It was the most heavily scripted, carefully choreographed
Democratic convention I can remember. The signs, the chants, the singing,
dancing delegates; all were made for TV, though TV, for the most part, was
ignoring them.
But I’ll tell you what: there were exquisitely inspiring
speeches, and genuinely emotional moments. There were times when you felt as if
the Democratic Party was returning to its roots.
And the convention, I think, did what had to be done if
John Kerry is to be elected president in November.
Certainly there were disappointments. Big ones. The
convention was long on vague, militaristic “strength” talk and short on
specifics about how the Democrats will deal with key issues. And it was
woefully short on talk about one of the most serious problems facing the
country today: the crisis in America’s cities. The poverty, the economic
decline, the wasteland in public education will affect America’s health, well-being,
and international competitiveness for decades. No president, no Congress, can
move the country forward without addressing that crisis.
Kerry himself engaged in blatant pandering, promising a
middle-class tax cut when nobody, in this economy, with this war, with this
deficit, can promise that responsibly. And why, why could Kerry not bring
himself to express sorrow and regret over his vote to go to war in Iraq?
Then there was the ostracizing of liberals and the
unsuccessful presidential candidates of the past, scheduling Ted Kennedy out of
prime time, limiting Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, and George McGovern —
capable, courageous men — to a brief wave from the convention floor.
The Democratic Party, of course, is spooked. Many of its
core constituents — regardless of their opinion of Kerry and Edwards — are
so determined to oust Bush that they’ll overlook or swallow a lot. Kerry
doesn’t have to convert them.
There are, obviously, liberals who can’t stomach Kerry’s
moderation and waffling and will vote for Ralph Nader. They have convinced
themselves that there is little difference between Kerry and Bush. They
overlook little things like right-wing control of the Supreme Court, US
corporations’ capture of the vice presidency, and the appointment of a fanatic
to the office of the attorney general.
But none of the other Democratic candidates besides Dennis
Kucinich would have satisfied those voters. And rightly or wrongly, Dennis
Kucinich could not have been elected. We liberals have a lot of work to do
educating voters that we are the path to a strong America. Republicans have
turned liberalism into a dirty word, and ensuring the re-election of George
Bush in order to “send a message” to Democratic leaders will not change that.
The Democratic Party’s challenge now is to keep the
convention delegates as passionate and pumped up as they were in Boston. And if
the Kerry campaign is smart, it will also rely on some of its greatest
resources — the speakers, youthful and aging, women and men, from the
convention. Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, Al Sharpton, Louise
Slaughter, Max Cleland, Ted Kennedy: send ’em out across the country, to preach
the truth and inspire the nation as they inspired the convention.
What a state!
Well, we should have known, yes? The minimum-wage campaign
just went too well, the votes in the state legislature were just too lop-sided
for this to have been real.
That there was any vote at all by this do-nothing
legislature at the taily-tail end of a particularly do-nothing session was a
tip-off. We should have seen it coming.
Big money, not grassroots movements, controls things in
Albany. We should have seen this coming.
And so as the workers in the broad campaign for a modest
increase in the minimum wage were celebrating a victory, the governor was
announcing his veto. Oh, he supports raising the minimum wage; he just wants to
feds to do it.
And what about all those Republicans who at last saw the
light and voted for the increase? Surely they’ll support an override, right?
In a pig’s eye.
The fix was in from the start. You know it, and I know it.
This is an election year, and voting for the minimum-wage bill gave some state
legislators some cover. And Pataki did what they all intended to do in the first
place. He snuffed the bill out. And everybody’s a hero.
Shame. Shame.
This article appears in Aug 4-10, 2004.
