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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumLincoln Chafee's Swan Song Worth a Listen: "We can have Prosperity through Peace"
Governor Lincoln Chafee announced today he is withdrawing from the 2016 Democratic Presidential race during a speech delivered at the 22nd Annual National Issues Conference of the Womens Leadership Forum.
text of Governor Chafees speech:
Once again it is a pleasure to join so many Democrats including my fellow candidates who are so dedicated to keeping the presidency and winning back the House and the Senate. We all know that the Republican agenda sets back womens rights and I pledge all my energy towards a big 2016 victory for Democrats across the country.
We have a winning message of building a strong middle class, investing in education and infrastructure, extending health coverage to more and more Americans, granting a path to citizenship to those who have lived in the shadows for too long, accepting the science of climate change and having the leadership to cut back on our fossil fuel consumption with sound policy, We defend our civil liberties and womens reproductive freedoms, respect the rights of our L-G-B-T friends, understand that black lives matter and that we need to do more for Native Americans. And you can be sure that Democrats will make good appointments to the Supreme Court, something this country needs and deserves.
As you know I have been campaigning on a platform of Prosperity Through Peace. But after much thought I have decided to end my campaign for president today. I would like to take this opportunity one last time to advocate for a chance be given to peace.
Since today is all about womens leadership it reminds me of one of my favorite Greek plays; Lysistrata, a comedy from about 400 BCE by Aristophanes. In that play, a group of women, fed up with the war mongering of their husbands, agree to withhold their favors until peace returns. And it worked!
Anyway, lets talk about the present.
Studies show that women tend to lead differently than men, in that women are more likely to be collaborative and team oriented. It is undeniable the benefits women provide to the pursuit of peace.
When I was a senator, a general from the Pentagon testified before the Foreign Relations Committee on global military powers. I asked him who was second to the U.S. in military might? He thought for a bit and said, probably the U.K. Yes that was a few years ago but the point remains true: no real rival to the United States exists when it comes to total weaponry and deployment potential.
We make Virginia class submarines in Rhode Island and Ive been on an overnight patrol. What a phenomenal piece of technology and craftsmanship a machine bristling with the most advanced power imaginable. Submarines are just one instrument in our staggeringly efficient arsenal of war. And yet we are sinking ever deeper and deeper into an endless morass in the Middle East and North Africa. People keep dying, and peace seems further and further away. Its evident that all this military power isnt working for us right now.
Let me share a story from DaNang, Viet Nam. DaNang that city has so many memories for my generation. But just this summer, former Viet Cong and ex-American G.I.s were laughing, eating, drinking and celebrating the Fourth of July together. The article quoted Pete Peterson, a former Air Force pilot who spent six and a half years in a Hanoi prison camp after he was shot down. Later he served as Ambassador to Viet Nam in the 1990s.
He said now Viet Nam and the United States have so much in common. After all the death and devastation during that horrible war, why did we do it, he was asked. He said, I have thought about this for a long time. Im convinced that the war could have been averted had we made the effort to understand the politics of the place. had we made the effort to understand the politics of the place.
Ladies and gentleman, from what Ive heard none of the Republicans running for president want to understand anything about the Middle East and North Africa . Instead they prefer to espouse more bellicosity, more saber rattling and more blind macho posturing.
When I hear all their tough talk I have déjà vu about the evil Viet Cong. We should be different. Democrats should insist on learning from the lessons of Viet Nam. It all could have been averted.
Now, Im not saying that all countries are right in any particular thing they do. We must hold them accountable, but we cant do that if we dont hold ourselves accountable and change our entire paradigm.
The United States of America is so strong militarily, economically and culturally that we can take chances for peace. In fact, as a strong mature world leader, we must take chances for peace. If we have courage, if we take risks, we can have Prosperity through Peace, not just in the United States, but all over the world.
Do we want to be remembered as a bomber of weddings and hospitals? Or do we want to be remembered as Peacemakers, as pioneers of a more harmonious world?
If American war veterans and Vietcong fighters can laugh together on the Fourth of July, then I know so too can Iranians and Israelis, Shias and Sunnis, Turks and Kurds.
A wise man, President Eisenhower counseled us that only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry could ensure the meshing of both security and liberty. It is up to you as women, as citizens, and as humans to demand from your leaders an end to the endless wars and the beginning of a new era for the United States and humanity.
Thank You! Go Democrats in 2016!
read: http://wtnh.com/2015/10/23/vague-tweet-by-chafee-sparks-campaign-speculation/
watch: http://www.c-span.org/video/?328919-1/presidential-candidates-dnc-womens-leadership-forum#
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Lincoln Chafee's Swan Song Worth a Listen: "We can have Prosperity through Peace" (Original Post)
bigtree
Oct 2015
OP
He is such a decent man. I am sorry he is leaving the campaign. His ideas are good ones, he has
sabrina 1
Oct 2015
#2
His ideas on Social Security were NOT good. I agreed with most of his other priorities but his prior
Attorney in Texas
Oct 2015
#5
FSogol
(45,466 posts)1. Chafee is a good person. He'd make an excellent cabinet appointee. n/t
...in any Democratic administration.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)2. He is such a decent man. I am sorry he is leaving the campaign. His ideas are good ones, he has
courage to vote the right way even when it went against his party.
His explanation of his first important vote sounded a bit weak in the debate, however he was not responsible for the deregulation of Wall St.
There goes my third choice.
Attorney in Texas
(3,373 posts)5. His ideas on Social Security were NOT good. I agreed with most of his other priorities but his prior
comments about the need to privatize Social Security were definitely worrisome.
in_cog_ni_to
(41,600 posts)4. The only Reoublican I ever liked - when he was a Republican.
He's a good man and we all know how rare those are in Washington.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)8. I liked Governor Winthrop Rockefeller of Arkansas
That was back in the late '60s/early '70s, when the state was trying to extricate itself from the Orval Faubus (Little Rock Central High crisis) era.