Here's the deal. We, all of us, are suffering from withdrawal. We banked on Kerry to take us forward, to banish the demons and ghosts and creeps and vampires within the ultra-right, the neo-conland, the religious right.
Well, turns out Kerry wasn't the one, at least not today, and so we find ourselves leaderless.
I think we need a new icon, a new face, a "brave and fearless leader" to stand up and speak for us (not that we don't have terrific outlets like DailyKos where we can speak for ourselves, but you get the idea...). He or She has to be someone who will grab the attention of at least the SCLM and even the White House press corps. So who will it be?
Every movement throughout history has been identified with and has been mobilized by some kind of leader. With Kerry's disbanding the campaign today (with votes left to count), the recent object of our focused energy is now probably going to slip silently back into the Senate. Edwards, and his seemingly boundless enthusiasm, will also fade until maybe 2006 when it is time to search for another Democratic presidential candidate.
In the meantime, who do you think has the vision and the voice and the strength of will to speak truth to power? And among those, who would we accept as a rally-point? I've listed a fairly eclectic group of possibles below, based on voices I believe are not as afraid as most in the face of the "Rove machine."
Maybe we don't need a leader, but I think that history tends to view opinionated masses less kindly when they don't have a single voice to unify the message and serve as the focal point. Perhaps we should begin priming a progressive candidate for 2008 now...
This is my first diary here, and it is more of a question than a statement. May the discussion help us to look forward instead of back.