There are a number of different ways to judge the Democratic candidates, one, of course, is their positions on issue, or, what do they say they want to do. Another way to judge the somewhat nebulous character issue, or, who do you trust. Another way to judge is personality, or, who do you like.
Personally, I answer that John Edwards is best on all three of those questions. But one question that doesn’t get as much play as it should, is who is the best to build the Democratic brand and the progressive brand in order to affect the change we need. We all know health care can’t be enacted by just the President, nor can CO2 controls or card check or anti-poverty initiatives. Here again, John Edwards is showing himself to be the best candidate.
Edwards is the only contender talks about building the Democratic Party. That’s a big part of what his “True Blue Majority” initiative is all about, here’s Edwards in California on Friday receiving the California SEIU endorsement:
If our nominee offers a clear choice between a Republican party committed to corporate power and a Democratic party committed to reclaiming democracy for our people, then we’re going to win this election going away.
“And if we have a nominee offering a bold vision of real change who can make the case for that vision in every corner of America, we win Congressional races across America, in red states and blue states, on the coasts, in the South, the Southwest, the Northwest and the Midwest.
“And then imagine what we can do in the first 100 days – end the war, begin the hard work to restore America’s moral leadership around the world, launch an all out-effort to enact true universal health care before the summer’s over, put America on the road to energy independence … and we’d just be getting started.
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By contrast Clinton has focused only on her ties to the DC establishment and Obama often seems to want to transcend the party instead of building it.
Edwards has focused on building a true coalition with union Democrats, Environmental Democrats and Democrats fighting the good fight in Red and Purple states.
Some of Edwards coalition building as already paid off, with legislators and groups not just endorsing Edwards, but signing on to action to build the Democratic Party in all fifty states. SEIU, the biggest union in California, pledged to organize in California and nation wide for Edwards.
In Los Angeles, Mr. Edwards, speaking in the ballroom at a downtown hotel, encouraged S.E.I.U. members to get involved in the campaign. “With your help knocking on doors, educating your members, mobilizing voters here in California and across America, we have the power to lead together and to bring workers and everyday Americans to find the solutions that they want,” he said.
The service employees’ union represents low-wage workers like home health aides, security guards and janitors. Sal Rosselli, president of the California state S.E.I.U., said a priority was better access to health care. The local will now mobilize its field operations to produce DVD’s, conduct calling campaigns, produce mailings and hold work site meetings, he said.
“That’s our job now,” Mr. Rosselli said in an interview. “To go to our 656,000 members in California and their families and help them understand our experience with John Edwards and what he stands for.”
They would also reach out to other states, including Nevada, which has a Democratic caucus scheduled for Jan. 19, Mr. Rosselli said. He also said he met this week with S.E.I.U. leaders in Iowa. “We have significant resources that we can now share with Iowa and other states that are supporting John Edwards,” he said.
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California, of course, is the biggest of the eleven state SEIU’s that have endorsed John Edwards, including Iowa and my very own Massachusetts SEIU.
The changes we need aren’t going to come easy. We need to come out of next November not only with a Democratic President, but a stronger and more progressive Democratic Party. John Edwards, for one, gets that.
Cross Posted at DailyKos and OpenLeft
