The first time I volunteered in a Presidential Campaign was when I was a volunteer working on Senator Tom Harkin's 1992 Presidential Campaign. I was impressed by Senator Harkin's vision and ideas for the country, and it was nice to find a candidate that I really believed in.
And going back tonight and reading the words that he spoke when he announced his campaign for President, I found that his words still speak to me. And I was surprised to see that parts of his speech could have been written today.
But for the last four years, we've been led by a different vision of America and we've seen a different set of values coming out of the White House. For the last four years, their message has been that you should "get as much as you can in the shortest amount of time, take what you can, and to hell with everybody else."
Their vision is to pit race against race, class against class, sex against sex, and old against young. Their values say that those on the top are privileged and deserve special treatment and favors.
. . .
I believe there's a hunger in America. A hunger to turn away from the greed and selfishness of George Herbert Walker Bush and J. Danforth Quayle. I think the American people want to believe that we're more than a nation of 250 million greedy individuals each out for ourselves. That instead we're a nation, as FDR said, where the interests of one are bound by the welfare of all.
http://www.4president.org/...
Senator Harkin withdrew from the Presidential race in March of 1992. And in reporting on his withdrawal, The Los Angeles Times reported that Harkin
remains unshaken in his belief in populist causes and will continue to champion them "no matter what . . . for as long as I live."
http://articles.latimes.com/...
Fortunately, for the country this is exactly what Senator Harkin did.
In the years since Senator Harkin dropped out of the Presidential Race, I have volunteered on other campaigns. But from time to time I will hear Senator Harkin on the radio or television or will read his words in the newspaper and think what a great President Senator Harkin would have made.
So thank you Senator Harkin for sticking up for what you believed in and for fighting the good fight. And thank you for your years of service to the citizens of the State of Iowa and this nation. Your voice will be missed.