Being Who You Are
How many times has it been said that we’re all better off if we just be ourselves?
How many young crushes are broken by the advice that if someone doesn’t want you for who you are, then that person isn’t the right one for you?
How hard a lesson is that to learn?
I recently spent some time perusing the list of Democratic Presidential candidates for the upcoming 2004 primary season. I noticed the candidates who are smooth and polished, and those who aren’t so smooth or polished. I saw the distinct line that really separates candidates like Dennis Kucinich, Al Sharpton, and Howard Dean from candidates like Dick Gephardt, John Kerry, and Joe Lieberman. It struck me as odd. In a time when the Democrats desperately need to distinguish themselves from their Republican counterparts, they seem bent on favoring the donkeys that most closely resemble elephants.
I have heard many explanations for this phenomenon. The one that irks me most is the one that contends “we could never win if we fielded a died-in-the-wool liberal.” The real mystery is how the party that should embrace liberalism has now become a place where “liberal” is a bad word. It seems to me that the core of the Democratic Party is made up of liberals, or if you prefer, progressives. (—It really does sound more proactive, doesn’t it?) So why do so many Democrats fear backing the donkey that actually looks like a donkey?
Perhaps it really is more about winning than it is about what happens when you win. I can’t stomach hearing another Democratic operative being deployed to a cable news show to tell us how different “President Gore” would have been from President Bush. No doubt there would have been a few nuances to set them apart. But let’s face reality, aside from his party affiliation and his headmaster charm, I can’t imagine how he would have substantively differed from President Bush. I have a hard time believing he would have been significantly better on many traditional Democratic issues. On the key issue of labor alone, he was supportive of such damaging campaigns as the ones for both NAFTA and the WTO. And he always has been lukewarm on other issues, like women’s rights and corporate responsibility. I can’t help but notice that the Teamsters recently gave away their endorsement to Dick Gephardt, someone almost as conservative as Gore (—I only would have been more disappointed if they had picked Lieberman).
The question is, when will the Democratic Party shed its inhibitions and admit what it wants to be? It can either cling proudly to its own clear set of principles, or it can continue to faintly mirror the more brazen, but no more palatable, ambitions of the Republican Party.
This identity crisis is one major reason why many progressive-minded voters have chosen to register as independents or greens. It’s not a majority, mind you; but it is a significant group. And as long as Democrats insist on showing one face to the core party members, and another face to the outside world, this group will continue growing.
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