Thoughts on the Kucinich and Kerry campaigns . . .

Deep Blade Journal has a stirring post on Dennis Kucinich's speech to the Maine Democratic Convention over the weekend, complete with links to video of his inspiring address. (Deep Blade has just updated his site and the links are still a bit funky. So the one I'm providing here is for the blog, not the specific post. You may have to scroll down if he adds more between now and your visit).

DB is less enthusiastic about John Kerry, who addressed the convention via audio link but did not attend in person. My take is slightly different than his. I am a Kucinich supporter and have been since early on (I started out supporting Dean because I wanted to amplify his sound, but as soon as Dennis' campaign became visible I made the switch). His positions are expressions of the shift from a hierarchical to wholistic paradigm that I believe can usher in a New Age of Enlightment for the 21st century.

But that doesn't mean I find the way John Kerry has approached this campaign so far uninspiring. I see him defining his leadership style in part as that of a public servant who's duty is to create the political space in which our democratic form of government can thrive. His low-key, some might complain too-low-key, campaign has denied his opponent's campaign fuel and consequently forced it to burn its own. I call that smart. At the same time, instead of sucking in all the political oxygen for his own campaign, Kerry's present tactics allow enough breathing space for Dennis -- and, yes, for Nader -- to keep getting their messages across.

Think about it. In 2000 progressive critiques was barely heard. In fact, Al Gore, to his discredit, aligned himself with his party's decision to ban Nader's participation in debates. What Nader proved then is that, in spite of mainstream efforts to silence him, voters were willing to make the extra effort demanded to seek him out and give him their support.

As you can probably tell, I don't hold Nader responsible for Gore having lost the race. I think he served as a megaphone for the progressive voice in the Democratic Party that has been drowned out much to long. Kucinich and the Progressive Caucus have helped keep that voice alive; Nader helped it to be heard. And Howard Dean heard it and synthesized it with the DP's more recent moderate positions, thus helping insinuate progressive values early on into the primary debate.

To tell the truth, I've felt for a long time that these folks have a strategy, have a plan and we've been watchng the unfolding. Think back on the primaries and how many variations on Democratic themes got heard. Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly generous, I'm even willing to consider that Holy Joe has played his role. For what have his conservative pronouncements demonstated but that the vast majority of Democratic aren't interested in hearing that.

Al Gore, to his great credit, gave a magnificent speech just yesterday in which he contextualized the damage done to America's reputation and her spirit by the current incompetent and corrupt administration. In it he had this to say the Kerry campaign:

In my opinion, John Kerry is dealing with this unfolding tragedy in an impressive and extremely responsible way. Our nation's best interest lies in having a new president who can turn a new page, sweep clean with a new broom, and take office on January 20th of next year with the ability to make a fresh assessment of exactly what our nation's strategic position is as of the time the reigns of power are finally wrested from the group of incompetents that created this catastrophe.

Kerry should not tie his own hands by offering overly specific, detailed proposals concerning a situation that is rapidly changing and unfortunately, rapidly deteriorating, but should rather preserve his, and our country's, options, to retrieve our national honor as soon as this long national nightmare is over.

Clearly Al Gore and I are on the same page, and for the first time in a long time, most of the Democratic Party appears to be, too. Let's not bash Kerry for being the kind of leader who respects his colleagues and the electorate enough to invite us to think creatively about the difficult problems that we face. And listens to us when we do . . .