An embattled president from TX mired in a quagmire of a war facing a long time senator. Hmm, sounds familiar. Im sure many have done diaries on this, but the comparison is pretty stark. Could John Kerry be our Barry Goldwater? I dont know, but we need to look at that as an example on how to build a progressive party from the ground up. Something that might make people feel better: Goldwater won just six states and 39% of the vote in 1964 and Republicans were able to build on that. Kerry got the second most votes ever, more than Reagan in 84(56 million) and came within slim majorities in IA, NM, OH, and NV to becoming president. We can build on this! .
But I think the most important lesson we can take from the GOP in 1964 is that we need to build progressivism from a bottom up. That's how the GOP did it with conservatism. In 1968, they nominated Nixon, who really wasnt a conservative, in fact, I think Goldwater hated him. But they were patient, building from the ground up, and were rewarded with Ronald Reagan in the 80s. That's what we need to do. Get a more centrist guy in there for president, work from the ground up, and be patient. Who the centrist guy is I dont know.