Arianna: Kerry! Don't give in to the call of the MILD!

[Terwilliger]

http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/021104.html

MEMO TO JOHN KERRY: HEED NOT THE CALL OF THE MILD

Arianna Huffington

The most intriguing passion in play these days is not whether Mel Gibson's
controversial "The Passion of the Christ" will do miraculously at the box
office when it opens on Ash Wednesday (My prophecy: It will). No the real
wild card is what is going to happen to "The Passion of the Deaniacs" once
their leader's campaign closes.

Despite Dean's sensational crash-and-burn, the grassroots movement that
sprung up around him remains intact and still desperate to move toward its
stated goal: removing Bush, remaking the Democratic Party and, indeed,
remaking America.

"We need to keep building the movement," Joe Trippi, who helped birth it,
told me, "so that it's not tied to any one personality. Anger toward
George Bush brought this movement together, but its mission is bigger than
changing presidents."

More than 1,000 activist groups were spawned by the Good Doctor, and many
of them are still hard at it, organizing, e-mailing, blogging and
Meetup-ing, looking to take the energy and enthusiasm the Dean campaign
unleashed and turn it into a permanent political force.

The question that should be on the minds of the newly invigorated red meat
Democrats is: Will John Kerry be able to attract these grassroots
advocates to his campaign, or will they scatter to the wind, never to
return (like the John McCain faithful, MIA since the 2000 South Carolina
GOP primary)?

Assuming the current campaign trajectory continues, Kerry should have a
Brahmin death grip on the Democratic nomination long before the Ides of
March is upon us. At which point, he's going to hear an iPod's worth of
siren songs all warning him that he needs to rein in his newly fiery
populist rhetoric for fear of scaring off Wall Street or soccer moms or
NASCAR dads or those elusive DLC Dems.

But the real kiss of death would be to heed this call of the mild.

Instead of dusting off the Democratic Party's tried-and-untrue swing-voter
strategy - remember 2002? - Kerry needs to become the pied piper of the
discontented, the disillusioned, the disenfranchised and the millions who
have stopped believing that politics is the way to make a difference in
the world.


<snip>

http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/021104.html

[MoonAndSun]

1. Arianna has a good grasp of what Kerry must do to keep the energized

Dem base, but I am not confident that he will be able or even want to do it, IMHO

[Terwilliger]

3. I know it

he has bigger loyalties to the money and the status quo

[ShimokitaJer]

4. I think you're right

But it's not that he isn't able... it's definitely that he doesn't want to do it.

Kerry has as much to gain as anyone by keeping the Democratic party status quo, but claiming the lead position for himself. At the same time, charting a new course as Dean and his followers have done is an uncertain course.

Prediction: Kerry will be more of the same as a president, just as he's been more of the same as a candidate

[jmoss]

6. If we choose Kerry instead of Edwards

..we're ALL missing the big picture. John Edwards has been so successful because his campaign has been able to pull independents out to the polls. He jumped from 2% to 15% in NH b/c of this. He jumped from 12% to 30% in Missori because of this.

Look everyone: It's great for unity among hard-core Dem's that folks are falling in line behind Kerry. But last time I checked, Al Gore carried virtually NO States among NC, SC, FL, and the ENTIRE mid-west. We need a fresh, positive voice as our candidate. Face it, he's much sharper & presidential "looking" than JK. Petty, though it is, that's how many people (I've spoken to them in many States) decide to vote.

Now I'm not by any means suggesting that the well-informed folks who frequent DU are shallow like this, but we need to stand behind someone, John Edwards specifically, who will be able to bring undecideds, repub's, and simply MORE democrats from around our heartland, OUT TO THE POLLS for us. If they're the slightest bit opposed to GW, or are hard-core ABB, they'll have very little qualms about supporting Edwards for President.

I have been volunteering for his campaign when I'm not in the classroom teaching my 5th/6th graders, and THIS is the message I've gotten.

Much of the Kerry phenomenon is media hype+plus+people not wanting their vote to go for not, by pulling the lever for someone else.

We need Edwards. we need to win States that Gore couldn't win--NOT just focus on the hoop-la of how well JK has done in States where DEM's already have the edge.

[DjTj]

10. Thanks for your hard work.

We're still in this and the work you put in on the ground will earn Edwards way more votes than you ever could get here at DU.

Glad to have you aboard though, the Edwards camp is a cozy little crowd here.

[dawn]

2. She's right on.

I don't think Kerry will listen. But he should. Why pander to the corporations? Why would Wall Street vote for him over Bush?

[ibegurpard]

5. One problem with this

I'd never buy it coming from Kerry.

[killbotfactory]

7. "Boooorn to be miiiiii-iiild!"

Don't rock the boat, baby.

[HFishbine]

9. Good one! Here's another.

The bland leading the blind.

[Armstead]

8. Kick for Arianna

[jpgray]

11. I believed this activist base would win him primaries, but it hasn't

Why hasn't it? If the system is the problem, I somehow doubt a Republican dominated government on all three branches would do a better job than a Democratic. Better the status quo than more active reworking to deny leftist values.

[Moderator]

12. Terwilliger

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
news source.


Thank you

DU Moderator