First off, in the interest of good sportsmanship: Congrats to the Obama team on their remarkable victory. At the local Dem meet-up tonight, we Edwards people and the Obama people chatted each other up and things were smooth, 100% cordial and we even did some inspired (and not-so-inspired) bar-hopping to boot. Just some discussions about policy differences and plans, exactly as it should be.
Now, on why JRE is staying in the race, and why we as supporters agree that he should-- indeed, must-- stay in. For practical reasons and coalition-building blocs, it might be prudent to focus on certain demographic subgroups where he's been strong (esp. retirees/senior citizens with a Social Security/Medicare focus, women, working class voters), but John's progressive message is crucial for all people in this nation, and he's probably the most electable, truly national candidate we have. A friend of mine put this in her message as well as anyone I heard tonight:
"Take heart, Team Edwards! The media had all but written John off only a couple weeks ago, he was projected to be in the single digits and moribund, instead he got nearly 20% of the vote, won many demographic segments and most importantly, collected delegates. Only 5 states so far, and John is very much in the running. The debates are the great equalizers since all candidates get prominent face time, and John has a special flair that attracts undecided voters and makes him come across as a nice consensus alternative. He's very much still in the running!
Besides this though, John has a unique, critical practical role that we need for 2008. He is the one candidate who has stood up most forcefully for working Americans against the corporate elite, which has made him Public Enemy #1 in the eyes of the fat cats who bribe the government to kowtow to their interests. Which makes him all the more dependent on our donations! Without John's voice, the progressive core of the Democratic Party itself would just shrivel away.
With John still in the race collecting delegates, he becomes more than just a power broker who would go into the convention and potentially be decisive in picking the nominee-- or even becoming the nominee himself! He gains real power to ensure that the Democratic Party platform stays true to its Progressive roots. John, in other words, is fighting for the very heart of what our party means.
Our country has been slipping into a distressing state lately, a country in which war is glorified and corporate masters call the shots. Most of you can easily recognize the magic word to describe this state of affairs: fascism. And Edwards is one of the few bulwarks we have in power to fight against it.
Many of my close friends and acquaintances have become so disillusioned with what the USA has become, that a number of us are planning to emigrate or have even done so. We Gen-Yers do love our country just like other generations, but we love what America is supposed to be, not a proto-fascist mini-state that happens to carry the name of "America." If our French is half-decent, or if we have a grandparent who hailed from Italy or Sweden or Germany-- well, let's just say that many of us have considered alternative options for places of residence. But it's people like John Edwards who still provide us with the faint rays of hope that our country really can be saved and changed for the better. Edwards' candidacy, his toughness, his persistence, the fact that he
will never be a quitter and continues to fight, and the fact that he is racking up enough delegates to continue standing up for us-- it's the one thing still keeping many of us here, because it tells us that we have an advocate in high places who has the guts to fight for the progressive heart of our nation."
She speaks for a lot of us but no matter where we come from, it's more important now than ever to rally behind our candidate. Despite the bile spewed from the pens of jerks like Charles Krauthammer--
http://tinyurl.com/yweha9 (just pushing up the blood pressure of losers like Krauthammer is reason enough for Edwards to stay fighting strong)-- the rank and file of the Democratic Party and the nation know what Edwards is about, and he has a broad favorability rating amongst voters of many different stripes. When we back Edwards, we're not only backing someone with the right message, we're supporting a smart candidate with broad appeal.
As written in an earlier post, the Edwards campaign has to be smart here, focus on bread-and-butter issues and focus on demographic groups in which John has been performing best: Namely, senior citizens and retirees with concerns about Social Security as well as Medicare and Medicaid, women, Latinos, working-class voters and union members.
But more than anything else, those of us with Team Edwards have to keep the morale high, continue donating, work the phones, send out direct mail and above all, stump on the ground and at rallies for our candidate. The voice of Progressivism will not be silenced here, and it's up to us to make sure it's heard!
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
