This is the time for all good Democrats to come
to the aid of their party - by taking a stand.
One way or the other: Take a stand.
This is not a time for neutrality and
equivocation.
Either you think the Democratic Party was the
best that it could be under Bill Clinton, and
you buy Hillary Clinton's argument that she is
the best-qualified person to lead her party to
victory and to govern in the White House, or you
do not.
Either you think Barack Obama is a breath of
fresh air, and a man who can renew the
Democratic Party and heal the nation, or you do
not.
There is a stark choice.
And there is not much middle ground.
After eight years of George W. Bush, it is not
acceptable to either say, "Neither candidate is
perfect, so I am sitting this one out," or,
"Both are great, so I am sitting this one out."
No, neither is perfect.
No candidate ever is.
Democrats trashed their own leaders, Al Gore and
John Kerry, in 2000 and 2004, and both would
have been good presidents - far better than what
we got.
Obama and Clinton are so different in
background, approach, methods, and message that
it is hard to see how anyone could
simultaneously embrace both.
It's like saying you root for both the Yankees
and the Red Sox.
But U.S. Rep. John Larson has stepped up.
He has taken a stand.
He has chosen Obama.
Larson says Obama's audacity of hope gives him
hope. He says Obama "is not only audacious, but
authentic." Larson believes Obama can undo,
"almost instantly," much of the damage George
Bush has done to America's reputation in the
world.
It took guts on Larson's part.
Not to think any of this, but to say it.
For Larson is in the congressional leadership
and has hopes to go higher. And Hillary Clinton
is still the front-runner for the Democratic
presidential nomination, both in Connecticut and
in the nation. And the Clintons have long
memories and keep score.
But Larson was out in front on the Iraq war.
Very early, before most of his party and before
most of his constituency, he was opposed to this
war.
Larson was against going in. He was against
giving the president a blank check. He disagreed
with the John McCain idea that all we had to do
was fight the war better and all would be well -
the war would be morally and legally justified,
and the occupation would run smoothly, and we
would have enough soldiers to fight on
indefinitely.
The doves were right about Iraq. The hawks got
everything wrong. And Larson was a dove when
doves were few.
Most of the nation has now admitted to itself
that the war was a terrible mistake, and we are
now trying to forget it - to look away - though
the fighting and the dying go on.
But four years ago, John Larson was a profile in
courage. And, it turned out, a profile in wisdom
too.
Now Larson has come out for Obama. Many
Democrats will wonder if the Connecticut
congressman is both courageous and right once
more.
LATEST
NEWS
