So we're just under a year away from the election that will either reverse
the dangerous, perilous, and historically reckless course that our nation
has embarked upon via the Bush presidency, or will sentence us to a hard
to fathom four more years of the politics of us vs. them, good vs. evil,
our way or the highway, rich vs. poor, corporations vs. workers and the environment,
health care vs. profit margins, etc, etc, etc.
The travesty in Iraq is but one of the flagrant violations of trust and truth
that this president has engaged in, but it is a revealing one. Every
time something goes wrong there, the rationale for our intervention shifts.
No WMD? It was about regime change and liberating the Iraqis they say.
Continuing killings of U.S. troops, day after day after day? We're
involved in a historic struggle for the advancement of democracy and human
rights they say today. Not surprisingly, faced with adversity, this
administration is simply exporting the culture wars they so ably wage here
at home.
I saw a bumper sticker last night that made me chuckle. It said, "Somewhere
in Texas, a village is missing its idiot." While I laughed for a moment,
my angst lasted much longer, as it has for the last three years in fact.
This man is so much more than an idiot, he is reckless, dogmatic, relentless
in the face of opposition, even if they be reasoned, well-informed and dispassionate,
he is cocksure, and the worst kind of coward, the kind that has no hesitation
to let others do and die in the sort of fighting that he long ago ran away
from. He is more than a divider, he is a daily reminder of the fact
that is completely vital to have leaders in this country, and in this world,
that accept and respect dissent and difference of opinion, that seek out
knowledge, perspective and first-hand information, by themselves, in order
to fulfill their first-hand interest.
But this man seems to have none of that interest, that Sports Illustrated
is the in-flight magazine on Air Force One, and that clearly, he doesn't
need to read, because he gets his information from the most objective of
sources, those on his staff. Makes perfect sense.
I wonder how those brave men and women in Iraq feel about this man, when
their superiors and camera crews aren’t around. I wonder if they wish
that they had comrades from France on their left, and Germany on their right,
and troops from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt on their flanks, able to communicate
with the Iraqi people in their own language. This shouldn’t be fairy-tale
material, it should be a mandatory dictum in modern warfare, if there must
be any, in a region as volatile as the Middle East.
So 400 lives lost in Iraq doesn’t seem like much when you stack it up against
our war dead from Vietnam and from World War II. But this was a war
in which we were promised would eradicate a pending and immediate threat
from an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction arrayed against us.
Not true. This was a war in which we were told that Saddam had an advanced
and sophisticated nuclear weapons program on the doorstep of being able to
wreak havoc on the Middle East and around the world. Not true.
This was a war in which we were repeatedly told that our advancing soldiers
would be greeted as heroes and liberators. Not true. This was
a war in which we were told we enjoyed a vast and diverse coalition of supporting
nations. Not true. Is anyone else doing the fighting, dying and
underwriting of the war in Iraq besides Americans? We are all paying
for this war in our own ways - with loved ones, friends and neighbors,
with our tax dollars, with the fiscal livelihoods of future generations,
and with the good will towards America that exists almost nowhere on the
globe anymore.
This is the kind of leadership that I don’t think our nation can afford another
four years of. So I encourage you to get involved in the campaign of
the eventual Democratic nominee. I don’t know who that will be, or
who I am 100% committed to, but here is an interesting column on the efficacy
of a Dean/Clark ticket:
John
Personal Voices: Showing Bush the Door in 2004
By Allan Hunt Badiner, AlterNet
November 4, 2003
The times call for a paraphrasing of the famous Mary Oliver question from
her poem The Summer Day: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one
wild and precious chance to get Bush out of the White House?"
As any informed person knows, the Bush regime is vulnerable on many fronts:
the unprecedented national debt, the never-ending war in Iraq, the erosion
of our civil liberties, etc. But perhaps the most insidious thing about this
administration has been its environmental agenda – a true weapon of mass
destruction! The regressive Bush regime is waging a kind of relentless ecological
jihad – lowering the standards for our air, water and land while allowing
corporations (which are obvious Bush campaign contributors) to profit from
the weakened regulations. From the trashing of the Kyoto Accords, to stalling
any action on climate instability, Bush has proved to be not only the most
damaging President to the national interest since Calvin Coolidge, but an
international menace as well.
So my best answer is to send both the Doctor and the General to Washington.
An early '04 announcement of a Howard Dean/Wesley Clark ticket would be a
brilliant move, and it would suddenly free millions of hard-to-raise dollars
to be directed where they should be – against the Bush regime – instead of
being squandered in a protracted fight for the Democratic nomination.
A Dean/Clark ticket unites the two most prominent critics of the Iraq war,
and gives countless millions who have vowed to vote for "anybody but Bush"
a reason to believe he can be beaten. Watching the Democrats attack each
other and waste their money through the primaries and all the way to the
convention is a turn-off to the voting public, a powerful advantage to Bush
and his $200 + million dollar war chest, and a sure strategy for a Democratic
defeat in November. Every day that Lieberman, Braun, Edwards, Kerry, Sharpton,
and the others remain in the race, the Bush regime benefits, as the money
and energy bankrolling these pipedream campaigns is not being spent against
Bush.
The Dean/Clark candidacy is a bold and surprising strategy that will generate
a huge wave of publicity, and elevate Dean from "front-runner-with-major-caveats"
to "it's his to lose" status. Adding Clark to the ticket also gives the Dean
campaign at least a hint of a Southern strategy, as well as comfort to those
who might fear that Dean is too soft on defense. Clark's "New American Patriotism"
emphasizing compassion and service over anger and bombast adds appeal to
those put off by Dean's sharper attacks. Clark also brings considerable foreign
policy experience to the table.
But the notion, circulating in some quarters, that Dean should take the VP
slot on a Clark ticket flies in the face of reason, and common sense. Gov.
Howard Dean has risen like a phoenix from the American electoral ashes. The
Dean momentum has carried him from unknown to front-runner in record time,
and he has quickly amassed more money and volunteer support than has the
entire Democratic Party itself. The grassroots of Dean's campaign are strong
and growing, and endorsements from the biggest union in the AFL-CIO and prominent
figures such as Jesse Jackson Jr. are coming at a steady pace. The big Democratic
money has been betting against him, and it hasn't hurt him at all. Some point
to his Internet strategy as his ace, and while it has been a huge plus, I
suspect it is Dean's unusual ability to convince people he really believes
what he says that gives him the critical edge.
While the General is affable and perhaps even more personally engaging than
the Doctor, Dean represents much more closely (admittedly not perfectly)
the liberal democratic traditions that are at the foundation of the Democratic
Party. It has been reported that Clark would be a Republican if it weren't
for being slighted by Karl Rove. The record might lend credence to that,
with Clark having voted for the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush presidencies. But
Clark isn't alone feeling the country has been betrayed by the man he voted
for, and on several issues, such as "free-trade" and fiscal policies, Clark
may be less conservative than Dean.
There is also the issue of experience in public office. While it may be a
trend in California to elect someone with no previous experience, this does
not often happen in Washington. It's also a stretch to compare Clark's military
background with the heroic dimensions of an Eisenhower. In fact, while taking
Clark onto the Dean ticket has many big advantages, including Clark's early
involvement in the defense and foreign policy areas, it still may challenge
Dean's ability to hit the ground running as President without an experienced
Washington insider at his side.
Nevertheless, General Clark has proved to be an attractive candidate, and
has that independent thinker/fighter spirit that both charms and inspires.
Michael Moore's now famous preannouncement endorsement paints Clark as a
thoughtful, kind, socially liberal, and tolerant character who feels that
guns are for soldiers only. Generation Y'ers, a potentially critical slice
of the voter pie, are also rather keen on the General. Given his impeccable
military credentials, Clark can afford to go out on a limb, and take positions
on policy that defy the usual labels of left or right. Dean may not be able
to win without Clark, but it's equally doubtful Clark can win without Dean.
Finally, the need to remove Bush from the White House is a global imperative,
a kind of revolution in itself. It is a mistake to see this "revolution"
as needing to be squeezed through the Democratic Party system. Dennis Kucinich,
whose policies I resonate with most, would have a far greater impact by dropping
his bid for the nomination, endorsing a Dean/Clark ticket, and taking up
a leadership role in this revolution. It is the global progressive community
working together that should dictate who will be on the ticket, and not the
Democratic Leadership Council, party bosses, pundits, or bankrollers. Vast
resources beyond what is usually available in partisan politics – from new
media to volunteers to large sums of cash – are poised and waiting for the
right ticket to emerge.
A Dean/Clark ticket is the one to beat, and an announcement of it will enthusiastically
unleash the energy and money necessary to accomplish the penultimate goal:
the re-defeat of George W. Bush.
Allan Hunt Badiner is a writer, activist, and editor of three books: 'Dharma
Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology', 'Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism
and Psychedelics,' and 'Mindfulness in the Marketplace: Compassionate Responses
to Consumerism.'
