The Folkbum Endorsement:
John Kerry

So what if I'm a little late? Yeah, yeah, I'm behind Al Sharpton, I know. But here it is: Folkbum's Rambles and Rants officially endorses John Kerry for president.

(For those of you looking to save time: The short version of this is simply that Kerry is not Bush. Period. Otherwise, read on.)

I've spent the last year alternately dismissing and criticizing the Kerry candidacy. In my OSP "Boston Bound" series last November, I put John Kerry's chances of winning the Democratic nomination just barely above Joe Lieberman's. Lieberman lost his Joementum right about where I expected him to, but Kerry came out of nowhere to win Iowa and all but three contests since. That says less, I think (I hope!), about my prognosticatory skills than it does about Kerry's tenacity. Tenacity, in this race, is a Good Thing.

Not that long ago on this very blog I reamed Kerry for his disingenuous "not this war" justifications of his vote in favor of the October 2002 Iraq War Resolution. I wrote:

Kerry and Clark now seem to want to populate the middle, saying that a yes vote in October 2002 was the only way to go, since without it, there would have been no likelihood of a peaceful solution. I say that's bunk. Why? Simple:

You cannot give a lighter to an arsonist and expect him not to start a fire!

They had to have known that Bush would go to war. Unquestionably, they had to know. I mean, I knew, and, as I said, I don't have squat in the experience department.

But I think those who say Kerry will be able to sell that argument better than Dean could have sold his (and my) "I knew better" argument may be right. (Though I'm still very proud of the arsonist line!)

I have railed in outrage at his dirty tricks, notably against my guy Howard Dean, during the primary. I have also poked fun at Kerry for supposed Botox use; I even savaged his maddening robocalling.

In short, I have not been kind to John Kerry. And I still have serious personal reservations about the man. I do not think he is a nice man, and I am uncertain that he will even be a good president. But I will not, cannot, advocate a vote based on personality. The world (well, the part of the world that watched ABC's "World News Tonight" the night of the Wisconsin primary) heard me say that this election is the most important one of my short lifetime. Our only course of action is to oust Bush and the crony-ocracy running Washington right now and, like it or not, the two-party system we labor under means Kerry is the man to do it.

But merely saying that the enemy of my enemy is friend is not enough. Voting against Bush is noble, yes, but it's also important to vote for somebody. (I think many people who voted Nader in 2000--and many contemplating voting for him now--did so to vote against Bush and Gore; while the Greens have many laudable elements in their platform, Nader himself is nowhere near qualified to be president.) So, I will try to do the short version of what there is to like about Kerry.

For one, Kerry, like Howard Dean, opted out of the primary spending caps. That means his campaign can keep raising and spending money between now and the convention without regard to any limits--the same as Bush. And, in the three weeks since Kerry really wrapped up the nomination, Rove and company have been rolling out one ad blitz per week. If they keep this up--and with their near-unlimited budget, it's a very real possibility--we need a candidate like Kerry who has both the wherewithal and cajones to respond.

Okay, okay, that's not reason to vote for him in November, I know, I know. How about this one: John Kerry fights dirty. That is, of course, one reason not to like him, but to date he has really kept a tight grip on the reins of the debate, setting the tone and the agenda. His "slip" of calling the Bush crew crooked and liars was genius; his choice not to correct the reporter who mistakenly transcribed "foreign leaders" instead of "more leaders" was also great. He has taken Bush head on, demanding monthly debates and directly addressing the Bush credibility gap.

Still not convinced? Want something on policy? Fine: Education, near and dear to my heart. Kerry will institutionalize education funding in a mandatory Education Trust. He'll fully fund ESEA (aka NCLB) and IDEA (the special education law). Plus he wants to earmark $50 billion over two years to offset state education costs, prevent cuts, and ease property tax burdens. Plus a $10,000 tax deduction for teachers like me in low-performing schools and underserved districts (hey, if the billionaires can vote their pocketbooks, so can I), and a plan to add 350,000 new teachers to our nation's public schools and funds for mentor teachers.

All right, so my fiscal and career health may not swing it for you either, I get it. I'll try another one: the environment. You do care about the earth, don't you? Kerry's plan has a distinct focus on renewables and conservation as key components of reducing dependence on foreign oil. There's also this:

Kerry also pledged to create a national health tracking system for chronic diseases and environmental health hazards.  The proposal calls for tracking asthma and other debilitating illnesses linked to environmental causes that are not now monitored in any comprehensive manner.  It would place an environmental health officer in each state and coordinate pollution and disease data nationally. [. . .] He proposed creating a new Assistant Administrator position for Environmental Justice at the EPA and will revive the Office of Environmental Justice. Today, this office is under-staffed, under-funded, and undermined on a daily basis. Kerry will bring life back to this office so that it can serve as a resource and advocate for community activists all over America.

John Kerry will also build on President Clinton’s 1994 Executive Order to include environmental justice in laws, regulations and policies. President Clinton required all federal agencies to address environmental injustice, past, present and future and required federal agencies to develop strategies to bring justice to Americans who are suffering disproportionately from environmental impacts. President Bush pledged to uphold this Clinton initiative but he has fallen short of that goal.

As an urban educator (yeah, yeah, I'm back to that), I can assure you that there is nothing more insidious--urban crime included--than the ubiquitous environmental hazards, from lead paint to asthma-inducing pollution. When kids aren't healthy, they don't learn. When brownfields go undeveloped, the city suffers. We need environmental justice.

And speaking of unhealthy kids, Kerry's got a decent health care package, too. It's not as doable as Dean's plan or comprehensive as Kucinich's, or even as innovative as Gephardt's. But it's a plan, including allowing anyone and everyone to sign up for the same coverage as currently provided to members of Congress, a plan to control costs, and guaranteed care for all kids. It's a little piecemeal, but then so was Dean's, and Dean is a doctor.

And one last one for you: Not voting this year, or voting third party--either of which is your right and entirely your prerogative--could lead to four more years of Bush and, more frightening perhaps even than what he might do to hasten Armageddon, the appointment of more justices to the Scalia-Thomas wing of the Supreme Court. If you value a woman's right to choose, the fourth amendment, the right to sleep with whomever you choose (and who chooses you--an important caveat), then you must accept that Kerry is the clear choice in that regard.

I haven't dug out the credit card yet for Kerry, but I probably will eventually. At the very least come fall I will be walking and calling for him. I really, really hope you all will do the same.

More information at Kerry's website. That is all.