Summer of (Where's the) Love

With the moving up of major parties' primaries, politics have been brutal this summer. As Joe Biden (who probably shouldn't make jokes about Tulane being underwater) said on the Daily Show last night in reference to Senator Obama's turn in fortune, "It's rough out there." And it is coming within the Dem party and from the right wingers who say things like "Edward's whored his wife's cancer for a fund raising gimmick". Over on the right, similar gesticulations are happening (right, John McCain?).

The politics of dismantling are brutal, but doesn't the average voter see through the strategy? To dismantle Obama, the strategy is to minimize his foreign policy experience; to dismantle Edwards; go after his money (via his haircut); to dismantle Clinton, go after her war votes and on and on. This is all fair game, of course, but when the argument is word choices, it is a hard row to hoe to get anyone to the White House.

And while it may be true that politics have never been rougher, it doesn't mean that a message of hope can't work. Obama has gone a long way on the audacity of it, Clinton seems to do well with her conversations with America, Edwards does best when he's talking about the two America's. And that is where we should push the dialogue.

We have gone through seven of the most hopeless years in our Republic due to the politics of fear as practiced by the Bush regime. No one can argue that we as a nation were hoodwinked into a war which we have protracted because of more fear. We have a Congress (on both sides) that is cynically betting the ranch on the presidential election in 2008.

In my opinion, we have always done our best as a nation when we lead with hope. The sad truth about politics is that it is seen as a blood sport, when all it has ever been is a contact sport.

Campaigns from rightest right to leftist left, if you have a message of hope, contact us --we are listening. Better yet, come to the Iowa State Fair and pledge that you will keep your remarks limited to what you will do for your country. It worked for John F. Kennedy.