Democrats test themes of community, purpose for `06 and `08

[Thom Little]

To hear Democrats tell it, an anxious and isolated public craves a sense of national community and would galvanize behind a leader who asks people to sacrifice for the greater good. John Edwards says he's that leader. Wait a minute, so does Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. Ditto for Virginia Gov. Mark Warner. Edwards, Vilsack and Warner, all likely presidential candidates in 2008, are toying with the same lofty community-and-purpose message. And that says as much about the sour mood of the country as it does about the state of the Democratic Party.

"There is a hunger in America, a hunger for a sense of national community, a hunger for something big and important and inspirational that they all can be involved in," Edwards, the party's 2004 vice presidential nominee, told delegates at a weekend convention of Florida Democrats.

"Americans don't want to believe that they are out there on an island all alone," the former North Carolina senator said.

This is not a new theme. As first lady, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York wrote, "It Takes a Village," a book arguing that a community is an important part of a child's development. Her husband, President Clinton, tried to create a sense of national purpose when he asked Americans to help "build a bridge to the 21st century."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NC_DEMOCRATS_ONE_COMMUNITY_NCOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-11-13-16-39

[formernaderite]

1. great...another crappy strategy...

I dont' want to feel community with about 50% of the voting public. I would like to hear real policy differences, that might even attract the other 50% of this country that doesn't even bother to vote.