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December
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December 2, 2004
Election 2004,
an Epic Year of Betrayal
Liberalism
and Its Bounds
By
JOSHUA FRANK
and MERLIN CHOWKWANYUN
The amount of insult and betrayal those
on the liberal-to-left spectrum will take seems to have few limits,
if any. Below, we survey one election's worth of pre- and post-election
betrayal from the Democratic Party. By the end, we hope that
rank-and-file Democrats and their Anybody But Bush (ABB) election
year sympathizers agree that the time has arrived for all those
that abandoned their movements in 2004 to root for John Kerry,
to now abandon the Democrats on the national level and join radical
reformers and others working outside of the Party's stifling
structure. Change will not come within this corrupt political
entity.
THE DEAN
MACHINE
The year began with phony "anti-war"
candidate ex-Vermont governor Howard Dean leading in the Democratic
Party primary polls. Dean's pragmatic "anti-war" position
was indeed conditional. Had the Bush administration produced
better intelligence, or had the international community and UN
backed the US invasion, Dean would have happily signed on to
the Iraq undertaking. However, the conservative and rabidly pro-business
Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) panicked in response to Dean's
rise to the top of the primary pack, out of fear that his invigorated
base could challenge party brass.
The DLC's top picks, "war
heroes" (the DLC's term, not ours) Wesley Clark and John
Kerry, lagged pathetically behind in the primary polls. Both
Clark and Kerry had difficulty articulating firm stances on the
Iraq war, and Clark's criticisms of the invasion jibed poorly
with prior effusive statements supporting not only the war effort,
but also several right-wing Republicans throughout the 1980s
and 1990s including Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr.
Kerry, meanwhile, took to baiting
Dean's "anti-war" stance, a variant of which he would
later adopt himself, and which the Republican Party (accurately)
used to characterize him as a "flip-flopper." Even
Howard Dean's followers caught on early to Kerry's equivocations
when they made flip-flop Hawaiian sandals with John Kerry caricatures
plastered on the bottom during the Iowa primary.
By summer 2003 Dean had earned
undeservedly the "anti-war" label. But Dean wasn't
"anti-war"; rather he simply disliked the "unilateral"
way in which the Bush Administration carried out the Iraq invasion
-- bypassing the United Nations and NATO.
Following the assault Dean
argued that the occupation had to continue, in spite of journalistic
and official reports on the impending difficulties and long-term
hostilities to military occupation, permanent establishment of
military bases, as well as private US contracting of Iraqi reconstruction.
Dean stood by the notion that gun-point democracy was a gracious
venture.
Still, Dean played his "anti-war"
card marvelously, and his public persona admittedly contained
more magnetism than the cardboard cut-outs of Kerry, Clark, Gephardt,
and Joseph Lieberman combined. Petrified, the DLC began a concerted
campaign to take Dean down. [1]
DLC machinations from many
corrupt characters within the organization lasted right up to
the disastrous Iowa caucus, in which Dean placed a miserable
third, and derailed his chances of capturing the nomination and
solidified his downfall when the media overplayed his histrionic
rallying speech to his young supporters.
As Dean recounts in his recent
campaign memoir, You Have the Power, DLC co-founding member,
star, and former President Bill Clinton placed a wave of influential
phone calls to Dean supporters during the months prior to the
Iowa caucus, urging them to throw their support behind Wesley
Clark instead.
Clinton's rationale? A homophobic
one. Dean, declared Clinton, had "forfeited his right to
run for President" because he had signed a bill in Vermont
as governor permitting civil unions. Clinton's anti-gay position
would repeat itself during the Kerry 2004 campaign, when Clinton
urged, albeit unsuccessfully, Kerry to embrace the proposed federal
gay marriage ban.
Other DLC elements also worked
actively to portray Dean as an unstable radical. The DLC's flagship
publication labeled him "misguided," "an aberration,"
and an "activist" who was "defined principally
by weakness abroad and elitist, interest-group liberalism at
home."
Meanwhile, other DLC bankrollers
founded an ad hoc group, with DLC fundraiser David Jones at the
helm, to air negative ads in Iowa that attacked Dean from the
faux-left, noting his NRA endorsements and support for NAFTA,
among other positions that betrayed the "progressive"
persona Dean and his campaign manager Joe Trippi whipped out
from time to time in front of accommodating crowds.
The torrent of attack ads and
underhanded DLC background activity from the likes of Clinton
and his ilk effectively doomed Dean's candidacy, as did the fact
that most of his supporters were unable to realize that political
mobilization extends beyond the world of inane political blogs
and button clicking.
DENNIS WAS
NOT A MENACE
With Dean neutralized, one
anti-war candidacy soldiered on -- that of Representative Dennis
Kucinich of Ohio, who opposed the war in principle throughout
and called for an end to occupation within six months. As Democratic
candidate after Democratic candidate dropped out of the race,
and as John Kerry ascended and locked up the required delegates
for the nomination, Kucinich nonetheless declared that he would
stay in the race until the Democratic National Convention (DNC),
so as to influence the Democratic Party's platform and to allow
principled anti-war voters an outlet and voice.
Nevertheless, as the Convention
date approached, Kucinich's independence appeared to wane. In
a public speech that evoked reflexive pity from so many who observed,
Kucinich endorsed his party's pro-war candidate, John Kerry,
weeks before the DNC, despite having throughout his campaign
declared the Iraq war the central issue of the election
season.
"Unless we have a firm
and unshakeable resolve for John Kerry, we will have no opportunity
to take America in a new direction," Kucinich declared.
"Unity is essential." Kucinich repeated this mantra
later in the fall of 2004 with a video on his website that implored
supporters to "close ranks." "Do we have differences
of opinion? Yes. But the time is over to continue talking about
those [issues]," he remarked.
Meanwhile, many Kucinich delegates
at the convention felt dejected. Initially, the man for whom
they had devoted much time and energy intimated that he would
"release" them, paving the way for their robotic votes
for Kerry.
Later, after hearing impassioned
(and tearful) testimonies from his delegates, Kucinich changed
his mind, and told them to "vote their conscience."
Fair enough. But most ended up voting for Kerry regardless.
And what did they receive in return for their candidate and most
of their delegates' support for Kerry? Not much.
Despite the generally symbolic
role of the platform in modern politics (GW Bush in 2000 infamously
bragged that he had never read the GOP platform), seventeen Kucinich
platform demands were axed in exchange for a borderline nonsensical
statement with no hint of an exit strategy or an impending pullout
from Iraq. It pledged to remove troops "when appropriate
so that the military support needed by a sovereign Iraqi government
will no longer be seen as the direct continuation of an American
military presence."
Absent from the platform was
support for Palestinian rights, homosexual civil unions and marriage,
as well as repudiation of the pre-emptive war doctrine in principle
and as executed in Iraq.
"I ask you, are millions
of anti-war/anti-occupation Americans welcome in the Democratic
Party? If such voters are indeed welcome, I urge you to demonstrate
this by permitting debate within the Party on the war and occupation
issue, both in Miami and in Boston," wrote Jessie Jackson,
prior to campaigning for a candidate who said nary a word about
the exponential proliferation of the racist prison-industrial
complex, increasing poverty, or black male unemployment, now
over 50% in New York City alone.
As much as one can appreciate
Congressman Kucinich's past efforts, it is clear that noble attempts
to transform the Democratic Party from within are wasted endeavors.
The convention itself was a
difficult affair for many who attended. As polls indicated,
80-90% of the attending delegates declared themselves anti-war.
Those trying to express such a view quickly received the muzzle.
Charles Underwood, the only
Minnesota Kucinich delegate to vote for Kucinich, told Amy Goodman's
radio program Democracy Now!: "I am just very disappointed
that there is no ability to express any hope for peace on the
floor of this convention. We have had our signs confiscated,
we've had our scarves for peace, you know, 'Delegate For Peace,'
confiscated. We have had people that tell us to sit down and
be quiet."
Meanwhile, the anti-war delegates
were not lucky enough to hear any speeches at the DNC that matched
their point of view, and in fact were presented with two gung-ho
militaristic ones instead.
Vice Presidential candidate
John Edwards told the anti-war delegates: "We will always
use our military might to keep the American people safe. And
we, John and I, will have one clear unmistakable message for
al Qaeda and these terrorists. You cannot run. You cannot hide.
And we will destroy you."
DISSENT
SQUASHED
Having neutralized Dean and
Kucinich, the two major voices of dissent in the Party (one superficial,
the other genuine), Kerry embraced the pre-emptive war doctrine
on live national television during the Presidential debates,
all while declaring alternately that the Iraq war was a "mistake,"
and all while expressing support for continued occupation. Classification
as "flip-flopper" worked beautifully for Karl Rove
and the GOP.
Meanwhile, Kerry allowed a
growing number of rogues to assist his crafting of foreign policy.
Richard Holbrooke, Assistant Secretary of State to Jimmy Carter
and green-stamper of additional arms shipments to Indonesia during
the Suharto regime, wrote many rapid-response memos on Kerry's
web site.
Holbrooke's actions during
the Carter administration occurred as Indonesian repression of
East Timor reached genocidal levels. Kerry's other foreign policy
appointee, Rand Beers, crafted the notorious Plan Colombia, which
Kerry took the lead in boosting through the legislature towards
the tail-end of the Clinton Administration.
Plan Colombia allocates billions
of dollars in military aid (monetary and arms) to the country's
right-wing government. Originally meant for defoliation of coca
crops (which have devastated the peasant economy and legal enterprises
such as sugar and coffee), according to investigative reporting,
Plan Colombia funds are closely linked to violent repression
of trade unionists. Colombia is now the top site for murders
of trade unionists in the world.
Certainly Kerry's loss did
not come as a surprise. He offered few positive alternatives,
other than being the "anybody" in "Anybody But
Bush." His economic prescriptions were tepid, and his stances
on foreign policy issues such as war and Empire reflected those
of the neocons.
When all the hype about the
"youth vote," "e-activism," "buses to
Ohio," and "house DVD parties" cleared so tragically
and so pathetically on Election Day 2004 -- and with devout Kerry-Edwards
supporters battling denial -- the only forces on the left remaining
were the Anti-Anybody-But-Bush crew. Indeed the anti-ABBers
had been vindicated.
THE BLEAK
FUTURE
However, many on the liberal-to-left
spectrum still aren't learning. Nicholas Kristof, days after
the November disaster, urged that it is "time to get religion"
for Democrats. Bill Clinton then decried Kerry for not being
even more anti-gay, for the latter had not taken his advice and
spoke of his opposition to gay marriage more vocally. Chat room
and bulletin board rumbling suggests a drive for a Hillary Clinton
Presidential DLC run in 2008. The Democratic future is indeed
bleak.
Meanwhile, the Democrats continue
self-destructive tendencies and betrayal of loyal constituencies.
Recently, they enthusiastically nominated pro-war, anti-choice,
anti-gay marriage Nevada extremist Harry Reid for Senate Minority
leader. Reid, a conservative Mormon, received slightly under
a 30% rating from NARAL, the largest pro-choice advocacy group
in the US.
Reid's nomination came after
months of cheap Nader-baiting, in which Democrats and liberals
characterized Ralph Nader's run as a threat to abortion rights.
Comparable wrath directed against the anti-choice Reid nomination,
however, does not appear to exist, even though Reid's elevation
to one of the most influential Senate positions, and the highest
post held by a Democrat in the country, will determine the strength,
or rather the weakness of Democratic opposition to federal judicial
appointments.
The most morally reprehensible
action, however, comes with the nomination of Alberto Gonzales
for Attorney General. Much of the mainstream press and Democrats
describes John Ashcroft's replacement as "moderate."
But Gonzales wrote the infamous memos essentially authorizing
the Bush Administration to flout international human rights law
as defined in the Geneva Convention.
So what have the liberals done?
The ACLU "won't take an official position." Pro-war
Democrat Charles Schumer opined: "It's encouraging that
the president has chosen someone less polarizing." And
Patrick Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee,
chimed in, pithily and tellingly: "I like him."
WHAT IS
TO BE DONE?
Some might recommend "reforming
the Democratic Party from within." Many Nader bashers adopted
such a line in 2004, claiming that if Nader would only run as
a Democratic candidate for the Party's Presidential nomination,
he could do oh-so-much to influence its direction. Yet the examples
of Dean and Kucinich have shown us what happens when one makes
such attempts -- relentless attacks, backstabbing, and silencing.
Reformism within the Democratic Party is a hopeless endeavor.
As we again try to amass opposition
to the war in Iraq that was dismantled under the miserable and
failing banner of "Anybody But Bush," we must simultaneously
call for a clean break from the Democratic Party. It is time
for an end to a bankrupt fusion politics that continues to sell
us out election after e
[1] For a detailed analysis
on Howard Dean's fall see forthcoming: Joshua Frank, Left
Out!: How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush (Monroe,
ME: Common Courage Press: 2005)
Joshua Frank is the author of the forthcoming book,
Left Out!: How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush, to be
published in early 2005 by Common Courage Press. He can be reached
at frank_Joshua@hotmail.com.
Merlin Chowkwanyun is a student at Columbia University
in New York. He hosts a radio show on WBAR NYC 87.9 FM, www.wbar.org.
He can reached at mc2028@columbia.edu.
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|