Who Speaks For The Democrats: Kennedy and Clinton or Daschle and Pilosi?

It seems to me that those of us who are conservatives, looking on from the outside, have been watching a fascinating battle being fought among America's liberals ever since President Bush gave his state-of-the-Union address. The question is not about where the liberals stand: they seem well unified in their belief that we should appease Iraq. Liberal activist groups, from Hollywood to aggressive women's groups, can't wait to go to the streets and re-activate 1960's style anti-war marches.

But ... to me at least ... the interesting battle is among the Democrats. At the Washington level they also seem unified in their appeasement stand, and their political strategy appears to be to do everything possible to delay making Saddam Hussein live up to the Iraq agreements at the end of the Gulf War. But ... the interesting tug-of-war among the Democrats is this: who speaks for their party? Logically, it would be Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader, and Nancy Pilosi, the House minority leader from San Francisco ... and you do see them occasionally. But then Ted Kennedy will get in the act and lecture both Bush and the Democrats. And then Hillary Clinton jumps in to tell us what the Democrats really think. There are about a half-dozen Democrats running for President competing with each other to get their faces on TV, no matter what they say. And then there is Zell Miller, an old-line Southern Democrat who sounds for the world like George W. Bush. It's going to be interesting to see who ends up speaking for the Democrats. At the moment it looks like a draw between Teddy Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.

This is Gordon Sawyer, and may the wind always be at your back.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/2/183092