Two people deserve credit for the following: Lisa Feinberg Duckett, for writing and delivering it and Mike Pridmore, for posting it in his diary at the MyDD.com web site. Duckett is county chair of the Allegany County Democratic Committee in New York and delivered this speech during a fundraiser for Eric Massa, who is running for Congress.
We Are America, but Washington Doesn’t Hear Our Voice
“Eric asked me to come here tonight and explain who we are in the district.
My name is Lisa Feinberg Duckett, I live in Wellsville, NY in Allegany County. We are located in the Southwest corner of the other New York. Extremely rural, extremely beautiful and extremely poor.
We’re the New York that few people know exist including the folks from New York City. We are the poorest County in New York State, yet due to our eroded tax base and the high percentage of residents receiving Medicaid we have one the highest property taxes in the state.
We are the working poor, holding 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet, but still have no health insurance. We are America, but Washington does not hear our voice.
We are the farmers whose family farms have put food on your tables for generations, and are now being sold at auctions. We are America, but Washington doesn’t hear our voice.
We are the well trained machinists, engineers and assembly workers who put our hearts and souls into the Dresser Rand plant only to lose our jobs to areas with untrained workers and cheaper costs, resulting in large bonuses for Chief Executives.
We are the teachers who educate, train and nurture our students only to watch them move elsewhere because no opportunities exist for them here. We are America, but Washington doesn’t hear our voice.
We are the towns where schools are closed during the first week of hunting season so that families may hunt together, fill their freezers and have meat for the coming year. We are America, but Washington doesn’t hear our voice.
We are the senior citizens who worked hard to build and support this country but can no longer afford our medicine, and are in danger of losing our homes due to high property taxes. We are America, but Washington doesn’t hear our voice.
We are the people who still believe Veterans Day, Memorial Day and the 4th of July are three of the most important days of the year. We are the towns where behind almost every front door you will meet someone who has served or is serving in the military, because it’s their honor to do so, and now having to apply for food stamps and are in danger of losing their precious health benefits promised to them by the government. We are America, but Washington doesn’t hear our voice.”
This is a template for what should be the standard Democraticspeech everywhere throughout red state/red pocket America–maybe, with a few tweaks or additions, throughout all of the United States.
My question to any of you who are reading this is which person would be the MOST CREDIBLE 2008 Democratic presidential candidate to deliver such a text?
Here’s my take:
Hillary Rodham Clinton — not unless she wants to end up being parodied on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
John Kerry — are you kidding? absolutely not
John Edwards — possibly but it is so hard to set aside the fact that he is a millionaire lawyer, despite his humble upbringing
Mark Warner — here is another millionaire so I’m having trouble picturing it but he certainly has achieved notable political success in Virginia, even in the rural areas
Wes Clark — possibly but can Clark produce the right delivery and amount of emotion this text requires?
Evan Bayh — of all the ‘unannounced yet announced’ cadidates, he is the one I can most picture bringing credibility to these words
Russ Feingold — I like Feingold but all I can think (unfortunately) is that America is not going to elect a Jewish president. Hopefully, I’m wrong.
I would be remiss not to mention that the person I see making the most of these thoughts and words is Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. True, he isn’t even ‘unannounced/yet announced) and that is why we plan on extending an appeal to him in 2007 to join the Democratic presidential primaries. In fact, we plan on drafting him. Yep, the draft is going to return in 2007–you read it here first.
I repeat: which person would be the MOST CREDIBLE 2008 Democratic presidential candidate to deliver such a text?
Special thanks to Lisa Feinberg Duckett and Mike Pridmore.