The Winner of the General Election Will Rekindle Optimism in The American People....

[Blackhatjack]

There are so many serious problems facing us that will require painful choices to address I believe it will take a Candidate who can rekindle a sense of 'optimism' among the American People.

It will not be enough to point out all the damage that the Bush Administration has done over the last 6 years, and how corruption has infected every aspect of governmental operations.

People are looking for a 'better future' and IMHO they are willing to 'sacrifice' for it --IF AND ONLY IF they have a sense of optimism about the new path we are on and how we will get to the better place.

To get there we need to offer the voters 'a fresh start' in dealing with these problems.

We need a candidate who can invoke the sense of country and unity among the American people. It will require a John F. Kennedy approach which is smart and effective in rooting out those who presently control and abuse the government and its assets.

In the sense that we can do little to 'change' what is wrong without winning the General Election in 2008, we all need to begin putting forth the positive agenda Democrats will pursue if elected without regard to which Democratic Candidate actually becomes the President.

Being negative will just paint us with the same brush the Republicans use, and it will make us appear to be 'no different than the Repubs.'

The voters out there are waiting to hear this, and when they do we will reap results at the polls that will amount to the mandate we need to get the job done.

[William769]

1. Agreed.

But I do believe that starting fresh will also keep in the lime light the Bush Cabal.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. You are right, 100% right.

The key to a super-landslide is to get 80% of the population out to vote. And the way to get most people out is to give them somethng to vote FOR, not merely against.

The Right Wing has specialized in getting the "Against" voters out. Against gays, against abortion, against minorities, against Muslims, against humane initiatives in general.

We can win big, and start the new American revolution, by getting the "For" voters out: For human rights, for peace, for universal health care, for education, for Mother Earth.

This is the winning combination, the path not just to political victory but to the spiritual transformation that will lead us out of the pernicious, mean-spirited focus on the little Me and into a grand and sparkling vision of what can lie in store for all of us if we can but transform that grasping little two-year-old into an emotional adult who can take joy in the good fortune of others.

The keys to the kingdom are just lying there waiting for us to pick them up and use them.

[Blackhatjack]

3. You said it so well, I hope our Dem Candidates are listening... n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

4. I guess I'd settle for getting DU to listen

instead of gluing themselves so addictively to the minutiae of the horserace they pretend to despise.

[Blackhatjack]

5. As you can see we have our work cut out for us.. but it does not mean we are not right.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. So we need a progressive platform,

something that moves us beyond filling in the deficiencies.

I like the new direction of psychology--Seligman's Positive Psychology, meaningfulness-based psychotherapies, ACT, stuff like that. I think those realms are worth mining fora new human agenda.

[applegrove]

7. Whichever Dem wins will be perceived as one of the greatest Presidents

ever just because they follow *. They may even deserve the title. Who knows.