De Amerikaanse presidentsverkiezingen 2004

Nog tot de presidentsverkiezingen van 2008


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zaterdag, maart 13, 2004
Tips van Arianna
Arianna Huffington, voormalig Republikein, columniste en kortgeleden nog kandidaat voor het gouverneurschap van California, heeft wat tips voor John Kerry om in november te winnen. Hoeveel haar tips waard zijn is nog maar de vraag, want zij bemoeide zich een aantal jaar geleden tegen de senaatsrace van haar toenmalige echtgenoot aan en die verloor en haar eigen race om het gouverneurschap van California afgelopen jaar was ook al niet zo'n succes. Beslist u zelf maar.

De opvallendste don'ts:
Don't pick a VP by looking at the map. Pick someone who can help you bring soul back to American politics and appeal not just to our self-interest but to our better instincts. In other words, do not pick Evan Bayh.

Don't fall back on the tried-and-untrue swing voter strategy that has led to the prolonged identity crisis of the Democratic Party. Fifty percent of eligible voters did not vote in 2000. Speak to them—to the young, to the poor, to single women. Speak to those who have given up on our democracy, who are struggling without health care, without decent schools, without jobs. The dithering poltroons offering you focus-group-tested advice on how to triangulate your way to victory won't like it. But you'll feel better about yourself, and you'll win.

Don't run away from your voting record. Don't run away, as you did in the New York debate, from being called a liberal. Embrace it, and define it as the foundation of the great breakthroughs in American history. The Emancipation Proclamation. The 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. The New Deal, which put ordinary people back to work when the private sector couldn't. Social Security. Medicare. The Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Clean Air Act of 1970. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. These are all milestones in our journey toward a just society. They all represent values—liberal values—held dear by most Americans. You can be the president who leads us to the next breakthrough after years of consolidation, stagnation and—under George W. Bush—regression.




© Marc van Gestel 2003 - 2004