Not a day passes without another hat being thrown into the three-ring circus known as the American presidential nominating process. And not in recent memory has there been a process such as we will see in 2008, with both traditional political parties, with a wide-open field of candidates participating. Adding to the fray will be the presidential ticket of Unity08, a nascent-though-viable third party, selected through a massive online convention early in 2008.
With the first caucuses and primaries just one year off, thoughts turn to what I want in a candidate:
I want a candidate who will speak most about what they will do, and least about what the other guy didn’t do.
I want a candidate who will take positions because they are right, not just because they are safe, and damn the political consequences. This is no time for caution. This is no time for candidates who are careful. This is a time for candidates who are passionate, and bold, and brave.
I want a candidate who will give their best answers to the real questions on voters’ minds. My God, who cares about gay marriage and flag burning? Folks across America are asking: “How will we prosper? What will make us secure? What will happen if my family loses our health care? How will we afford to send our kids to college? How will we afford to save for our retirement?”
I want a candidate who meets the American people where they are, not where they think they should be. Meeting them where they are comes before leading them where they ought to be. Belittling them for where they are only drives them further away from where they ought to be.
I want a candidate who criticizes without sounding as if they want America to fail. I want a candidate who can describe what they love about America, and then talk about what they want to do to make her better. While Americans are proud of their country, they are not blind to her shortcomings.
I want a candidate who presents big, positive, visionary solutions that solve multiple problems simultaneously while strengthening progressive, American values. The American people cannot be won over by a laundry list of complaints while giving them a constant stream of “I have a nightmare” speeches. I want no more candidates who frighten people into inaction and cause them to be pessimistic about the possibility for real change.
I want a candidate who will champion a just society that doesn’t discriminate based on gender, race, orientation or creed; a candidate who will champion an opportune society that makes the American dream real for every American who reaches for it; a candidate who will champion a secure society, but one where our security is found most in the health, education, courage, and innovation of the American people.
I want a champion of an America whose government doesn’t turn its back on its own people; a champion of an America whose great strength, its people, work together once again to build a stronger, smarter, healthier and safer nation.
Though America is a great nation, a nation cannot remain great unless it remains prosperous. And a nation cannot remain prosperous unless its people work tirelessly together to keep the scales of justice balanced for all, the halls of learning wide enough for all, the advances of science available to all, and the avenues of opportunity open to all.
No more can America withstand candidates who lack this or some other positive vision of opportunity and well-being for all. For, as it says in the Scriptures, “where there is no vision, the people perish.”
Todd Huffman is a Eugene pediatrician