i have, for some time, been extremely critical of the Democratic Party for failing to show any leadership on the Iraq issue ... i think what the Party has done is not only bad policy but bad politics as well ...
i have decried the failure by the Party to represent what is now an increasing majority of Americans ... it's just plain crazy ... where is the majority to turn to for representation? you know the old saying "if the people lead, the leaders will follow"? guess that's wrong ...
and criticisms of the Party result in all sorts of infighting here on DU ... well, it's nice to be joined in my criticism by someone as prestigious as Gary Hart ...
here's an excerpt from an article he wrote in today's Huffington Post as a tribute, a great tribute, to Cindy Sheehan:
source:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0815-28.htmIf democracy only works when there is open discussion of opposing ideas and policies, and if the opposition party, in this case the Democrats, has hand-cuffed, blind-folded, gagged, and hog-tied itself to a failed invasion and occupation in the Middle East, where will the expanding majority of Americans look for a representative, a spokesperson, a voice for their anger, frustration, and distrust at being misled?
The circumstances suggest it should be a Senate or House Democratic leader, a recognized authority on foreign policy constantly seen on the Sunday talk shows, certainly one of the many “leaders” lining up to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2008.
Strangely, no one in any of those categories comes to mind. Their voices are silent. Thus, both they and the party they claim or presume to represent look dumbstruck, awkward, pitiful, and timid. Where the single greatest issue of the day, and one of the most potent issues of our time, is concerned, there is no courageous opposition.
Meanwhile, the caskets keep coming home…with no public official to greet them or to respect them. They are the forgotten dead and they represent thousands more of the even more forgotten wounded.
more ...