So...Who might be the Democratic "Messiah" to emerge to lead us to the

[KoKo]

Promised Land?

I've given up... It seems many here are totally focussed on 2008 and looking for candidates. But, my problem is, my gut tells me someone NEW is going to emerge. Someone who will leave the others in the dust as "has beens" and "retreads."

I don't know who it is...and maybe it's just a "wishful gut" thinking that I want to houseclean and throw out the old with their baggage and bad vibes and sell outs.

So...focussing on 2008 (ugh..) I succumb and ask ...who might it be? I kind of think it might be a "Ross Perot type" (perish the thought) who has money and speaks to the RW and energizes (reluctantly the DLC/DNC types) and moves forward by saying things like "We've gotta fix the engine under the hood, before America that's broke can drive the interstates."

But...it might be better than what I think. Maybe a "new Kennedy." The ones who are left who don't fly planes or indulge in skiiing,boating and other activities the CIA can manage to do dirty tricks on. Is there any Kennedy who isn't involved in sports and other dangerous activities, though?

Who might it be? A fantasy that might emerge. Remember when Bill Clinton hit the scene? Only heir to him might be Obama. But let's put him aside for this discussion. I see it too early for Obama and don't want to focus on him for this.

Who?

[Dr Ron]

1. Matt Santos

Oh, are we limited to the real world? That makes it harder.

[KoKo]

22. Who is Matt Santos? n/t

[mattclearing]

36. Jimmy Smits on the West Wing. n/t

[Dr Ron]

57. West Wing

As someone else answered, he is a character on West Wing.

If real, he would have been a good answer to this question. He plays a Congressman who shows more integrity than the average politician, and comes from nowhere to win the Democartic nomination.

Plus, in the fantasy world of West Wing, the Republican nominee, played by Alan Alda, is also a good guy--someone who would never win the Republican nomination in the real world.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

2. Hillary...

(runs out of the forum and hides)


Calm down, I'm kidding.

[KoKo]

4. Good...glad you said that...because she's "retread" to me...for this

discussion. :D I know she's working hard...I want my fantasy candidate though. :-)'s

[thoughtanarchist]

3. Barrak 08ama?

just putting it out there...

[KoKo]

8. Please read last paragraph of my post about Obama, though....

He's defintely a possiblility but I wanted names of someone whom we havent thought of before.

Thanks, though. I know he's a possibility.

[Cyrano]

5. He/She is still wandering around in the desert. Give it another 40 years.

[Jon8503]

6. Hope You Are Right --- I don't see any leaders as far as the more

senior dems. Where are they what the hell are they doing?

This Terry Schiavo thing has been a total disaster for the republicans and nobody with the dems has done anything to counter this.

Bush basically has no opposition.

They need to really keep the heat on Delay.

This nuclear issue, nobody likes it and it could be another thing to backfire on the republicans and it would fry Frist if he has any desires on running for President.

Let's hope the leader shows up soon.

[KoKo]

10. I know...it's almost impossible to fantasize...DU'er's are so up-to-date

and if there was someone "emerging" we would know about it... Still there MUST BE SOMEONE NEW...that we don't quite know about but is buzzing under the radar in our brain?

I don't find them, but "DU HUGE" might just have a poster who sees what I don't at this point? :shrug:

Just know that I joined DU when there were maybe 30 posters...:D

[Reverend_Smitty]

7. me

I'm young, liberal, full of energy and have no criminal record...why not? :P I'm not exactly blown away by the competition

[Anarcho-Socialist]

9. You have my vote, do you have an informational pamphlet? n/t

[Reverend_Smitty]

48. no but I could work on one

lol...hey I won class president in 8th grade...that's gotta be worth something in the leadership column

[napi21]

11. No one knows! That's why when that happens, it's always a surprise!

I admit, I never heard of BC back in 1990.

I'm still much more in favor of a Gov. than a Senator for a candidate. I sure don't know all 50 Governors! I think there could have been a President Dean if he would have had better consultants to warn him about the extreme dirty tricks that are pulled in National politics.

I think we're all just going to have to wait and see what happens and watch for any shining stars!!

[KoKo]

15. I would go with a Governor, also. Allen from Virginia?

I just don't see one yet....but maybe DU'ers from other states do. :shrug: It would almost have to be one we have now, though...which put it into "retread or unknown" categories.

What about Allen from Virginia. I hear good things from DU'ers in his state about him.

[saltpoint]

I hope it's not George Allen, Republican Senator --

-- from Virginia!

He's bad news.

[FrenchieCat]

12. Why do we throw away our very good Democrats in search

for something/someone new?

Are we a disposable society to that extent?

Seeing all of the re-threads in Bush's cabinet (considering that Bush is Bush I's son) makes me think that opting for someone new "just because" is not a reliable strategy.

If someone New comes along and happens to be the one that ends up nominated by the Democrats....so be it. Some might consider Mark Warner "new" for that matter.

Of course, I have already found my "New" politician. He recently joined this party (he was an apolitical independent), has a great face, plenty of experience for a non-poll, speaks that's clear and no-nonsense, has a beautiful talented wife experienced in the matters of Wife to a Commander in Chief, and appears to have already ignited a loyal following. He's "new" enough for me AND I like what he says and how he says it. So I'm satisfy....anyways.

[KoKo]

26. My own opinion is: Because we've been there and done that...not saying

that one of them won't finally triumph...but I'm looking for someone totally new that we might have "missed." Or that might emerge. Just a fantasty post...speculation...that's all.

[IADEMO2004]

13. Al Franken

but he still would have to do the radio show.

[Mass]

14. It is frightening that you need a messiah

May be it is what is wrong in the Democratic Party, after all!

We need to know where we stand on issues, what define us, what we can agree to disagree on, then we will be able to find a candidate that represent us.

You may want to read an editorial by Bill Bradley that was published at the end of March. It was a perfect illustration of what went wrong with the Democratic Party in the last thirty years and what we need to change. Sorry, I dont have the link anymore.

Anyway, I know I dont want a messiah. I want to know the issues we are fighting for, what program we support, and who is the best candidate to bring this program to realization.

We dont want somebody to LEAD us, we want somebody to REPRESENT us.

[KoKo]

19. I agree...but in these times we only have two years...and Bush has

laid down the gauntlet about religion and thinks HE's the Messiah...so we've got to figure that the next one has got to have just a little of Clinton (who was very comfortable with religion but didn't push it in folks faces but was pragmatic). I'd like to see someone with Clinton's charisma but without his having to pander to DLC.

I want the next one to pander to Democratic Progressive Ideals (on that I'm at odds with our DU moderates and DLC/DNC leaning folks, though) and who will still have that "gift for language" that Clinton had. America might just be ready for an "intelligent, educated, President after 8 years of a neandethal simplistic simian speaking occupant in the White House. But, who knows..by then our education system might be so bad that simplistic linguists will be deciding who is the better person to run for President. Dumbed down so long we might not have discriminating folks out there. :-(

[saltpoint]

16. I like a lot of Democrats and while I agree that Bill Clinton --

-- has that unmatchable personal touch with people, I think our collective field looks way, way better than the GOP's collective field.

Clark is so dashing he should be in films. Dean is brainy and brash both -- I love that combo. Edwards is the most talented politician we've had since JFK. Feingold is an ace up the sleeve & will surprise a LOT of people, I think. Bayh's is bit too conservative for me but I don't count him out as a contender. Kucinich is always fighting the good fight and shame on the media for ignoring him. Hillary Clinton already has the Right peeing its pants. Richardson can broaden our circle to include more Hispanic voters as true citizens. And I don't think we've heard the last of John Kerry yet.

That's just the current crop. Down the line we have Obama leading an attractive collective field. I like our field a lot.

Let's just let the leaders emerge as they will and work together to kick THE CAT BUTCHER's ass.

[KoKo]

31. I don't disagree with what you say,but for this post I don't want to deal

with those who "are known." I want the "New Face," that we don't know about. Thanks for your post though...:-)'s

[mattclearing]

17. Mark Warner?

I don't know much about Warner, but it's advantageous to have an unknown quantity, and he looks like he would fit the bill better than most.

[TahitiNut]

18. Keep watching for the white smoke.

:eyes:

[KoKo]

20. OMG, Tahiti...don't do that to me...you usually have some insight....

If you are telling me Opus Dei...then "OUTTA HERE!" (which I was trying to do but can't find a place needing income for a few more years...)

[KoKo]

21. Okay so what about Virginia Governor, Mark Warner? A go?

a couple of responses..:shrug:

[Mass]

24. Depends what you stand for

I would say Feingold. At least he has not left the Democratic values (though I may disagree with a few individual votes).

[KoKo]

27. He had bad news today, though. Twice married...it isn't going to fly

after Bush...or in the next two years where we have the "fundies" breathing down our necks about "Family Values." Even though the "Fundies" have no values, it doesn't matter. They repeat the lie that they have them and the Corporate MSM supports that so Feingold just won't fly with that...and we know now after Kerry that you could put the BEST & BRIGHTEST of DEMS against the Repugs...and they'd find a way to latch on to something and make it a big deal. Two wives who could diss Feingold is too much of an unknown for me...sorry. He's a great guy legislatively, though, btw.

[Mass]

40. I doubt that

Too many Republicans are divorced, including quite a few who want to run.

As long as he is in good term with his former wives, I would not worry about that.

Anyway, Warner is not my type. I would love to see Boxer run.

[mattclearing]

30. See? Like I said, no one knows anything about him.

Hell, I live three miles from his state, and I know little about him.

[KoKo]

32. Sorry missed that...do you mean Feingold or Warner that you live

three miles from. :shrug:

[mattclearing]

34. Post 17.

I live in DC. My avatar is the DC Flag, modified for lack of voting rights.

[TahitiNut]

67. (grin) All I'm saying is that it's a bit like the "faithful" ...

... awaiting the Convocation's "word from God" about who'll be the next "leader" that'll lead them out of today's desert. (Sorry, mixing my religious metaphors.) Wannabe members of the Convocation are out politicking ... just like in the Vatican. Yes, Opus Deists (aka the fuck-rendering-unto-Caesar-we're-Caesar crowd) have their secret and not-so-secret slate of candidates, too. Just like that, too, is the notion that it's a "mystery." (One of my favorite lines from Shakespeare In Love: "I don't know. It's a mystery.") Well, a pig in a poke is a "mystery" too. It's the kind of thing that makes me glad I'm an independent.

At this point in time, it seems to me that nobody (that has anything better to do) wants to be the "leader" of the Democrats, since it's just a person to get blamed for the next losses or "failure to meet expectations."

Let me say this: The Democratic Party has never achieved an up-from-the-pits ascendancy without it coming from the grass roots. Whether it was labor or civil rights, it came from the bottom. It's a bottom-up party, unlike the Republican Party which is top-down. Right now, the "bottom" ain't doing anything.

[KoKo]

69. Well it's going to be "hell in a hand basket" trying to overcome Opus Dei

and the Isreali Lobby with the RW Fundies running it all...but some of us out here in the Red States are trying...but omg...push that boulder up the hill. Still the Top has become so bloated and full of itself they don't see the "insurgents" down below. :D So, maybe that's a good thing being one of those on the bottom trying to work up. :shrug: If they don't see us...and this crowd is now enjoying their pinnacle...then we are the "dark faces in stealth." The "undoing."

Well...that's my fantasy..anyway.

[chemp]

23. I'd do it, but

my skeletons have skeletons in their closet.
I've done enough drugs in my young life to un-pickle pickles.

[jedr]

25. how's 40 yrs in the wilderness sound to ya' ?

[KoKo]

29. No.............I'm hoping not..........we're almost there though, btw

:D counting back from Jack Kennedy...it might be a big chunk of it. :shrug:

[jedr]

35. two weeks ago I was posting about "tipping points"

and how this was the time for a leader to step out ...the polls were on our side and the Shiavo "come back for the weekend to pass a law" thing had everyone going "huh"....nobody has stepped out yet...just Lieberman turning into a repuke....got me.... if you can't work with this , what CAN you do!

[WLKjr]

28. meh....in about 20 yrs.

A giant red head from Ohio's country side......

[jedr]

37. Nostradamus said so...read it in the Sun

[WLKjr]

39. awesomo!

i'M GONNA be famous YAYYYYY!!!

[KoKo]

50. 20 years is TOO LONG...the Hell with Nostradamus...get butts in gear here!

In the end...it's up to us...we can change history...or try to...

[housewolf]

33. Eliot Spitzer

NY's Atty General, the guy who's taken on corrupt corporations, a real "man of the people", he's gonna be running for Governor of NY next year

[Mass]

42. Not ready

He was lousy against Stephanopoulos yesterday.

[KoKo]

45. That's a New One...and interesting...but what happened on Snuffy's show

that might have been a "turn off."

I like Spitzer alot! I'd not thought of him as Presidential..but maybe he COULD BE...why not.. what did "Turncoat George" say that dissed Spitzer? :shrug:

[Mass]

53. I do like Spitzer too

but it was not really clear why he was there except to say that Warren Buffet was testifying in one of his trials, but was probably not guilty of anything, and to be asked a couple of silly questions about him running as Governor. It may have been the fact that he was in this show that is really bad, but I did not think he came out good, more in a self promotion (a la Biden) than really caring about people.

It was weird because he is generally not like that. This said, he seems well placed to take back NY State. That is good news, but I doubt that would make him presidential material two years after being elected Governor and he seems faithful to Hillary.

[Lost Texan in NC]

60. Not a bad choice

:smoke:

[JHBowden]

63. Talks too fast.

Not too fast for me, but too fast and direct for southerners. People who talk like that seem to rub them the wrong way, e.g. Howard Dean.

From my Illinois perspective, I think Spitzer is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But I wonder if he could ever get the superficial stuff down to win in other parts of the country.

[demokatgurrl]

38. Barbara Boxer. n/t

[Nashyra]

41. Although I still think Clark

Chris Hienz wouldn't be so bad to see on the campaign trail.

[KoKo]

52. See now....Chris Heinz a "new face" is what I was getting at !

I wanted to get away from what are sort of the "known" candidates into the unknowns and challengers for this post. I really don't want to think of 2008...still burned from 04...so I can't think about anyone I know from this time...Wanted to move forward into "unknowns." :shrug:

[Clark2008]

43. Phil Bredesen. n/t

[KoKo]

47. Are you trying to "fun" my sincere post. Who the hell is this person? n/t

It's not nice to do this to honest posts...even for fun. :eyes:

[Mass]

54. Tenessee Governor

A little bit like Warner, but less well known.

[KoKo]

73. Sorry....I should have Googled...thanks...n/t

[patricia92243]

44. Is George Soros too old? I can't remember if he is foreign born.

[KoKo]

46. It would take alot of work for Soros to overcome the "Breaking the Bank"

thingy though. He would be mucho controversial..much as I do like him, although many DU'er's dont.

[Lost Texan in NC]

59. He is

[David Zephyr]

49. An inforned, angry and motivated American public.

I don't believe any individual can do it, but I do think every individual can help.

In keeping with your messianic thread, KoKo, "the kingdom of heaven is within you". It's up to us.

[KoKo]

55. Barring that the rest of America doesn't become what you say.....then I

say...Praise Jesus! It's in his hands to give us a Moses. :D...

Not being sarcastic...but when all else is out...one calls on higher authorities...given DU's diversity that means something different entirely to many "segments/sections/factions" of all of us...:-)'s

[Clarkie1]

51. There are no Messiahs.

It's all about us.

[KoKo]

What you say is absolutely true. It is...I agree. This was MY Fantasy

Post, though...to wonder about who else might emerge...and I do work on the ground here in my state...not an "armchair Dem."

But we need some major help...and so I was just dreaming. :-)'s

[kentuck]

56. Right on! There is no Messiah to to save us...

As Tull once said in song, "If Jesus saves, then he better save himself..."

It is difficult to get Democratic presidents. Since 1968, we have had Carter and Clinton. That's it. Our strength is with the people and the people's House. Let us take back the people's House and then worry about getting the Democrat in the White House.

America is set up for Big Business and Republicans. It always has been. Democrats in power in the White House are the exception - not the rule. This country is a pro-business and conservative nation in most respects. It is an illusion to think we are a "liberal" nation.

[KoKo]

61. Kentuck...a buzz went off in my head. Both Carter and Clinton/Men of God!

Carter was devout and Playboy and other mags and pundits put that up as a query/worry about him. Clinton was a throw back to the Old South with a silver tongue that could have co-opted the Devil himself to be a Democrat...but his speech came from time spent in Southern Churches where he learned how to talk...and learned how to deal with the "religious of the South."

Fake Bush from Andover can do his "Juss us folks here..Laura and me...and we say Praise Jesus for him curin' my drinkin' habit and we need God in the schools and Democracy for the heathens..yadda, yadda, yadda." But when Bush II says it, it still rings hollow without the REAL connection to the Jesus Folk and the South...so he becomes like his Poppy who was really the most "out of touch" President in my memory and he looks bad.

Political Rhetoric is important. Kerry had it and Edwards accent was so thick you could cut it...but the match didn't quite make it. It was the WAR in Iraq...and no amount of accents and rhetoric could overcome that Kerry/Edwards ditched the wing of the party that could have caused the landslide to overturn even the most corrupt Diebold Machines. :-(

Still one needs to "talk to the folks in America." That's what I'm looking for in my Fantasy Messiah...:D.

It's only a fantasy post...not so serious....as usual..:-)'s

Edited: TYPO's ...many!

[Lost Texan in NC]

58. There's one problem

:smoke:

I don't think it's as mush as the candidate, as it is the moral message Democrats are all baby killers and homos to the majority of the rest of the country.

[KoKo]

62. Don't you think that's going to go cold and stale though. Job loss,

Economic Decline,Massive US Debt, War Bills and Losses, Corporate Scandal after scandal, and bankruptcies, drug deaths from leading pharmaceuticals...all of it.

Cold and stale..worn out from the Repugs? :shrug:

[ZombieNixon]

64. Call me in 30 years.

:)

[KoKo]

65. GOOD FOR YOU! Looking out...we need long term recruits!

:-)'s There have to be more shining faces to push back these Criminals coming up.

My God...can you imagine Jenna taking Condi's place years from now in the Bush Dynasty?

(I know...not dissing that poor girl..look at her family...she's not had the examples of "family service" that Chelsea Clinton had..)

[Sugarbleus]

66. Activist, Actor....Martin Sheen .. =o) ..n/t

[KoKo]

70. Maybe it could be an actor...someone with big bucks and charisma....

:shrug:

[Stinky The Clown]

72. An actor, huh? How about this guy?

Everyone loves him. The Jimmy Stewart of our day. Good Dem, Lotsa bucks and lotsa name recognition.

But what we really need is a candidate who is not a cult name or won't become a fetish for the cultists in this country. We need a leader who supports those below him.

[Renew Deal]

68. Schweitzer

Just wait and see. . ;)

[KoKo]

71. Montana's Brian Schweitzer? I had to Google...and came up with dead

Albert...until I scrolled. First look says he's interesting. Maybe you need to push him a little on DU..giving his first name and state. :D for those of us who are thinking you mean the Doctor who disappeared in Africa way back in the last century.

[im10ashus]

74. Evan Bayh

Democratic Senator from Indiana. He's a former Governor of Indiana also. Has charisma, good looks and is moderate enough to win some red states back. As a former resident of Indiana (now living in in NYC by way of Chicago) I always found him to be a clear choice when voting. Plus, he has lineage. His father is/was Birch Bayh. Just my opinion.

[Tom Rinaldo]

75. Sorry, can't get past the Messiah lable

Not looking for one. Though I support someone for 2008 I am not sitting around waiting for the second coming. There is every day work to do. I'm doing some.