Why are you a Democrat in 2008?

So the Democratic Convention is running this contest on YouTube for people to submit a 2 minute video answering the question "Why are you a Democrat in 2008?"

This contest and the question it asks raise some interesting questions.

First here is the entry we helped make for Congressman Sarbanes'(MD-03):

I think this is a pretty good answer and the theme of leadership is important.

But I think it is interesting that the question doesn't just ask "Why are you are Democrat?" but "Why are you a Democrat in 2008?"

Why? The recent history of the Republican Party and the graphic of Wal-Mart contributions at the bottom of Markus's post yesterday are two examples. We aren't old enough to remember, but back in the day, it was actually an intellectually defensible position to be a member of the Republican Party. It stood for small and good government at a time when the Democratic Party was stocked with bigoted Southern racists and corrupt machine politicians.

This has changed over the last 40 years but many older people who grew up with the old Republican Party. For example, take former Congresswoman Connie Morella, our well meaning but disingenuous Republican guest this spring. Her claim that "I never voted for Delay" because she and three other 3 moderates in the Republican Party meekly offered a sacrificial lamb to get crushed in the Republican caucus' vote for Majority Leeader? Give me a fucking break, Connie, you voted for him every day with the R next to your name. People like Morella stuck with the Republican Party well past the time when it was all too clear that their party was driving the country off a cliff.

Right now, the Democratic Party is the clear choice for us. But as Markus pointed out with his graph, it can always get away from its core values and current status as the pragmatic party. I hope that I will have the balls to jump ship if it ever drifts too far.

It would be sad sight to have a 75 year old Jarrett Zafran hobble into a meeting of the Harvard Republican Club in 2055 and seem as pathetically out of touch with the realities that a hypothetical ideological and corrupt Democratic Party had wrought as Connie Morella seemed when she tried to justify her 4 votes for Tom Delay and her support for the real ideological and corrupt Republican Party to the Harvard Dems in 2008.

So kudos to the DNC for adding "in 2008" to their question in the contest.

Obama is Finally the Presumptive Nominee.

With a surge of superdelegates and enough pledged delegates from South Dakota and Montana, Barack Obama has amassed the 2118 delegates needed to capture the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

It has been a long, hard-fought primary season, and we've been treated to voter participation, fund-raising, and media coverage at scales never before seen. Hillary has yet to concede, but it's clear that she will in the coming days. She still has an opportunity to get out of this race with grace, and I think she will. While she'll certainly be a valuable asset to Obama's general election campaign, I don't think she'd be the best choice for VP, even though she's open to the idea. But that's a conversation for another day.

Now it's time for Obama to set his sights on John McCain without distraction. With the full power of the Democratic Party behind him, I honestly believe that Obama will face little challenge painting McCain as an out-of-touch flip-flopper who can't separate himself from Bush no matter how hard he tries. And I'm sure that all of us in the Harvard Democrats will be happy to help spread that message around campus and beyond.

FYI: included in the giant flow of superdelegates to Obama today was a favorite of ours: Sam Novey's man-crush/employer, Congressman John Sarbanes of Maryland's 3rd district. Mr. Sarbanes, who was uncommitted when he spoke to us this past spring, made it official this evening.

Sarbanes Preview

So John Sarbanes is coming this Saturday! Yay! 5:30 P.M. in Ticknor Lounge.

He is a really kick ass Congressman. Here are a couple of highlights from his Freshman Term that point the intellect and integrity that make people so optimistic about his future.

First, (this made the daily show), he throws down on Bush appointee Lurita Doan about grammar! grammar! He is breaking out the "future pluperfect" and "hortatory subjunctive" in the middle of an Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.

Awesome.

Second, this is his speech against the troop surge back in February.

It is one of the more eloquent articulation of a solid Democratic position on the issue that I have heard. Especially with the whole "Respecting ROTC" thing going down right now, this is a good example of how Democrats should talk about the military. That is why he is considered a rising star in the Democratic Party.

Be there on Saturday! 5:30, Ticknor Lounge, FREE GREEK FOOD