Duty Calls

The cannibalization of our candidate started, of course, immediately after he lost. Typical Democrat bullshit. But now it’s reached such a fevered pitch that I felt compelled to comment.

I see two main complaints over and over (especially at DailyKos and Atrios):

1) Kerry’s concession was indicative of his flip-flopping tendency after all. He let us down.

2) Kerry hoarded money just so he can run again in ’08, and it may have cost other Democrats victories.

The conclusion reached from these assumptions is that we should abandon Kerry and withhold all support for him, as punishment, I suppose. Now aside from how completely and utterly illogical that is (he isn’t fighting hard enough, so let’s not support him at all – a general isn’t much good without an army, folks), it’s also based on bad information.

Kerry conceded so he could work under the radar to challenge any vote irregularities, without drawing the inevitable attention and resulting condemnation of the Right and the mainstream media that Gore did. Sour Grapes. Divisiveness. Sore loser. Kerry learned from the 2000 election what many of his supporters, apparently, did not.

As for the held back money, which has been cited to be as much as $45 million, the accurate details are as follows:

First, Kerry has already declared that money left over from his campaign will go to Democratic candidates and committees. Kerry advisors who spoke to the AP said he “wanted to save it in the event of a recount, legal challenges or other unforeseen bills. In the end, they said, Kerry's nest egg will be less than $10 million.” According to the AP article, “two advisers who have spoken to Kerry about the money said he likely will donate a substantial amount to Democratic committees and candidates for the 2005 contests and 2006 congressional midterm elections.” The AP also noted that Kerry’s campaign gave $3 million each to the DSCC and DCCC, and $32 million to the DNC, with $9 million dedicated to state parties, the largest-ever donation to the DNC, and the first from a Presidential campaign. So enough with the “why did Kerry steal $45 million” stuff. It’s a non-story.

I’m not thrilled with Kerry’s support of Vilsack as DNC chair, but considering his recent emergence to provide the opposition for which we’ve all been longing, I’m willing to entertain the notion that maybe he knows something I don’t. And with all our collective grousing about how we want a president who’s smarter than we are, I think we ought to be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. And if he’s wrong, well, we need to give him the chance to be wrong, too. It’s appalling to me that we’ll overlook Clinton’s mistakes and yet hold Kerry to a higher standard, where any misstep becomes proof of his inability to lead.

Turn your energies spent cannibalizing our man into some excitement about the proposition of opposition! I’m not suggesting that constructive criticism has no value; of course it does, but bitching for bitching’s sake is useless. Sitting around waiting for a Superman is a lost cause. We’re human, and we’re supposed to operate in the reality-based community. There are no super heroes. There are only men who can lead as best they know how, and they need followers to maintain their strength. Apathy and bitterness is the Left’s kryptonite. Think about that the next time you criticize without suggesting any solutions of your own.