Burnt Orange Report

Now More Than Ever? I Agree

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I have waited for a couple of days before posting my thoughts on Iowa here. I wanted to see what others outside of the Iowa operation thought, and what the feelings were of other Dean supporters. I have done my looking and listening and I am thoroughly ashamed by what I see, even here on this blog, and I intend to get to that in just a moment.

Over this break, I was in New Hampshire. I was in Iowa. I experienced the campaign as a volunteer and later as the Fort Dodge, Iowa Storm Center captain. I would give up nothing, absolutely nothing to lose the experiences I was a part of these last two weeks.

I went because of the Dean campaign, not because of my natural interest in politics. I didn’t think that volunteering for the caucus, for any state operation was something that normal people could do, and I am not alone in that thinking. I saw people excited and in awe when it finally hit them that they we ordinary citizens truly can have a voice again in what has become of our democracy. We need this. Democracy needs this. The future needs this and I believe we have reached a critical point in our history that requires us to take part in this type awakening.

Since when has over 3,000 Americans coming together because they feel like they can make a difference once again, been something we can dismiss, even if their guy didn’t win first? Since when has bringing people back into the process and truly being powered by the grassroots been something to overlook?

I don’t know how much energy I would have left for some of these other Democrats because I am not simply anti-Bush, but pro-Dean at this point. A lot of people are as well, and these are people new to the process, new to politics. If we lose the Dean campaign, I feel that we are losing something much more than a candidate, we are losing the inspiration that has called to the other half of America.

Change is what helped Democrats come back in 1992. But now we are in 2004 and we need to change again because the last four years have shown us that old-politics alone hasn’t given us much. Our party has so much potential if only it would be willing to risk change. That is what should make us stronger than Republicans, the ability to accept new ideas. Deep in all our hearts, we know that type of America we want to see in the future. We cannot get there if we keep compromising ourselves.

Simply being against someone as Democrats will get us nowhere. Being for someone and what they stand up for and what they believe in… yes, that takes commitment and no, it is not easy, but it something that we can respect.

Now, to those who have posted about their teeter-tottering support for Dean because of Iowa-

It is my opinion that they have trouble standing up for what they believe in and why they were for Dean in the first place. It is my opinion that they have let themselves be swayed and influenced by the media, one of the very things that Dean’s campaign of change has focused on. It is my opinion that some have let the thinking of old-politics claim victory to the very purpose that has differentiated this campaign, this movement from the others.

Think outside of the box. What all has changed?

Do you think that Kerry will be able to escape the pigeon-holing of yet another elitist, Ted Kennedy, Massachusetts Liberal by the GOP? No number of motorcycle rides, pheasant shooting, or guitar playing has been, or will be able to kill that one. Outside of New Hampshire, where is he supposed to win considering his Iowa win was a last minute consolidation of resources and concentration on old-politics structure? Those non-existent volunteers are not going to help this party. We cannot afford to pay people $100 a day to phone bank which is what was happening in Iowa, honest to God. Has Iowa changed that?

Is John Edwards our savior? He may be a charming young man but his win was only because everyone ignored him and he benefited from Gephardt’s suicide run that drug Dean right down with him. Will this war-voting, Patriot Act-authoring, public finance limiting, son of a mill worker even have enough money to keep winning primaries after February 3? Remember, any nominee will have to last until late July before cash comes back. And Texans, remember that good old frivolous lawsuit limiting Proposition 12? Did you listen to the State of the Union? Combine that Republican issue with a multi-millionaire lawyer, turned politician with an Al Gore-esque populism, once again lacking the people part of the power to the people equation… Has Iowa changed that?

General Clark, probably the man I can somewhat admire because he has that something called grassroots support, might not even see the light of day now that Dean, Kerry, and Edwards are all still in the picture after his Iowa skipping. But he too succumbed to insider top-down campaign management when he had the opportunity to let the grassroots have a larger voice. He has done a wonderful job at mimicking the Dean campaign and would be my choice should Dean never had entered the race. But Dean did enter the race and is by all means very much quite in it still. Iowa hasn’t changed that.

So, in conclusion, I have to say that while I was in disbelief, I was depressed, and I was upset- I am not jumping ship because I believe in something bigger than Howard Dean. It is in our most critical hour of need that we, as a campaign and as Americans (because we are more than just Democrats anymore) remember why we got into all this in the first place and stand by our man and what we have built together.