A Democrat in the White House in 2008? -- It's really up to you! [View All]

[Totally Committed]

Originally I posted most of the following in a thread about the possibility of there being a "Democrat" elected to the White House in 2008. Of course, it got me thinking, so I thought I'd post here as its own thread, so that any or all of you could comment on it.

You see, it is my opinion that no matter who wins, we will have a "Republican" in the WH. As it looks now, a DLC "Democrat" will probably get the nomination if nothing else happens, if no one else enters the race.

As usual, David Sirota plays the role of canary in the coal-mine in this excellent posting from yesterday:

Democrats Kiss Up to K Street
Democrats who were sent to Congress in the tide-turning election of 2006 are selling out the economic populism that got them elected in the first place.

By David Sirota, In These Times

Excerpt:

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) provides a good example of dishonest graft. In 1993, Emanuel was the Clinton administration aide charged with ramming NAFTA through Congress "over the dead bodies" of labor and environmental groups, as American Express's CEO cheered at the time. Emanuel orchestrated weekly meetings with K Street lobbyists to strategize about how to pressure Democratic lawmakers. Emanuel went on to cash in as an investment banker, raking in roughly $16 million over a two-year period. From his Wall Street perch in 2000, he published a scathing Wall Street Journal op-ed demanding Congress pass the China free trade deal --another K Street-backed goodie that has helped keep American wages stagnating in the face of skyrocketing corporate profits, and is now projected to destroy at least 1 million American jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Just two years after grossly outspending an opponent to buy an Illinois congressional seat, Emanuel was appointed to the House Ways and Means Committee, the panel that oversees trade policy and that helped corporate lobbyists ram NAFTA through back in 1993. Emanuel also was appointed head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which ran millions of dollars worth of ads trumpeting Democrats anti-corruption platform, and which supported the scores of Democrats running against the very lobbyist-written trade policies Emanuel has based his political career on.

Now, with Emanuel as Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, we see dishonest graft kick into high gear. The same day as the press conference, a group of House Democrats wrote a formal letter to Emanuel demanding he hold a Democratic Caucus meeting to discuss the secret trade negotiations going on between a handful of Democrats and the White House. That letter, according to The Hill, was "rebuffed" even though, again, it was Emanuel's DCCC that aggressively supported Democrats 2006 fair trade candidates. No meeting occurred, and instead Democratic leaders held their press conference, announcing a secret trade deal that, like NAFTA, is strongly backed by K Street lobbyists, but opposed by organized labor, environmental groups, health care groups and grassroots Democrats. Meanwhile, when Emanuel was asked by the Politico's Jeff Patch for details about why Democrats were now backing off their promises to reform lobbying laws so as to prevent Abramoff-style abuse, he did his best Dick Cheney impression, telling the reporter, "Why don't you go fuck yourself."

Running a campaign against corruption, against lobbyist-written trade policies and for lobbying reform, and then using the power granted by voters based on that campaign to engage in corruption,Êpass lobbyist-written trade pacts and reject the most minimal lobbying reforms -- all in exchange for campaign contributions -- is Plunkitt's very definition of dishonest graft. It is "political looting" and it is the result of a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party by Big Money interests.

http://www.alternet.org/story/56093

While this is only ONE example of the DLC way of doing things, it is truly indicative of the entire "beast", I believe. So, it won't matter, you see. Whether it is a Republican President or a DLC President that is "elected" in 2008....

:graybox: There will still be no universal (i.e. single-payer, not-for-profit) healthcare.

:graybox: We will still be entrenched in the Middle East, with permanent bases in Iraq. The War for Oil will continue.

:graybox: The fight against Global Warming will remain piecemeal, and up to what the corporations feel they can do without damaging their bottom lines.

:graybox: Inner-city schools will still be allowed to crumble to the ground around the poorest kids' ears.

:graybox: AIPAC will still have a major over-riding say in our foreign policy decisions.

:graybox: There will still be no meaningful Election Reform.

:graybox: The disparity between the very rich and the very poor will still continue unabated.

:graybox: The "War on Terror" will still be a staple used to keep the populace under control.

:graybox: Black men will continue to dominate the prison population.

:graybox: The "War on Drugs" will continue unabated.

:graybox: Africa will continue to languish in bloody genocidal war and abject poverty without very much help from us.

:graybox: AIDS, Cancer, and even the Common Cold will continue to go uncured, while the price of healthcare and prescription Drugs skyrocket.

:graybox: Lobbyists, special Interests, Corporations, and rich people will still matter more than any of us ever will to those we continue to elect.

:graybox: GLBT men and women will still be fighting for the right to marry for love.

:graybox: And the beat will go on and on and on.


And, that's no matter WHO wins now, UNLESS someone who has not already declared tosses his hat into the ring. This candidate will not be "perfect". He will hold some views (past and present) that not all of us can agree with. But he will have been prescient on so much, and spoken of late so bravely and openly against all of the above that we will be crazy not to nominate him. I see no hope for this Party and this country, otherwise. This is our last election -- our last chance -- to turn this corporatist march to the Right by our Party around. The corporatist element of this Party has to be marginalized, and a way around their Big Money "friends" has got to be found if this Party is to survive.

Again, this is only my opinion, but it is one dearly heald and fervently believed.


TC