Reply #35: We have had many fine Progressives since RFK [View All]

[Tom Rinaldo]

The list is actually a long one. Paul Wellstone obviously is on it, one could add Russ Feingold and Bernie Saunders and some other sitting Congressional Democrats also. And no one should forget RFK Jr. while we are at it. For me any comparison between RFK and Wes Clark does not primarilly hinge on who else since RFK has also been a strong Progressive. I already left a link above to my own prior writing about what it is about Wes Clark that won my personal loyalty to him, but it is the personal character of the man coupled with his positions on contemporary issues that is evocative.

But really the key point of comparison for me is the ability of each man to cross over ideological lines and unite Americans of different backgrounds in a common cause. We remember now that RFK had very strong support among minorities, but he also had very strong support among poor and working class whites, during a time when race was a starker dividing line than it is today. RFK had the support of many white voters who later become Wallace Right Wing Populist Democrats after RFK was assasinated.

RFK appealed to the better part of patriotism in a broad cross section of Americans. He projected a love of country that was not narrow and jingoistic, but which was just as strong as the nationalistic fever that passes as true patriotism today. It is in this way that I feel Wes Clark offers Americaa a unique opportunity now to unite around our better self as a nation. America and the world would be very different places today had Bobby lived to lead it. He could not be easily typecast, he was the right man at the right time to pull us together. That is the special quality that I find in Wes Clark.