The headline Karl Rove does not want to see: "Roemer selected as DNC Chairman." - A message of inclusion & tolerance from the Party of Inclusion.
I indicated earlier that I had some thoughts and reflections about my day in Atlanta at the Demcratic National Committee Southern Caucus meeting where seven candidates launched their bids for the DNC chairmanship, replacing retiring Terry McAuliffe.
An earlier 01-12-05 post entitled "The narrowed down list of DNC Chair candidates with any realistic hope of getting the job," gives the background of several of the candidates and reviews the current status of the Democratic Party's search for a DNC chair.
And as noted in my 01-09-05 post, Tom Baxter of ajc's PI provided indepth coverage of the meeting in the 01-09-05 ajc.
Prior to sharing my thoughts and reflections, I cannot resist telling you that I got a mild case of the bighead at the meeting. How so? I got to sit at the head table.
Not the one up front with Chairman Bobby Kahn and the seven candidates, but one in the audience. On my left sat Bill Shipp; on my right Bert Lance. Was I ever in hog heaven. What hallowed company! What great Georgia Democrats!
Now to my thoughts and impressions about the next DNC chair.
_______________
In mid-December a Howard Dean fan posted the following on a blog in connection with her assessment of former Indiana Congressman and 9/11 commission member Tim Roemer:
"Anti-Choice, Pro-Death Penalty, Voted for a ban on flag burning. [Roemer] appears to have strong support from Senator Harry Reid and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi [see CNN story on 12-14-04] . . . ."
I responded to this person with the following comment:
"My comment has nothing to do with Roemer, but are we at the stage in our party where the following are our litmus tests for being a good Democrat:
"A good Democrat must be: pro-choice, opposed to the death penalty, and against a ban on flag burning.
"I am pro-choice, not because I am a Democrat, but because I think it should be a woman's choice, and definitely not mine unless it happened to be my wife or daughter.
"But what if someone has religious convictions different from me; do we not have room in the party for such person? Howard Dean on Meet the Press recently said 'I have long believed that we ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats.'
"And Dean is taking the lead from President Bush, where even as Bush supported an amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, he emphasized tolerance, breaking with his most conservative Christian supporters, to repeatedly say he favored allowing states to recognize same-sex couples in other ways, like civil unions.
"The Republicans are outmaneuvering and killing us when we take such firm and inflexible stands on social issues about which many in America have divergent views. We must not allow this to continue.
"'Pro-Death Penalty:' Count me in, and as far as 'flag burning' goes, let the bastards go to Russia or Iran if they want to burn the American flag. Let them serve their country before they burn the symbol that others have died to give them the right to burn.
"We must begin now to prepare for 2006, and it seems to me reacting the way you have reacted to Roemer (not on the man but what you say are his views) plays into the hands of the Philistines."
_______________
During the 1960 presidential campaign then Sen. John F. Kennedy gave an important speech to skeptical Protestant ministers in Houston who, as did many Americans, worried that as president Kennedy might put his religion first, and his country second. In that speech Kennedy said:
"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no Catholic prelate would tell the President -- should he be Catholic -- how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote . . . .
"I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials . . . ."
"I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end -- where all men and all churches are treated as equals, where every man has the same right to attend or not to attend the church of his choice, where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind . . . ."
"That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe, a great office that must be neither humbled by making it the instrument of any religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose views on religion are his own private affair, neither imposed upon him by the nation, nor imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office."
"I want a Chief Executive whose public acts are responsible to all and obligated to none, who can attend any ceremony, service, or dinner his office may appropriately require of him to fulfill; and whose fulfillment of his Presidential office is not limited or conditioned by any religious oath, ritual, or obligation."
"I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic.
"I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me."
_______________
An 01-10-05 AP article announcing that Roemer would be a candidate for chairman of the DNC noted in part:
Former Rep. Tim Roemer said Sunday that he's joining the race to lead the Democratic National Committee -- a move certain to spark a heated debate about the abortion issue.
Roemer, a Catholic from Indiana who opposes abortion, said he respects the position of Democrats who favor abortion choice and have written it into their party platform.
"I'm not asking to rewrite the platform," he said on ABC's "This Week." "We have a majority of our party, an overwhelming majority of our party, that is pro-choice, and I respect that. But I think we should not only be more inclusive on this issue, especially in the Midwest and the South if a candidate has those views, we should have them in our party."
He said he's joining the race to expand the party both geographically and ideologically.
In the last election, "the Democratic Party lost 97 of the 100 fastest-growing counties in the United States. We have four senators, Democrat senators, left in the Deep South," Roemer said. He said Democrats also have lost ground with Hispanic voters, "churchgoing African-American voters" and Catholics.
_______________
A 01-09-05 AP article reporting on the DNC Southern Caucus meeting in Atlanta reported:
Roemer, in an interview, said that if elected chairman he would work harder to appeal to rural voters, not just in the South, but also in the Midwest, two areas that have gone solidly to Bush in the last two elections.
"Some people think we need to steer left. Some people think I would steer the party right. It's not about that. It's about expanding the base," Roemer said.
_______________
One of the best ways to get an accurate assessment of someone is from a friend or fellow professional you know, trust and respect, and who knows and has been associated with that person.
In my 12-15-05 post I shared such an assessment from my friend David Steele of Savannah. David is very active with the Chatham County Democrats, and recently wrote about former Rep. Tim Roemer on the Chatham County Democratic Committee Web site ChathamDems.com.
Steele reminds us that Roemer was urged to run by Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), something that such elected officials have confirmed.
Steele got to know Roemer while Steele was studying and teaching politcs at the University of Notre Dame. Later, the two campaigned together after Steele won a congressional primary in the adjacent congressional district.
According to Steele, Roemer "was an outstanding congressman, and he was a real friend on the campaign trail. I know him to be a man of integrity. I served on a neighborhood committee with Tim's father, Jim, and the Roemer family is just plain solid. Tim would bring a lot to the DNC in terms of the capacity to reach beyond our traditional constituencies, but I think he also has what it takes to shore up our base."
When the two campaigned togther in 1998, Roemer and Steele "shared" several counties in northern Indiana, as their district lines split those communities.
According to Steele, "I have rarely seen a public official at any level who engendered the level of trust and affection that activists in those communities had for Tim. That loyalty spoke volumes to me of what he represented and what he achieved as a public servant."
_______________
Currenty Roemer is president of the Center for National Policy, a Washington think tank whose "mission is to engage national leaders with new policy options and innovative programs designed to advance progressive ideas in the interest of all Americans."
His predecessors as president of such organization include Madeleine K. Albright, prior to her service as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; and the late Kirk O'Donnell, who was chief counsel to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill.
Leon E. Panetta is currently a member of the organization's Board of Directors. The founding chair of this organization was Terry Sanford, whose career included service as governor of North Carolina, president of Duke University and U.S. Senator. Cyrus R. Vance and Edmund S. Muskie, two former U.S. Secretaries of State, also chaired the Center's Board of Directors.
Past Board members of the Center for National Policy have included Robert E. Rubin, prior to his term as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas S. Foley; former Republican members of Congress Jack Buechner and Rod Chandler, and former Democratic members of Congress John D. Brademas and Michael D. Barnes.
I got this information from the organization's Web site, and also at such Web site there is a link to the following background information about Roemer:
Mr. Roemer is President of the Center for National Policy, a distinguished fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
Prior to joining CNP, Roemer was a partner at Johnston and Associates. From 1991-2003, Roemer represented the Third District of Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Science. Before running for Congress, he served on the staffs of John Brademas of Indiana (1978-1979) and Senator Dennis DeConcini of Arizona (1985-1989).
He holds a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, Calif., and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Notre Dame University. While he was in Congress, Roemer was recognized for his successful leadership on bipartisan legislation to balance the budget, reform welfare, improve the affordability of higher education, and reform elementary and secondary education for school children. He was appointed to the Intelligence Committee's Task Force on Homeland Security and Terrorism and served on the bipartisan Joint Inquiry, which issued a report on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was the key author of the legislation in the House of Representatives to establish the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
_______________
With respect to being impressed with any of the candidates in Atlanta, generally speaking, I was not with the exception of Tim Roemer.
Judging from comments I heard, I believe this is the impression of many if not most who attended the meeting -- excepting from the foregoing the Howard Dean supporters -- and a statement often made about Roemer after the meeting was that he came off well in Atlanta.
A 12-10-04 post entitled in part "How to stop Howard Dean, the 2nd time. History is repeating itself," began:
"The race to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee is shaping up as a retread of January’s Iowa caucuses, with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean emerging as the early front-runner and the Democratic establishment furiously scrambling for a candidate to beat him, according to senior Democratic strategists and consultants."
That post also noted:
"'There’s a dearth of good candidates,' said a senior Democratic strategist, who insisted on anonymity to speak more candidly. 'Sure, Dean is not an unknown quantity and Martin Frost is not an unknown, but it doesn’t seem like the A list.'
"'That’s a commentary for how we feel as a party right now,' he added."
This statement reflecting general party sentiment about there being a dearth of good candidates was made prior to Roemer being persuaded to consider making a run for the position.
After the DNC Southern Caucus meeting Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin hosted a reception that was well attended and fun (and at which the Secretary of State made an appearance). The Mayor also participated in presenting questions to the candidates.
Having mentioned the Mayor, I believe I have covered all of the major dignitaries in attendance Saturday save one, Georgia's former Sen. Max Cleland.
Cleland was there making the rounds to show his support for Tim Roemer.
As I noted in my 12-27-04 post:
"[W]e do appreciate the majority of our party, the party faithful. It is our base, and we know that in order to win future elections, we must we expand our base and appeal to other voters without alienating our base, the party faithful."
President Kennedy also said the following in his speech to the skeptical Protestants in 1960:
"Whatever issue may come before me as President, if I should be elected, on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject, I will make my decision in accordance with these views -- in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise."
"But I do not intend to apologize for these views to my critics of either Catholic or Protestant faith; nor do I intend to disavow either my views or my church in order to win this election."
Abortion was not an issue before the late 1960's, and thus was not mentioned by Kennedy.
Selecting a person who can lead our party to victory who happens to have a different but tolerant position on abortion should not alienate our party's base. No person in our party is going to be denied the right to choose on account of such selection.
I think it is very possible that one of Karl Rove's greatest worries at the present -- given his concern for the mid-term elections in 2006 -- is that our party will perform a stroke of genuius, right out of his own playbook, and select Tim Roemer as chairman of the DNC.
Here's to hoping it does.
An earlier 01-12-05 post entitled "The narrowed down list of DNC Chair candidates with any realistic hope of getting the job," gives the background of several of the candidates and reviews the current status of the Democratic Party's search for a DNC chair.
And as noted in my 01-09-05 post, Tom Baxter of ajc's PI provided indepth coverage of the meeting in the 01-09-05 ajc.
Prior to sharing my thoughts and reflections, I cannot resist telling you that I got a mild case of the bighead at the meeting. How so? I got to sit at the head table.
Not the one up front with Chairman Bobby Kahn and the seven candidates, but one in the audience. On my left sat Bill Shipp; on my right Bert Lance. Was I ever in hog heaven. What hallowed company! What great Georgia Democrats!
Now to my thoughts and impressions about the next DNC chair.
_______________
In mid-December a Howard Dean fan posted the following on a blog in connection with her assessment of former Indiana Congressman and 9/11 commission member Tim Roemer:
"Anti-Choice, Pro-Death Penalty, Voted for a ban on flag burning. [Roemer] appears to have strong support from Senator Harry Reid and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi [see CNN story on 12-14-04] . . . ."
I responded to this person with the following comment:
"My comment has nothing to do with Roemer, but are we at the stage in our party where the following are our litmus tests for being a good Democrat:
"A good Democrat must be: pro-choice, opposed to the death penalty, and against a ban on flag burning.
"I am pro-choice, not because I am a Democrat, but because I think it should be a woman's choice, and definitely not mine unless it happened to be my wife or daughter.
"But what if someone has religious convictions different from me; do we not have room in the party for such person? Howard Dean on Meet the Press recently said 'I have long believed that we ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats.'
"And Dean is taking the lead from President Bush, where even as Bush supported an amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, he emphasized tolerance, breaking with his most conservative Christian supporters, to repeatedly say he favored allowing states to recognize same-sex couples in other ways, like civil unions.
"The Republicans are outmaneuvering and killing us when we take such firm and inflexible stands on social issues about which many in America have divergent views. We must not allow this to continue.
"'Pro-Death Penalty:' Count me in, and as far as 'flag burning' goes, let the bastards go to Russia or Iran if they want to burn the American flag. Let them serve their country before they burn the symbol that others have died to give them the right to burn.
"We must begin now to prepare for 2006, and it seems to me reacting the way you have reacted to Roemer (not on the man but what you say are his views) plays into the hands of the Philistines."
_______________
During the 1960 presidential campaign then Sen. John F. Kennedy gave an important speech to skeptical Protestant ministers in Houston who, as did many Americans, worried that as president Kennedy might put his religion first, and his country second. In that speech Kennedy said:
"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no Catholic prelate would tell the President -- should he be Catholic -- how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote . . . .
"I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials . . . ."
"I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end -- where all men and all churches are treated as equals, where every man has the same right to attend or not to attend the church of his choice, where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind . . . ."
"That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe, a great office that must be neither humbled by making it the instrument of any religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose views on religion are his own private affair, neither imposed upon him by the nation, nor imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office."
"I want a Chief Executive whose public acts are responsible to all and obligated to none, who can attend any ceremony, service, or dinner his office may appropriately require of him to fulfill; and whose fulfillment of his Presidential office is not limited or conditioned by any religious oath, ritual, or obligation."
"I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic.
"I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me."
_______________
An 01-10-05 AP article announcing that Roemer would be a candidate for chairman of the DNC noted in part:
Former Rep. Tim Roemer said Sunday that he's joining the race to lead the Democratic National Committee -- a move certain to spark a heated debate about the abortion issue.
Roemer, a Catholic from Indiana who opposes abortion, said he respects the position of Democrats who favor abortion choice and have written it into their party platform.
"I'm not asking to rewrite the platform," he said on ABC's "This Week." "We have a majority of our party, an overwhelming majority of our party, that is pro-choice, and I respect that. But I think we should not only be more inclusive on this issue, especially in the Midwest and the South if a candidate has those views, we should have them in our party."
He said he's joining the race to expand the party both geographically and ideologically.
In the last election, "the Democratic Party lost 97 of the 100 fastest-growing counties in the United States. We have four senators, Democrat senators, left in the Deep South," Roemer said. He said Democrats also have lost ground with Hispanic voters, "churchgoing African-American voters" and Catholics.
_______________
A 01-09-05 AP article reporting on the DNC Southern Caucus meeting in Atlanta reported:
Roemer, in an interview, said that if elected chairman he would work harder to appeal to rural voters, not just in the South, but also in the Midwest, two areas that have gone solidly to Bush in the last two elections.
"Some people think we need to steer left. Some people think I would steer the party right. It's not about that. It's about expanding the base," Roemer said.
_______________
One of the best ways to get an accurate assessment of someone is from a friend or fellow professional you know, trust and respect, and who knows and has been associated with that person.
In my 12-15-05 post I shared such an assessment from my friend David Steele of Savannah. David is very active with the Chatham County Democrats, and recently wrote about former Rep. Tim Roemer on the Chatham County Democratic Committee Web site ChathamDems.com.
Steele reminds us that Roemer was urged to run by Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), something that such elected officials have confirmed.
Steele got to know Roemer while Steele was studying and teaching politcs at the University of Notre Dame. Later, the two campaigned together after Steele won a congressional primary in the adjacent congressional district.
According to Steele, Roemer "was an outstanding congressman, and he was a real friend on the campaign trail. I know him to be a man of integrity. I served on a neighborhood committee with Tim's father, Jim, and the Roemer family is just plain solid. Tim would bring a lot to the DNC in terms of the capacity to reach beyond our traditional constituencies, but I think he also has what it takes to shore up our base."
When the two campaigned togther in 1998, Roemer and Steele "shared" several counties in northern Indiana, as their district lines split those communities.
According to Steele, "I have rarely seen a public official at any level who engendered the level of trust and affection that activists in those communities had for Tim. That loyalty spoke volumes to me of what he represented and what he achieved as a public servant."
_______________
Currenty Roemer is president of the Center for National Policy, a Washington think tank whose "mission is to engage national leaders with new policy options and innovative programs designed to advance progressive ideas in the interest of all Americans."
His predecessors as president of such organization include Madeleine K. Albright, prior to her service as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; and the late Kirk O'Donnell, who was chief counsel to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill.
Leon E. Panetta is currently a member of the organization's Board of Directors. The founding chair of this organization was Terry Sanford, whose career included service as governor of North Carolina, president of Duke University and U.S. Senator. Cyrus R. Vance and Edmund S. Muskie, two former U.S. Secretaries of State, also chaired the Center's Board of Directors.
Past Board members of the Center for National Policy have included Robert E. Rubin, prior to his term as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas S. Foley; former Republican members of Congress Jack Buechner and Rod Chandler, and former Democratic members of Congress John D. Brademas and Michael D. Barnes.
I got this information from the organization's Web site, and also at such Web site there is a link to the following background information about Roemer:
Mr. Roemer is President of the Center for National Policy, a distinguished fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
Prior to joining CNP, Roemer was a partner at Johnston and Associates. From 1991-2003, Roemer represented the Third District of Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Science. Before running for Congress, he served on the staffs of John Brademas of Indiana (1978-1979) and Senator Dennis DeConcini of Arizona (1985-1989).
He holds a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, Calif., and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Notre Dame University. While he was in Congress, Roemer was recognized for his successful leadership on bipartisan legislation to balance the budget, reform welfare, improve the affordability of higher education, and reform elementary and secondary education for school children. He was appointed to the Intelligence Committee's Task Force on Homeland Security and Terrorism and served on the bipartisan Joint Inquiry, which issued a report on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was the key author of the legislation in the House of Representatives to establish the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
_______________
With respect to being impressed with any of the candidates in Atlanta, generally speaking, I was not with the exception of Tim Roemer.
Judging from comments I heard, I believe this is the impression of many if not most who attended the meeting -- excepting from the foregoing the Howard Dean supporters -- and a statement often made about Roemer after the meeting was that he came off well in Atlanta.
A 12-10-04 post entitled in part "How to stop Howard Dean, the 2nd time. History is repeating itself," began:
"The race to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee is shaping up as a retread of January’s Iowa caucuses, with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean emerging as the early front-runner and the Democratic establishment furiously scrambling for a candidate to beat him, according to senior Democratic strategists and consultants."
That post also noted:
"'There’s a dearth of good candidates,' said a senior Democratic strategist, who insisted on anonymity to speak more candidly. 'Sure, Dean is not an unknown quantity and Martin Frost is not an unknown, but it doesn’t seem like the A list.'
"'That’s a commentary for how we feel as a party right now,' he added."
This statement reflecting general party sentiment about there being a dearth of good candidates was made prior to Roemer being persuaded to consider making a run for the position.
After the DNC Southern Caucus meeting Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin hosted a reception that was well attended and fun (and at which the Secretary of State made an appearance). The Mayor also participated in presenting questions to the candidates.
Having mentioned the Mayor, I believe I have covered all of the major dignitaries in attendance Saturday save one, Georgia's former Sen. Max Cleland.
Cleland was there making the rounds to show his support for Tim Roemer.
As I noted in my 12-27-04 post:
"[W]e do appreciate the majority of our party, the party faithful. It is our base, and we know that in order to win future elections, we must we expand our base and appeal to other voters without alienating our base, the party faithful."
President Kennedy also said the following in his speech to the skeptical Protestants in 1960:
"Whatever issue may come before me as President, if I should be elected, on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject, I will make my decision in accordance with these views -- in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise."
"But I do not intend to apologize for these views to my critics of either Catholic or Protestant faith; nor do I intend to disavow either my views or my church in order to win this election."
Abortion was not an issue before the late 1960's, and thus was not mentioned by Kennedy.
Selecting a person who can lead our party to victory who happens to have a different but tolerant position on abortion should not alienate our party's base. No person in our party is going to be denied the right to choose on account of such selection.
I think it is very possible that one of Karl Rove's greatest worries at the present -- given his concern for the mid-term elections in 2006 -- is that our party will perform a stroke of genuius, right out of his own playbook, and select Tim Roemer as chairman of the DNC.
Here's to hoping it does.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 6:07 AM
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