Reply #87: This is one of the best posts (and threads) I've read all year.

[Tatiana]

Kudos to you mbali. You've articulated much more eloquently my feelings on Dean, the primary process, the AA constituency and the Gore endorsement of Dean.

Regarding Dean... there's just something I can't put my finger on. Well, actually, I can. I believe he panders too much for votes. I believe, in an effort to gain more votes, he'll say what needs to be said to get elected, but will be hard-pressed to deliver come governing time. Dean is essentially a centrist politically, but I think the majority of his supporters are more left than he is. Why don't they support Kucinich, then? Is it Dean's policies and platform that gain him supporters or is it rhetoric?

I asked my grandmother (a life-long Democrat) what she thought of Dean. She said, "Well, at least he's tryin." She's an African-American, southern, retiree and she likes Clark, but appreciates that Dean is at least trying to address hot-bed issues such as the Confederate Flag. She likes Clark, however, not because of the fact that he's from her state, but she brought up an interesting point to me. She said she liked the fact that he was from the military. The military was one of the trailblazing institutions for integration. There is a large military presence in the South.

The military is a bit of a socialist institution in itself. People join to get a college education. They get their tuition paid, they get health care, housing, insurance... services that the rest of the civilian population could really benefit from. Who better to implement such services on a national level, than Clark, who has a familiarity with the way those social services run?

Basically, this thing isn't over, though Gore may have tried to tilt things a bit more in Dean's favor. If Dean is the nominee, I will support him regardless of the fact he isn't my preference, just like I supported Gore (though he wasn't my first choice). I have suspicions about Gore's motive in endorsing Dean at the time he did. I also happen to believe Gore benefited from widespread AA support because of loyalty to the party and to Clinton -- not out of the AA community being electrified and feeling a sense of kinship with Gore (as AAs have with Clinton).