To think a decorated war hero lost to a draft-dodger. But I guess that isn’t news, Bill Clinton beat George Herbert Walker Bush too.
Dubya stays in office for four more years. John Kerry just couldn’t do it, he couldn’t win the electoral votes, he couldn’t win the popular vote. This election wasn’t stolen, the majority of voters got what they wanted fair and square. But the question all Democrats have to ask is “what should we do in 2008?”
In 2008 Bush will be a lame-duck and the GOP will field a new candidate. Who will that be? Nobody expects VP Dick Cheney to run. Most likely someone like Rudy Giuliani will run; someone popular that can catch the imagination of the right.
Who would the Democrats field against someone like Giuliani? Hillary Clinton? No way, there aren’t any Republicans that would vote for her (Chelsea Clinton would get more votes from Republicans) and as this election shows you need to capture the spirit of both the left and right to win decisively. John Kerry again? I don’t think so, he couldn’t win against Dubya, I don’t think he would stand a chance against Giuliani. Tom Daschle? No way, he just got voted out of office. Howard Dean? Nope, too far to the left for conservatives to sway their votes. Al Gore? Ah…I don’t know if he wants to go through that again plus he couldn’t win against Dubya either.
What the Dems need is someone who is a moderate to win votes from both sides, someone of stature, charisma with the credentials. Bill Clinton was a moderate and a popular president, at least until that whole cigar incident.
Barack Obama? Nope, too green, he’s a rising star but I don’t think he will be ready in four years though he may come the closest. In other words the Dems don’t have anyone to go up against the GOP machine.
So that’s what I mean, there is nobody in the Democratic party close enough to the center to win the election so I have an idea. You need to think outside the box. If we can’t move to the center from the left why not move to the center from the right? The GOP machine will probably take the 2008 campaign from what I can see at this early stage. If we want a moderate politician closer to the center maybe we should throw our weight behind someone from the GOP.
I mean, the GOP doesn’t like someone like John McCain, one of the more moderate Republicans. Yeah, Giuliani is also somewhat a moderate in the party as is the Governator Aaaaarnold (but he can’t run according to the law, he’s a foreigner). Should we throw in the towel as Democrats and re-shape Washington from the right? If the GOP decides to start throwing weight to some hard-core, right-wing republican it might be our only choice.
Of course in Hawaii you don’t need to declare your party. You go into the primary and choose your party in secret as it should be if it’s truly supposed to be a secret ballot. You could be a flaming liberal and pull a GOP ballot, or be a diehard conservative and pull a Green Party ballot.
The great thing about Bill Clinton when he ran for office is he reunited Fleetwood Mac. The great thing about Bush and Kerry running for office was that they cured voter apathy. Let’s just hope it sticks.