by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

OK, Dean, who was the front runner in the media's eyes obviously never held much sway over the rank and file of the party. He was glitzy and high tech, but most of the party faithful who actually do things like go to caucuses or vote in primary elections are not very high tech. They tend to be older party veterans who wouldn't know a flash-mob if one ran over them. In fact, if anything, being openly cutting edge probably worked against Dr. Dean with this bunch. Now, if the majority of those active in the early primaries etc. were all like Alex Doonesbury, then Dr. Dean, and not John Kerry would be more than 1/4 of the way to the nomination, but they aren't and he isn't.

What now worries me is the tendancy for Democrats to--for want of a better term--carry a grudge: "Well, you rejected my candidate so I'm going to pout." Very often this political pouting takes the form of backing one of the less electible fringe candidates. This year's obvious candidate for that mantle has to be Al Sharpton. Over on Coffeegrounds it was noted that Dean had dropped out and the question posed, as Dean was the preferred choice of one of the "regulars", as to who that "regular" was going to support now. The answer was "Sharpton". Now, I hope that was said jokingly, but the problem is that there are too many Dems who would/will react that way. This we don't need.

What we need is for people to acknowledge that their guy didn't make it, be disappointed but, above all, put the overall party first. Get out and work hard for whoever your fellow Democrats have finally selected to carry the standard. This year, more than ever, the most important thing we will do as Democrats is to remove the present incumbent from the Oval Office. If we can get it together enough to recapture congress, so much the better. By all means, maintain a dialogue within the party. Keep talking about the issues and ideas that matter most to you. Just do not let your advocacy interfere with the party's primary mission: The Defeat of the Republican Incumbent.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005