Learn From Past Mistakes

Let me start out by saying that I have been a fan of John Edwards for awhile now. I watched as he became the senator for North Carolina defeating the incumbent Fairchild when many said he didn't have a chance.

I think that the campaign of John Kerry made many serious mistakes in the last cycle. Two of the monumental mistakes I thought was not allowing Senator Edwards to attack the vulnerabilities of George Bush enough and the second was allowing the Rove machine to define the campaign. He had the Kerry campaign reacting instead of acting and creating the message he wanted disseminated. While this of course is all spilt milk and that election is over, I think that there are a lot of lessons that can be learned from that campaign.

I think that we as democrats have conceded too many "hot button" issues to the Republicans in an effort to be politically correct. In an effort to be all things to all people we have appeared to be shifty and pandering. If George W. has taught us anything it is that the voters will follow someone who stands by his beliefs even if they are dead wrong. I think the voting public has in the past viewed Democrats as pandering to too many interest and not having a solid base of core beliefs. Instead of saying why the voters should not vote for the Republican candidate we must show them why they should vote for our man. This will be especially tempting now that we have a weakened President and the waters have been bloodied because of Iraq. However, I think the more prudent course would be to again develop our core issues or our central values that are not going to appeal to all of our old interest groups, but that represent the common interests of most Americans and stick to them come hell or high water. While public opinion is important, it is also just as important for a leader to lead and sometimes where they lead is not popular, but it is right. It is also the duty of a leader to educate and show why this may be unpopular, but it is the right path to go.

It is time we began to craft strategies and solutions that we can stand on and not just criticize the other guys ideas. Not only must we be able to articulate the problem, we must also be able to articulate the solution, which is always the more difficult.

I believe that John Edwards will be our next President. Ms Clinton unfortunately has too much baggage that she will not be able to get rid of for the general election and America is not ready to elect a Black President despite what the polls say. Polls are always misleading, most people answer those questions the way they think they are suppose to, not necessarily how they truly feel. They say one thing and vote another. Mr. Edwards it is time to get out in front on the issues and more than just Iraq. It is the driving force today, but it will take more than that to govern...