The real leaders are Sharpton and Kucinich
The following is a letter to the editors of Black Commentator
If Howard Dean is only following Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton (The Black Commentator, Dec. 11, 2003), why should voters follow Howard Dean?
Why wouldn't it be better for America to follow the real leaders – Sharpton and Kucinich?
Dean said nothing in his Dec. 7 South Carolina speech that Kucinich and Sharpton have not said earlier and oftener during this campaign. The only difference is the mainstream media has purposely and blatantly marginalized the Kucinich and Sharpton campaigns (and that of Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun) while at the same time fawning all over Dean as the liberal messiah. For BC to buy into that and now proclaim Dean as the second coming of LBJ just makes the situation worse.
If you carefully read the Dean speech you see skillful rhetorical references to many of the problems in America, but you will find few suggestions for how to solve them. If you read the Dean platform you'll find only half solutions for those problems he does identify: universal health care for some, not all; try to fix an unfixable NAFTA instead of abandoning it; new strings on student loans instead of free public higher education; civil unions in place of true civil rights.
And then there's Iraq. As late as the Dec. 11 ABC debate, Dean was calling for a U.S. occupation that could last two years or more, while Kucinich and Sharpton have been consistent in their demand that the U.S. must abandon its plan to confiscate what's left of the Iraqi economy. Only with the capture of Saddam Hussein has Dean dared join Sharpton and Kucinich in their call to get the U.N. in and the U.S. out.
LBJ may have seen the need for civil rights reform in America, but it was Martin Luther King who recognized that there would be no progress in America as long as there was Viet Nam.
Dean’s speech writers may be able to identify the symptoms of what ails America, but it is Kucinich who pointed out during the Dec. 11 debate that no prescription for a healthy America will work while all of our nation's energy and money is focused on Iraq.
The endorsement of Dean by former Vice President Al Gore, far from being proof that " The DLC-Emeritus has effectively jumped ship," is in effect the second wooing of Dean by the DLC (the first being convincing him to abandon campaign finance reform).
Dean long ago signaled his true nature ("I don't mind being characterized as 'liberal' – I just don't happen to think it's true." "If you want universal health care, I'm not your guy."), yet praises Dean because he "is attempting to get the Democratic Party – and himself – in step."
Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich not only have been in step since day one, they're the ones calling out the cadence. No matter what happens down the road, their path is clear and will not waiver. Should Dean win the Democratic nomination, look for his steps to turn decidedly to the right.
The Dean-Gore platform offers only Band-Aid help to those Americans struggling to better their lives.
The Kucinich-Sharpton vision is a world vision, dedicated to true peace and true prosperity for all.
-David Bright
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