Reply #202: Good observations

[karynnj]

I came at 2008 from a very different perspective than most here. After 2004, I found DU, which I had heard of in 2004, but far preferred the Kerry blog. I was stunned at the anger towards Kerry - not understanding the history of DU. I found the Kerry group and posted for the first time after a few months. (initially I was both too shy and too reserved to post much anywhere - something that radically changed.) Getting to know many of the group personally from various trips we made to see the senator speak, I also learned far more about 2004 as I met some people who were volunteers on the Kerry blog.

There was no question who I wanted in 2008 - John Kerry. After he opted not to run, I looked at the other candidates.

Given the weird lack of support by Clinton allies in 2004 and the completely selfish publishing of Bill Clinton's book - with a long book tour in July 2004 - when we really did not need to relive the Monica saga and finding the reason was "because I could" and Clinton's berating those lefties questioning Bush's handling of the war (which was precisely what our nominee was doing.), there was no way I wanted them rewarded with Hillary getting the Presidency. Added to that, there was Hillary calling Kerry "inappropriate" because he skipped a word in a joke. This was accepting the RW smear that Kerry said something negative about the troops. The troops, that he actually had worked for getting better rights and benefits as veterans since 1970 (before he protested the war.) This moved me from not liking the Clintons to detesting both. (This was especially obnoxious as it was Kerry who defended Clinton in 1992 after he moved from one lie to another on how he was not drafted. Something which Kerry had the credit to do - and which upset some vets who respected him. - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=5197294 Kerry's heartfelt eloquent speech is worth reading)

I ruled out Edwards emotionally because of the lies he told about 2004 - and the gratuitous snipes Elizabeth made in her book and interviews to describe Teresa in negative terms and the Kerrys as elite, unlike the regular folks Edwards. (They had been millionaires since at least their early 30s - nowhere near as rich as Teresa though, but far richer than Kerry until he married Teresa.) Intellectually, I ruled him out because he had already reinvented himself twice - from his Senate record to his run in 2004, where he was one of the more conservative Democrats to the liberal 2008 Edwards. I also couldn't buy getting $500,000 for 2 to 3 days work a month for a Hedge Fund, doing whatever he thought useful as "learning about poverty" I also took some clue from Kerry saying nice things about Obama, Dodd, Biden, and Clinton when asked - and never bringing up Edwards. (I admired the Kerrys keeping their silence.)

I eliminated Richardson because of his hanky panky with the 2004 NM vote - where a few Native American reservations registered O votes for Kerry - and very few for Bush. They did vote for all other positions. At least one of them were visited by Ted Kennedy (who they loved) and Kerry's daughter, Vanessa. What was reported was that some state wide determining of Democratic delegates to the state convention was based on how many Democratic Presidential votes were cast in 2004. Kerry was close to Bush, but lost NM. Although it is true that Kerry would still have lost had Native American votes been counted, the fact that Richardson demaned a huge amount of money for a recount - then quickly cleaned the machines made him unacceptable - and that he ran partially on ending election fraud was sheer chutzpah.

I watched both Dodd and Biden on the talk shows - desperately wanting to be impressed. Dodd had a good liberal record (family leave etc and the mortgage stuff was not out yet), but although I really wanted to be impressed - I wasn't. I was unimpressed by Biden's way of chairing the SFRC, but thought he was ok on the talk shows. I knew the many accomplishments he had, but I also remembered how bad he was as a Kerry surrogate (even though it was clear he was close to Kerry - his problem was that he would always speak of himself) I have been very pleasantly surprised with him as VP.

So, I was left with Obama and possibly Biden, with the reservations stated. Biden never picked up any traction. The choice became Clinton/Edwards/Obama - I picked Obama by sheer process of elimination. I was impressed with his convention speech. I also saw that compared to Clinton, he was somewhat to the left.

There were two things that made me not that excited. One, he voted against Kerry/Feingold - then 6 months later adopted a position that was essentially K/F except with a 16 month instead of 12 month timeline - he further shifted it in office. I suspected that he voted out of expediency with the party leadership and some of what he said bought into the lies about what Kerry actually proposed. The other thing - which is very little remembered - is that when Kerry and Kennedy led the filbuster against Alito - and Kerry, in particular was ridiculed and trashed by Democrats as well as Republicans, Obama on a talk show the week was not positive about filibustering. (He and Clinton did ultimately vote for the filibuster, but had they and others, like Schumer who now says HE should have led a filibuster, did some early heavy lifting - instead of talking against it - who knows if it would have gained momentum. )

In the campaign, he was very vague on many things - and I suspect that over 2008, once he had Kerry as a surrogate, I thought his positions more liberal than they were. I suspect that it was because I saw him as closer to Kerry than he really was. MY fault not his.