Please, Clinton supporters, take a lesson from a guy who's been there.
As a perfect-stormer Deaniac who ultimately failed to fully support John Kerry, I deeply appreciate what you are going through.
We can go on and on about the differences between Dean '04 and Clinton '08. Ultimately, you and I both face the effective conclusion of our candidate's campaigns before he or she concedes, and certainly before the rules say we must stop.
The heart says go on. Believe me, I know the feeling.
And then, when we are forced to stop, the viciousness, anger, bitterness, and spite boil up.
What comes next? I can tell you.
I did not take command of myself, drive out that bitterness, and embrace the nominee.
I did not fully commit my emotional, intellectual, rhetorical, and practical strengths one hundred percent to him.
And we lost.
Believe me, as painful as it was to watch Howard depart the race, watching the Bush cabal cling to power and commit deeper and more horrid atrocities on the people and the planet continues to be a personal agony that dwarfs my 2004 pains.
To this day, I feel responsibility for my part in the global agony of the past four years due to my tepid support for Kerry. As we take credit for our actions, we must take responsibility for our inaction.
To be clear, let me explain what it meant to have "tepid support" from me:
- I voted for Kerry.
- I phone-banked for Kerry exactly once, for three hours.
- I walked the precinct for him (technically, for the Democratic Party) exactly once, for four hours.
Compare that to what I did for Howard Dean:
- I raised thousands of dollars for the Dean campaign.
- I wrote and mailed dozens of letters to total strangers in other states to convince them to support Howard Dean.
- I wrote stacks of emails to my extended social network, and wrote essays here on DailyKos, to persuade voters and encourage supporters.
- I flew out to New Hampshire -- and then to Iowa -- in the dead of winter on my own dime and my own time, walking the streets and phone banking and knocking on doors and doing whatever was needed, for weeks.
Please. PLEASE. Do not make my mistake.
Learn to love the nominee. Yes, I mean love. Because making that 75th phone call of the night, ringing that last doorbell on the block, and stuffing that 343rd envelope will demand much more than an intellectual commitment.
That last letter of the evening, the one you write and mail to Jane Smith of Youngstown, Ohio, will change her mind if your heart is truly in it.
And when Ohio goes blue, you will have the joy and satisfaction of knowing that you, personally, passionately, made that happen.
I had months to bounce back from my pain, get back in the saddle, and fight for Kerry's election. And still I failed to do so.
You have half that time.
May you be a better person than I. May you have the strength to give your heart to another candidate, a former enemy, while there is still time for us to make a difference.