, and to unite progressives -- and all those Independents and Republicans out there who hate politics as usual, or just plain love the U.S. Constitution -- behind the kind of populist platform that would be good for the entire country.
We're *ALL* Americans. We're all facing a bunch of the same obvious problems -- out of control healthcare costs that's killing us years ahead of schedule, the need for clean, efficient energy independence, a restoration of our Constitutional rights, an end to budget-busting foriegn occupations -- and we all need real solutions for them.
And we all need an electable President and Vice President who isn't beholden to special interests and politics as usual, who can reach out and build political consensus, and who, with any luck, just might do something about the problems our nation faces.
Given the rules of the game, Obama / Edwards is our best bet. The best bet for Democrats, Independents, Republicans, Libertarians... for Americans... to bring about meaningful change in this country.
We should start a discussion, and I want you all to be a part of it. If you have a blog, please throw a link my way, take part in the discussions, and start talking about Obama/Edwards. I'm also willing to accept submissions from others to post in this journal, and plan on reposting some of the best, most insightful comments and links to the main page.
So... let's get going already!
2 comments:
testtest
It works, vino!
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