The Difference

Someone asked on the radio today what happened to Democrats...they used to want to free the oppressed from dictators and applauded the success of minorities in this country, but they fall silent on people like Powell, Rice, Gonzales, Barreto, Paige, etc. I don't believe that Democrats stopped wanting these things. I believe they want to feed the starving and free the oppressed.

I also believe they want the promotion of highly skilled and successful women and minorities to positions of power in our government. I just believe they don't want Republicans doing it. They don't like Bush nominating Rice, the first black female to hold the position first held by Thomas Jefferson (a slave owner) because it's a Republican doing it and that runs contrary to their mythologizing of Republicans being racist.

The other thing you should notice is how Democrats love to brag about their difficult and poor childhood's. President Bush spoke of Condi's upbringing in a segregated south and her meager family means. When Condi spoke she mentioned none of these things. This demonstrates the difference between Republicans and Democrats.

Democrats want to use their upbringing to convince the public they are one of them. Today, when Senator Reid gave a press conference he spent a tremendous amount of time describing how poor he was as a child. John Edwards always spoke of how his father was a millworker. Bill Clinton is the man from Hope, Arkansas. John Kerry let everyone know he was a war hero in Vietnam.

But we never heard Dick Cheney campaigning that he grew up in very similar circumstances as John Edwards. We will not hear about how Alberto Gonzales, the first Latino Attorney General, grew up in a house with only two bedrooms and that didn't have a phone until he was in his teens. Colin Powell did not begin every speech discussing his family's challenges.

This is why the Democrats do not connect with mainstream America. People don't want people who use their hardships (that everyone faces) as credentials. They want to hear about people's accomplishments--and they don't want the person telling them about their successes always being THAT person (e.g. John Kerry). I think that's something to consider...