Draft John Kerry for President?

As cross-posted on the Democratic Daily:

Inspired by a column by Kapil Komireddi on The Lone Star Iconoclast, discussion followed on the John Kerry blog, about whether a ‘draft’ of Senator Kerry for 2008 would be possible. As the author of the John Kerry for President 2008 blog, where I have been advocating for a Kerry candidacy in 2008 since November, 2004, I feel a special responsibiity to participate in this discussion.

This is what I wrote this morning:

Draft John Kerry for President?

Those of us who still find little solace in the remaining field of candidates for President, still wonder if a John Kerry 2008 campaign is still a possibility.

I remember another Senator from Massachusetts who spoke about the assassination of his brother, Robert Kennedy, and eulogized:

“Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills. Yet many of the world’s great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the thirty-two-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal.

“These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

“Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change. And I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the globe.

“For the fortunate among us, there is the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. Like it or not, we live in times of danger and uncertainty. But they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. All of us will ultimately be judged and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves, on the effort we have contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped that effort.

“The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society.

We know that Senator Kerry has the courage, the wisdom, and the strength to accomplish much for America!

We know that America needs Senator Kerry at the helm far more than the junior Senator from Massachusetts desires to have that responsibility. But these times demand greatness from our leaders. And when our leaders have failed us, it demands that other leaders come forward who are willing to provide the vision that these times require.

Whether it is the health of our needy, the care of those afflicted by natural disasters, the stewardship of our very planet, the protection of our civil liberties, or the wisdom of our foreign policy, there has never been another time in history that challenged this nation to stay on its course as defined by our earliest patriots. There can be no satisfaction in watching wrongs remain un-righted. There can be no joy watching the Constitution of the United States trashed, the Katrina disaster unheeded, the very ice-caps of our planet being melted, and our special bond to even our allies across the globe being threatened.

It will not be an easy course for Senator Kerry to become the Democratic nominee. But nothing worth having is ever easy to reach. And our nation once more raises that call to leaders to come forth willing to lead and make those difficult decisions needed.

Senator Kerry we still have your back. America needs you to take charge.

If you are interested in Senator Kerry running for President 2008, and would like to encourage him to be a candidate, you can click HERE for a link that will open a form that goes directly to his United States Senate Office and you can fill in a message.

You can also click HERE for a link to the "Draft John Kerry for President in 2008" website which is also working to draft Senator Kerry. I am not affiliated with nor do I know who the operator to the Draft Kerry website is. But these are currently two venues for expressing your opinion on this matter.

Bob