Edwards was my "pragmatic compromise" choice. That's what pisses me off.

Don't get me wrong. The more I was exposed to Edwards, the more enthusisatic I beccame about him, as a person, a candidate and as a possible president. He's great -- much better than I had thought.

But I saw Edwards as that elusive "electable, pragmatic mainstream candidate" that progressives and liberals are always told to look for. The work-within-the-system candidate, in contrast to third party or other politically counterproductive stretagies.

My ideal candidates would be a Bernie Sanders/Paul Wellstone type of progressive.

Kucinich is the existing candidate I always lined up most closely with on those issues compasses. But I realized he would not go far in presidential politics because of his personal quirks.

Edwards was my choice in the current field, even though I realized that ultimately, he would probably not be as totally progressive as I might prefer.

I allowed myself to become enthusiastic. And the contrast between his honesty about the SYSTEMIC imbalances between Big Corporate Power and social/economic justice injected a much-needed dose of reality into the campaigns.

But even he was crushed by the combination of Big Political Money, the myopia and biases of the MSM, the entrenched stagnant worldview of the Democrat Elites, and the uninformed electorate (not stupid -- just not having access to information beyond shallow celebrity political coverage).

So, it's time to compromise on the compromise and root for Obama with a mix of hope and dread.....Hope because I do believe he "gets it" on some level, and he is a break from the stagnant status quo. Better than a lesser of evils.....But dread because he doesn't go far enough in the direction of acknowledging the total imbalance of Wealth and Power in this country, and he seems more centrist than an advocate of real progressive populist reform.

to helping the disenfranchised gain power and a voice in Chicago. He didn't get into law to make money, he did it to help people. He has a true spirit of wanting to serve the people.

But I fear the institutional enforcement of ignorance on so much of the voting public.

"institutional enforcement of ignorance"


Pretty much sums up what the entire tone of MSm political coverage is.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4285825

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4286520

And the beat goes on...

And Kucinich was a compromise of sorts for me, too far to the right, compared to me. Now I have no one to support.