Dancing with Dean, Coming Home to Kucinich

http://www.opednews.com/dinan0104_dean_kucinich.htm

Dancing with Dean, Coming Home to Kucinich
by Stephen Dinan OpEdNews.Com

A pervasive illusion has been dissolved this week, creating an opportunity for a powerful step forward. It's an illusion that has gone under the banner of "electability" - rational people assessing which candidate has the best chance of beating Bush. Underneath the surface debate, there's another truth, driven more by fear and emotion than an accurate appraisal of the landscape. People have been afraid that, in order to defeat a colossal bully, we need an even more macho fighter in our corner. And thus a lot of very well-meaning people propelled Dean to the foreground, believing his fire, attitude and military-like campaign would prove a clear match for the other, much nastier bully. A natural, very human instinct.

Round 1 is over. The unstoppable, win-win-win bluster of our favored tough guy detonated back on him. The Iowa voters, in the end, decided they didn't really fancy it. The tough guy warfare ended up taking Dean down a notch and made him the laughingstock of talk radio everywhere with the "Dean Scream." Gephardt went down with him as Democrats proved again that our status as fighters is NOT our highest priority or value. Would Dean meet the same fate when slugging it out with Bush, who does, after all, have a bigger warchest and the incumbent's advantage? Trading punch for punch with him may not be the winning strategy since the potential for backfire is enormous.

As the illusion of "we need the toughest guy to win" dissolves, many Dean supporters are looking around, wondering if it is time to get behind someone else. Is the damage already irreparable? I've watched this development with a mixture of compassion and hope. Compassion because I know that Dean stands for a lot of positive things and that the feeding frenzy now descending upon him runs the risk of obscuring the extraordinary ways that he has already galvanized positive change. But also hope, because I see a real opportunity for the party as a whole to take off its blinders and see that a slug-fest with Bush may not be the best strategy in 2004.

Creating a winning alternative to Bush is about honoring and celebrating the very virtues that are at the core of the Democrat party and the large mass of progressives who no longer identify with it. It is a philosophy of hope and progress. It is a bold, leading forward into our future. Republicans rule by fear, Democrats lead with hope. Conservatives cling to the past, progressives lean into the future. The visionary torch of the future is what we need more than a burly fighter.

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http://www.opednews.com/dinan0104_dean_kucinich.htm

"I submit that the candidate who has the MOST viable platform on which to stand to defeat Bush is Dennis Kucinich"
would've spared 5 minutes of my time. I thought the title was a mistake...

very much. Thanks, I just sent the author an e mail. Good find.

I guess I better go repost this in P & C because here it seems to sink like a rock. Maybe it isn't negative enough in tone to inspire.

I will give it a mighty DK KICK!

When quite a few of your policy positions are no different than what we currently have(i.e. NAFTA, military budget, death penalty, guns, Health Insurance, pro-occupation of Iraq), I really find it difficult to locate the 'alternative'.

TWL

Dems may use hope, but they need conviction to persuade people.