It all started in September of 1946. Paul Robeson -- actor, singer and all-around Renaissance man -- tried to persuade President Harry Truman (a Democrat) to pursue anti-lynching legislation. Truman claimed the time wasn't right for such legislation because it'd offend members of Congress from the Deep South!
Imagine scales on a balance: On the one hand, you have the tortured souls of blacks being lynched for glancing at a white woman ... On the other hand, you have the fragile egos of a bunch of Dixiecrats who never missed a meal or had to light a candle because the power went out. Which demographic is more important?
Flash forward four decades. To counteract the Reverend Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, Al From founded the Democratic Leadership Council. The D.L.C.'s purpose is to make sure an entity as powerful as the Democratic Party never nominates a presidential candidate that's actually left-wing. This isn't surprising given that, according to Wikipedia, "the D.L.C. has received funding from the right-wing Bradley Foundation as well as from oil companies, military contractors and various Fortune 500 companies."
In 1988, Jesse Jackson was passed over for Michael Dukakis, who climbed into a tank wearing an army helmet two-sizes-too-big in order to a) ensure those military contractors that their MC Hammer mansions would be safe from taxation, and b) satiate the bloodlust of suburbanites who watched Red Dawn once too often. Dukakis lost.
In 1992, Jerry Brown ran on a platform which would've benefited the poor/oppressed and even promised that Jackson would've been his choice for vice president. Instead, Bill Clinton was chosen -- he won, but the poor/oppressed lost. From the "don't ask, don't tell" compromise to the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996 ... From denying Haitian refugees asylum to the economic sanctions that killed a million women and children in Iraq, we the people were shown time and time again where the name "Slick Willie" came from.
In 2000 and 2004, the D.L.C. propped up Al Gore and John Kerry. Insofar as Gore goes, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now said it best, "Many continue to believe that the election was thrown to George W. Bush by Ralph Nader, who got about 97,000 votes in Florida. Ten times that number of Floridians are prevented from voting at all." Except when the Congressional Black Caucus tried to protest what happened in Florida, not one senator backed them up and neither did Gore.
Insofar as Kerry goes, Reuters reported that, "Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said on Monday [August 9th, 2004] he would have voted for the Congressional resolution authorizing force against Iraq even if he had known then no weapons of mass destruction would be found." This means Kerry was so gung ho, he didn't even need to be lied to by the Bush administration -- does that sound like a man of the people to you?
Well, Gore and Kerry lost, and rather than learn its lesson, the D.L.C. figured, "Let's have yet another Faustian/Machiavellian candidate, but this time, let them be female or a non-white -- that way, we'll con those who'd otherwise vote for Nader into 'thinking' the Democratic party has swung left, but we'll still have someone willing to play the game." Which brings us to the present.
As of this writing, it looks as though Barack Obama might wind up the nominee, but this is NOT a triumph of Black Power. On the contrary, this overrated pretty boy has ...
1) voted for the 2006 version of the Patriot Act
2) voted for the Secure Fence Act, authorizing the construction of a 700 mile wall along the Mexican/American border
3) stated he won't rule out invading Iran
4) stated that he'd enter Pakistan in order to attack al-Qaeda even without Pakistani approval
5) praised Ronald (SIX letters) Wilson (SIX letters) Reagan (SIX letters)!
"But Saab, Dennis Kucinich is too short and ugly for America's tastes!" And since Obama's cute and comes off like JFK, he should be tapped? That's no different than hiring a receptionist solely because she looks like Dolly Parton. Besides, if advertising made a star out of a worthless hack like Britney Spears, imagine what it could do for Kucinich!
"But Saab, Obama has to play 'Trojan Horse' so that ignorant patriots will vote for him!" So deception is the answer? Even if Obama's a closet radical, which he AIN'T, how do you suppose all those good ol' boys are going to feel when they realize their asses have been duped? Honesty is the best policy; these rednecks must be educated, NOT placated.
I will NOT be blackmailed by the D.L.C. with threats of the apocalypse. Unlike all too many, I'm NOT so desperate for a Democrat to win the White House that I'll accept any Tom, Dick or Harry. Maybe if a Republican wins this fall, the D.L.C. will finally learn to nominate an actual left-winger. If Satan was the Democratic nominee, would you vote for HIM? I'd rather vote for Nader or one of the third party eco-commies than sell my soul.
SOURCES:
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1203-15.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Leadership_Council
http://www.socialistworker.org/2003-2/460/460_08_Clinton.shtml
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/76340/
http://www.michaelmoore.com/warroom/f911notes/
http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/381249%7Ctop%7C08-09-2004::17:46%7Creuters.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Barack_Obama
... THERE'S A STALKER ALERT IN EFFECT ...
http://www.saablofton.org/announcement.html
... I REPEAT, THERE'S A STALKER ALERT IN EFFECT ...