MARK WARNER FOR PRESIDENT
my frontrunner so far.
It's early yet -- more than 27 months early, in
fact -- but I am prepared right now to offer my (qualified) endorsement for the
presidential nomination of the Democratic Party to former Virginia Governor Mark
Warner.
I have a lot more to learn about him -- I plan to start today -- and Lord knows he has plenty of time to disappoint and dispirit and flat-out disgust me like all of his party's presumptive, pre-emptive, pre-annointed nominees have long already done. But this little piece, posted over the weekend on Slate.com, gives me more reasons to like him, to listen to him, and hell, even to love him than I do all the Democratic frontrunners combined. He wants to frame a campaign not so much about red versus blue but the future versus the past. He believes that Democrats lost the White House and, worse still, lost touch with voters when they started to be more advocates for certain groups than for America writ large. He speaks uncomfortable truths about the strategy and machinery of his own party, suggesting that people are not going to take a look at a Democratic Party that is us against them, class warfare, '70s populism. And he suggests that Democrats need to get past angry to win, even as he's not afraid to differentiate himself from, and even to take a good, dead-on shot at, the guy who makes the Democrats so darned angry: I am interested in learning. I am willing to admit a mistake, and I have a tremendous curiosity. That already makes me different than this president.
Yes, it does, Mark. Yes, it does. It also makes you different from every pre-determined pretender of a pre-fabbed, Democratic contender out there. And so for now, until you do or say or show me something to lose it, or until some Democrat comes along with more straight talk and common sense and clear insight than you've so-far shown -- and, really, what are the odds of that? -- you have my proud support in 2008.
That's a long time away. But as you know all too well, we've got a long way to go.
I have a lot more to learn about him -- I plan to start today -- and Lord knows he has plenty of time to disappoint and dispirit and flat-out disgust me like all of his party's presumptive, pre-emptive, pre-annointed nominees have long already done. But this little piece, posted over the weekend on Slate.com, gives me more reasons to like him, to listen to him, and hell, even to love him than I do all the Democratic frontrunners combined. He wants to frame a campaign not so much about red versus blue but the future versus the past. He believes that Democrats lost the White House and, worse still, lost touch with voters when they started to be more advocates for certain groups than for America writ large. He speaks uncomfortable truths about the strategy and machinery of his own party, suggesting that people are not going to take a look at a Democratic Party that is us against them, class warfare, '70s populism. And he suggests that Democrats need to get past angry to win, even as he's not afraid to differentiate himself from, and even to take a good, dead-on shot at, the guy who makes the Democrats so darned angry: I am interested in learning. I am willing to admit a mistake, and I have a tremendous curiosity. That already makes me different than this president.
Yes, it does, Mark. Yes, it does. It also makes you different from every pre-determined pretender of a pre-fabbed, Democratic contender out there. And so for now, until you do or say or show me something to lose it, or until some Democrat comes along with more straight talk and common sense and clear insight than you've so-far shown -- and, really, what are the odds of that? -- you have my proud support in 2008.
That's a long time away. But as you know all too well, we've got a long way to go.
Posted: Mon - July 17, 2006 at 01:13 PM
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