Goodbye Carol

Posted on January 15, 2004 in Campaign 2004

With not a little sadness, I say goodbye to Carol Mosely Braun, candidate for president. Unlike Gephardt, Kerry, and the other members of the DLC rat pack, Braun talked issues, not Howard Dean.

I endorsed her because she spoke my mind. I felt it was time to put my talk of Affirmative Action to work. All my other “diversity conscious” bloggers threw their support behind one white man or another, dividing along “Do we like or hate Dean?” lines.

In a true Democratic race, Dean and Braun would be the front-runners. But the DLC fears allowing what they call the “activist elite” (read middle and working class Americans) the opportunity to choose the party’s candidate, fearing another “McGovern debacle” which occurred mostly because the proto-DLC elite sat on its hands while Nixon burned Washington.

Carol was rejected early on by many voters who “didn’t think she could win”. I thought this a poor reason for choosing a candidate before and I think it is a poor reason now. I am not about to let Vichy Democrats like Lieberman Gephardt, Kerry, and Edwards make us into the party of Bush “lite”. Whatever you think of Howard Dean, it must be conceded that he has mobilized apathetic voters more effectively than any candidate since FDR.

Vichy Democrats don’t want to win in 2004. They are in the race to collect on old political debts and, perhaps, keep the party warm for Hillary in 2008. I don’t know what they expect to happen to the country with four more years of George W. Bush, but I do see monetary and international relations disasters stalking our peace of mind even now. Braun, Kucinich, and Dean entered the race with a mind to removing George W. Bush from power. That Gephardt, Kerry, and Lieberman remain committed to seizing the nomination testifies to their personal hubris amidst a lack of resolve for real change.

Goodbye Carol. You were a true alternative to George W. Bush.