The Third Eye: Any Standard-Bearers Emerging?

Now, that we seem to be heading down the fast track to the mid-terms, I think it's pretty fair that we do a mid-term assessment of aspiring dem candidates. It should be stated that we are in a political kind of limbo because it is too early for serious democrats to show their faces much less their muscle...but then again, if you don't prepare early how can you hope to organize a serious counteroffensive to a much better entrenched Republican Party that has all its characters in place?

What is truly amazing is the chutzpah of these Republicans who stick their necks out and assert that they represent my interests. Like Hell you do! But nobody responds very much so they keep at it practicing the art of self delusion. But is it self-delusion? There is still a large part of the population that buys into their terrorism arguments, their phony, self serving religiosity, their "us" vs. "them" propaganda.

In the end, I don't voice much hope for seriousness to intrude into the debate; in fact, I am hard pressed to figure out whether there will be a debate or we will continue to proceed with all the negatives that the Republican's wear like a cloak of armor into the election, and in a nod to their agility, turn them around into anti-dem arguments.

In the meantime, a few democrats seem to be sticking a toe into the water. While Hillary, for the most part, considered the most likely standard bearer, has gone off talking about burning the flag, a safe issue if there ever was one, after Gore's attack on Bush, she managed to say that this was the worst administration in history and that the government is run like a "plantation" which seemed to stir up all kinds of reaction in Foggy Bottom.

I wonder what would happen is she really said what was on her mind? Or if she is likely to demonstrate the courage we truly need in a winning candidate. I’ve taken Molly Ivins stand and have put her way back on the burner.

Kerry, a seemingly decent sort of chap, was still sounding very Stevensonian by not being able to elucidate in a few short words his position on the war; Joe Biden, an announced candidate, was talking more about himself than his political positions which are still mostly in his head except for the fact that he does not want to issue a timetable for withdrawal; and perhaps Edwards, who since the election has been hard at work on poverty issues, seems a tad too soft, too nice to take on the heavy-lifting.

Regardless of what you think of the candidates, what we have to go on is their words. And their words have been mostly low voltage except for perhaps Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi who are not planning to run and the indefatigable Barbara Boxer who has managed to stay in touch and keep a high profile with her Internet base.

Whether she intends to go beyond her present role has not as yet been revealed and so it is highly speculative to discuss Ms. Boxer relative to those candidates who are most likely to consider a run in 08. Added to the above list, discussion needs to focus on the brightest of dark horses, the former governor of Virginia who is shaping up nicely but seems to push us more and more towards a party that accepts a religious tone and hunkers more to the right of moderate republicanism. For many of us who stand in the middle or more to the left and still haven’t gotten over Clinton’s Party shift to the right, , any more right-wards shifts are going to cause us to look to the grass-roots, the Green Party or perhaps a democratic version of the Bull-Moose party.

The ex-governor has sounded as if his ambitions are moving him on a fast track to the candidacy. Yet, many of his detractors, including Donna Brazille whom I have mixed feelings about anyway considering how she screwed up Gore’s campaign, suggest that he is so much raw material and requires a lot of shaping to be considered a serious candidate. In the interviews I saw I was inclined to agree with her but I think he is a fast-study and he may actually run neck and neck for the prize.

In the meantime, while the other prospective candidates have been pussyfooting around, only one candidate has articulated the most important issues facing the people during this election: honesty and democracy. That candidate is Al Gore, who it seems has been reborn as a more aggressive democrat who is inclined to get it all off his chest. And he has a pretty big chest not to mention, a long memory. Nevertheless, this is not just text; it's serious and contentious issues that have not been addressed.

According to Al, there is sufficient grounds for taking an investigation all the way. And he seems to be winning support with his well written and articulated speeches that leave no doubt where he is headed.

Nontheless, among the people I've talked to on the Internet, only a very few are willing to let bygones be bygones or allow him to seize the standard for a run in 2006 and perhaps that's not quite fair inasmuch as it does not admit that a tarnished Gore, with all the mistakes that were made--many not his own fault but pure indicators of bad judgment--is capable of change and redemption! But, mostly, deserving of another shot at the title…

Therefore, from this perspective, it still seems like a wide open ball game. It is pretty well suspected that in 08, the Republicans will have a very popular candidate who has not been tainted by corruption or greed--somebody like Rice or the esteemed Senator from Arizona, McCain, who me reminds me of the ape who typed the first paragraph of his bio very coherently and spend the next 99 chapters turning our gibberish. . Noticeably, the Republicans with their advantage in sophisticated money raising and communications will hold democrats toes to the fire re their seeming distaste over war and our own failure to jump and down in our antiterrorism "name calling" which smacks in their eyes of anti-Americanism. Of course, all of this me somewhat agog, and is a convenient expedient for ignoring all of their own misdeeds ranging from incompetence to corruption; nevertheless, it will still be hard to field a candidate who can elucidate a well thought platform that engages the rank and file--on whom democrats are dependent if we expect a win in 2008.

More and more, it seems that we, the voters of the Internet are raising the bar while our representatives are practicing their own invisible version of the Limbo…

Les Aaron