My nightmare is coming to pass

[adnelson60087]

Hello everyone,
On this very cold, bitter IL evening, as I sit in my little house with my wife and child, I feel absolutely sick. Not for me. Not even for John Edwards. But for America. My vision for America in 2009 is becoming as ashes in my mouth. Why? It seems that Democrats have not learned much over the past several years. We don't know how to win an election and pick political leaders of true vision. Like Howard Dean before him, John Edwards will be looked back upon a shining moment of promise that was eventually jettisoned for the monolith of John Kerry.

I am now emotionally spent, recognizing the striking reality that John will not be our candidate in November, and with him, our best chance to win the presidency. We will not get universal healthcare. Or end the war. Or be rid of No Child Left Behind ( a real thorn in this educator's paw...). No, we will not take over the White House as the Republicans will face either Obama or Hillary, and proceed to destroy them. Substance be damned. We will be installing President-elect McCain. Woe unto us all. A golden, generational opportunity lost. What is to become of our Nation and the World? I am disappointed on a scale I cannot easily relate. I fear we are lost.

[SeattleGirl]

1. I hear you.

Our presidential elections have become the equivalent of American Idol or Survivor.

[Silver Gaia]

4. I've been thinking that for a while, SeattleGirl. It sickens and disgusts me.

The "dumbing down" of America is becoming so obvious. It's panem et circuses. It worked in Rome--for a time--and it's working in America. Just keep 'em mollified with vast amounts of "entertainment" and they won't care what happens. America is dazed and confused, saturated and satiated with frivolous nonsense masquerading as substance. I am not one to put things in concrete negative terms--partly because I feel that to do so just lends my own energy to something I DON'T want to see come to pass, and partly because I tend to be a "glass half-FULL" sort of person--so, I am not going to make any predictions about what I may think WILL or WON'T happen in the future. But I can comment on what I do see happening in the present moment, and that doesn't look good. The "awakening" I was hoping for, that Melissa Etheridge called for so beautifully in that wonderful song she wrote for Al Gore, that I thought might be happening, appears NOT to be happening after all. Or maybe it's just that perhaps SC is not the place where we should have pinned our hopes at this particular point in time. All is not lost. There are many positives that may yet--and likely will--come of Edwards' campaign and our support of his platform. We must not give up. NEVER give up.

[iris5426]

6. awesome post i don't even need to reply to the OP now cause you said what i was thinking exactly nt

[Silver Gaia]

8. Aw, thanks, iris. And BTW, welcome to DU!

[adnelson60087]

7. You're right, we cannot give up

but I feel our party is letting us down, state after state.

[spooky3]

2. Hi, adnelson, I understand how you feel but I don't think

it's quite that bleak. These SC results do not surprise me at all, especially when you consider that SC has gone strongly Republican for years; the Democratic subgroup that voted tonight is not at all representative of the electorate in general, and in the general none of our three candidates would win the state, although Edwards would likely have come closer than the other 2 Dems.

I too am disappointed that the media have given so much less attention to Edwards and have utterly failed in presenting the issues to the public. I too believe he is not going to be the nominee. But I am far more optimistic that whoever will be the eventual nominee will win the general election. I happen to believe that it will be Clinton, and I would like to see that because I believe she and her backers know exactly what they are up against and they will be very well prepared to fight the Republicans. The media have ignored Edwards. But they have slung sexist and generic shit at Clinton (see mediamatters.org) and she still comes out swinging, and I think she'll edge out Obama on most of the Super Tuesday races. I don't want to be guilty of underestimating the Rethug opposition, because they have shown that media ownership power, corporate influence, and $ can "elect" (with the help of DREs) idiots and sociopaths (or idiotic sociopaths), so I realize that all of their candidates this year are laughably incompetent is hardly a hurdle from the machine's perspective.

[chimpymustgo]

3. I'm listening to the winner'svsubstance-free speech now. And, for the first time, crying.

What the hell is going on here.

[Nutmegger]

5. I'm doing everything I can.

Come next year, I fear people will start having regrets. BIG regrets. I'm trying but it's difficult pushing against this "wave of change" that people are consumed with.

What else can I do? I'm beginning to feel totally helpless.