I'm very happy to let everyone know that Mike Caulfield, one of the founders of Blue Hampshire, has endorsed Chris Dodd for President. Dean Barker, another Blue Hampshire co-founder, endorsed Senator Dodd in early September.
While Senator Dodd has been able to accumulate a great number of endorsements from a wide range of bloggers, Caulfield takes a very unique approach in writing his endorsement. Caulfield goes back over the course of Senator Dodd's twenty-six year tenure in the Senate and quotes news articles telling of Dodd's principled, progressive leadership in the face of adversity that produced real, meaningful change. Caulfield brings us back to Dodd's leadership in helping bring peace in Latin America and Northern Ireland, to standing up to the Reagan administration's bellicose foreign policy, to fighting tirelessly to pass the Family & Medical Leave Act, to managing the passage of McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, and more.
After spanning an inspiring range of stories about Chris Dodd, Caulfield writes about why he think Chris Dodd should be our President:
Dodd entered the Senate the very year the conservative movement arrived to dismantle the the progressive dream wholesale. Yet in that environment, in the 25 year period that will go down as the Conservative Era, he found ways to expand and extend that progressive dream.
Sometimes it was by getting on TV and telling the truth, no matter how offensive the civilized members of his party may have found it.
Sometimes is was through thoughtful negotiation with enemies. Other times it was through skillful navigation of complex rules of parliamentary procedure. Sometimes it was a late evening bulldozer push. And yes, sometimes it was about waiting to the 17th hole of golf to bring up the question of Gerry Adams's visa.
But it was always about how to get things done.
I've seen this on the campaign. Confronted with any new tool, the first question that occurs to Team Dodd is not "Can we use this for marketing?" but "How can we use this to advance our progressive agenda?"
So while Hillary took online suggestions for a campaign song, Dodd took online suggestions for filibuster reading material. While Obama built up his MySpace account, Dodd and his team built tools to route anti-FISA calls to Senators. While other campaigns invited bloggers to phone calls where the latest talking points were recycled, Dodd invited us into war-room like sessions where the strategy for cutting war funding was discussed and explained.
Personally, I believe we are at a 1932 moment in history. The last gasp of the Reaganism that tainted even the Clinton administration is being played out on that Republican debate stage. After November, they will sweep the remains of that grand movement into the dustbin of history.
You could choose those that stood back, and waited until history was on their side before they moved bold agendas forward. You could hope that their theories of change were correct.
Or you could choose the person, who, against all odds, advanced the progressive agenda through every means at his disposal.
I've seen Dodd sailing against the wind and been amazed. I can only imagine what he will do with the wind at his back.
Please join me in supporting Chris Dodd.
His readers will be able to look at this and see with utmost clarity why he stands with Chris Dodd.
Frankly, I cannot imagine a more ringing endorsement of a candidate who is basing his run on a career of leadership that got the job done than one in which the author sees results as the true test of the value of a person's words. I'm impressed that Mike - like many New Hampshire voters and astute political commentators - isn't content to decide who he will be voting for based on the coverage we're seeing about rhetoric being bandied about today. Instead he looks at Dodd's full record and measures the other Democratic candidates against it.
One of the themes that Caulfield brings out most convincingly is that Chris Dodd didn't just find out what he believes in when he started running for President. He didn't gain his voice when handed the microphone of a presidential candidacy - he's always had the courage to speak out on principle. He doesn't measure his experience by the resumes of the people advising him on policy - he helped shape the course of our country over twenty-six years in the Senate. He has consistently produced results that Democrats can be proud of.
As Mike writes, "I've seen Dodd sailing against the wind and been amazed. I can only imagine what he will do with the wind at his back."
Thank you for your support Mike! With your help and the help of countless others, we will see Chris Dodd in the White House in January 2009.
Comments
I was never so proud of Chris Dodd as I was when he rushed back to Washington to fight against the telecom immunity provision in the FISA bill. Here was a man who didn't just talk about what needed to be done, HE DID IT! While Biden, Clinton & Obama stayed on the campaign trail promoting their personal ambitions, Senator Dodd stood on the Senate floor fighting for the Constitution & Rule of Law. When people tell me that all the Democratic candidates are about the same I bring up what Chris Dodd did on the Senate floor.
I WILL be caucusing for Chris Dodd and I am calling all my friends to do the same.
GO CHRIS GO
This morning I turned on CNN to some very sad news. This morning Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. I hold no hope that the Bush will come out with a statement that their war on terror has been a complete and total failure. I also hold no hope that Bush will be able to lend assistance to the crisis. The administration has no credibility.
The way America leads in the world has been shameful for many years. The policy that today Saddam is our ally, tomorrow he is worst enemy, Iran is our friend, Iran is part of the axis of evil. The list goes on and on.
What we need is a leader who can think out of the box, not that it is that 'out of the box'. We need someone who will stop America's secret wars and America's secret armies. Clinton is not an out of the box kind of person. Obama does not the experience not to be complete hood winked by the powers that be.
Chris Dodd can make this a better world. We can start to improve the situation around the world but first we have to reestablish the rule of law at home and then we have to start being fair and open around the world.
Yes, the endorsement is great. But, evil never sleeps and Bush/Cheney are still making mischief. The latest is the "statement" that's being released in conjunction of the signing of the appropriations bill, suggesting that the funds designated by Congress for projects Bush/Cheney doesn't agree with (also known as earmarks) are not going to be spent.
This is not a new strategy. Reagan used it to target spending to promote his re-election and then the election of Bush One. However, what we have here is a strategy of NOT DOING because of an idelogical antagonism which actually takes satisfaction in causing injury or harm to people who don't conform their behavior to the directives of authority. In other words, the delivery or non-delivery of government services is being used to reward supporters and punish dissident populations. What it basically is is a finger in the eye of equality. Government services are not being distributed unequally; they're being used to promote inequality. It's not just a matter of rewarding favorites; it's a matter of withholding from the disfavored. The increasing inequality isn't a consequence; it's the goal.
Now, while I personally have no particular interest in earmarks, one way or the other and most of these projects can probably wait a while longer, what I find particularly distressing is the persistence of a pattern, developed as a response to the civil rights era, which is camoflaged by being attached to the earmarks, but really has nothing to do with them. Indeed, this is just the latest version of what happened in the south in response to the directives to stop providing segregated services--the services (recreation, transportation and health care) were simply cut for everyone. In other words, if the powers that be couldn't dole out benefits inequitably, they weren't going to provide them at all.
I know the Senator has made the point that the war in Iraq can only be halted by withholding the funds, but I don't think the mentality directing the Bush/Cheney White House can be addressed in that way. If we need a more common analogy, what we're confronting here is the equivalent of an abusive spouse who's ordered to pay child support and, in response, kills the whole family. There is no "reasoning together" here.
A friend told me about this site, www.fittobepres.com, where anyone can go on and rank a candidate based on these "hidden cultural criteria." It's really interesting, but when I went on there I found that Dodd isn't even listed. We need to get him on that website and spread the word to other Dodd supporters to rank him. Like Matt Browner-Hamlin said, with Mike's help and the help of others, we will see Chris Dodd in the White House.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/Vote2008/story?id=4052248&page=1
'Watch the full interview tonight on "World News With Charles Gibson" at 6:30 ET'
12/27
Interview with Chris Dodd.
Mike Caufield has realized what so many of us in Connecticut have known for years. We have a hero in Chris Dodd.
An everyday accumulation of words and actions that add up to a leadership position that more than qualifies him to be President. Our President and everyone's President.