A Left Turn FOR CLARK examines the role we will be playing in the 2008 presidential election.
Part 1
There’s a phrase that seems much in vogue with political commentators currently; “suck up all the oxygen”, and its almost always preceded by these two names; Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The metaphor sort of implies that Clinton and Obama are “heavy breathers”, but the actually term used to describe them is usually “heavyweights.” The operative theory is that these two supposed political Goliaths will now so dominate the Democratic political terrain between now and the 2008 nominating convention that the resources needed to sustain political life for any other potential 2008 Democratic presidential candidates will be perilously lacking. Perhaps John Edwards can also eke out some sort of meager existence, this theory goes, but everyone else will be sucking wind.
Part 2:
There are a few key factors regarding the 2008 race that conventional wisdom has forgotten, if it ever adequately grasped it to begin with. For example there are personal characteristics that define a genuine netroots candidate, and while those qualities can be mimicked they can not faithfully be manufactured. Stands taken on issues are of course important, but it’s not just what a candidate takes stands on, it is also how a candidate stands for their beliefs, that wins or loses netroots support. If the beltway has a current defining political cliché; “Oxygen in the Room”, then the netroots has one also; “Truth to Power.” Howard Dean wears the mantle of a Truth to Power Democrat, so too does Jim Webb. And so also does Wesley Clark, unlike the other second tier Presidential candidates.
