"I happen to believe that that's what we need now is a broad citizens' movement that demands accountability from Washington, demands a different standard of behavior, and I hope that we can sort of break with the fights of the past and have a turning of the page, if you will, for our nation and for the world, and I think Barack Obama offers the best opportunity to do that. May I say, I think any Democrat offers a better opportunity than what the Republican field offers, and I will fight for whoever wins the nomination, and try to help a Democrat win."
That's pretty powerful. Not only powerful, but right. And not just the part about Obama.
Senator Kerry spoke with Ed Schultz yesterday about his endorsement of Barack Obama, about his qualifications, and about the need for his particular style of leadership at this moment.
Listen here:
"I think that what impresses me is he has a sort of combined experience, if you will, of being not just the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, and declining to go to Wall Street or some law firm and make a lot of money, but rather go back to Chicago and be a street organizer, and then, you know, teach at law school and become a partner in a law firm, and be a civil rights lawyer and so forth, but he's also had eight years in the legislature before coming to the United States Senate, which in fact gives him a longer legislative period of time than either of his other two principal opponents. Mixed in with the rest of his life. And I think that it's important, in my judgment, to have somebody at this point who can help take America out to the world with a different sense of the possible, in our country and elsewhere in the world. And I think the power of that message to me, is enormously important to bridging the divide with the third world, with the religious extremism that we see in the world and so forth. We need to summon new moral authority to that challenge, and I think he can do that."
Both in the interview on Stephanopoulos on Sunday and on the Ed Schultz Show yesterday, Sen. Kerry offered a strong and positive message about a candidate whose combined vision and experience brought the Senator to make his endorsement. But that's not all. In both interviews, he stressed a confidence in all the Democratic candidates, noting that any one would be a better President than any in the Republican field of candidates. And that brings me to the point of this post.
There's something both very good and very bad about primary season. In this one, lately, there's been a lot of the something very bad.
In primary elections, people pick their favorite candidate. In a presidential race, people choose the person they feel will be the best President, hopefully based on his or her position on the issues and ability to lead. And because we live in a country that cherishes that freedom to choose, we can proclaim our choice openly. Everyone has that right. Even U.S. Senators.
What occurs in the primaries is that people who are used to playing for the same team are rooting for different players, and they sometimes forget the big picture. They forget, in their zeal to support their candidate, that there's a greater goal. Because the ultimate objective is to win 'The Big One', and kneecapping the other players and their supporters by name calling and misrepresenting their positions or their past practically guarantees your team will play at a disadvantage.
That's a very bad strategy.
In the video, Senator Kerry explains his choice, and also notes that it's not a slight of any other candidate. It's both a sincere endorsement of Barack Obama and a statement of support for the other potential nominees. Alternatively, a campaign staffer in the video goes negative, which is not helpful to his candidate or to our chances of winning the general election. The use of the words 'failed' and 'failing' aren't just a cheap shot at two very good people, but also a slap at those of us who work very hard to support them, and that's something that can come back to bite you. It's also something many of us are guilty of, and it's not easy to control in the heat of the primary battle. But it's important to try.
That's not to suggest, of course, that we, as candidate supporters, ignore personal attacks. We all learned the importance of quashing that sort of thing early and often from the swiftboat lies in 2004. But there's a right way and a wrong way to counter them, and returning one personal attack with another only does damage in the end. Because if you go negative on your own team, one of two things will happen. Either your guy wins and you don't have the full support of your primary opponents' backers, or the other guy wins, and you end up bitter and resentful and not much help when it's time for to play for all the marbles. Either way, you end up risking the worst possible outcome: four more years of a Republican president.
Over the past couple days, there's been some back and forth between the Obama and Clinton campaigns. The two have called for a truce, and it's time we all do the same. If we stick with the truth, and if we focus on the facts and issues, there will be a Democrat in the White House this time next year.
