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PETER ROSENSTEIN
Thursday, May 25, 2006
I HAVE BEEN a Democratic Party activist since I was 12 and handed out fliers in my New York neighborhood for John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. I have always supported Democrats because I believe they have stood up for workers, for the human and civil rights of all people, and for a set of values I share.
Howard Dean is eroding my belief — not in the Democratic Party but in the ability of the Democratic National Committee to speak for the party. I long ago stopped contributing to the DNC, way back when I worried some of my money might go the re-election of Sam Nunn, the former senator from Georgia who came up with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
But I give as generously as I can to individual Democrats because I still believe that they are the best hope to see our nation lives up to its ideals.
I was not a Howard Dean supporter in the presidential primaries and didn’t support his candidacy for party chair either. I’ve always been suspicious of his pandering to gay voters when he thought he needed us. It is clear now that he thinks we are a burden on the Democratic Party, and he is moving away from us as fast as he thinks he can get away with it.
To do so is wrong strategically and a betrayal of the party’s ideals. People don’t want wishy-washy statements — they want clear position statements from their politicians and their parties. That is what wins supporters and elections.
So Howard Dean must go.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY took a clear stand opposing a federal constitutional amendment against gay marriage, saying these issues should be left to state legislatures. Though I would like a statement of support for gay marriage itself, I am willing to support a party that clearly opposes a discriminatory constitutional amendment.
I am not willing to support a party whose titular leader can go on “The 700 Club,” and, I believe, purposely misstate the party’s position. This issue has been too much in the news to believe that Dean didn’t know what the 2004 party platform actually said. And if he truly didn’t, then that is just as troubling.
I understand the desire of the Democratic Party to prevent gay marriage from becoming a defining campaign issues. But party officials are making a big mistake if they think that by obfuscating on issues like abortion or gay marriage, you make things better. You never do.
The 2006 and 2008 elections will turn on questions of war and foreign policy, the nation’s economy and achieving energy independence. Even ultra conservatives have given up on George W. Bush as their best hope to move things their direction.
Most Americans realize we need to focus on issues that move the country forward, and these are not the issues of the right wing. They are also seeing the wisdom in that old saying about how absolute power for one side can corrupt absolutely.
VOTERS WILL RETURN to the Democrats if they are honest and forthright in how they approach the world. They cannot do one thing and then say another because when they lie, they lose.
The Democrats have always been the party of the people, and that includes men, women, gay, straight, black, white, Latino, Asian, immigrant and native born. We have always understood that to achieve real diversity, we need to address the unique needs of these constituencies. That isn’t divisive or wrong, but morally right.
If Howard Dean doesn’t understand that, and it appears he doesn’t, it is time for him to go — for the sake of the future of the Democratic Party and the nation.
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