Cobb, Not Nader, is Green Pick

From the Nation:

After twice seeking the presidency as the nominee of the Green Party, and playing a critical role in building it into a force capable of delivering almost two-dozen state ballot lines and a nationwide infrastructure of volunteers, Ralph Nader turned his back on the party and announced earlier this year that he would mount an independent campaign for the nation's top job. As that campaign struggled to gain ballot lines and volunteer support, however, it began to look as if Nader could use the help of the Greens. Thus, with party delegates gathering here for Saturday's national convention vote on who to back for the presidency, Nader and his backers made what at times looked like a frantic attempt to secure the endorsement of the Greens.

On the eve of the convention, Nader selected a prominent Green, two-time California gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo, as his vice presidential running mate. Though he did not make a formal bid for the party's nomination, he signaled that he wanted its endorsement. He expressed sympathy with the party platform. His backers flooded the convention hotel and hall with green-and-yellow "Nader/Camejo 2004" posters and, on the night before the presidential vote, Nader spoke by phone to a rally where the crowd chanted "Run Ralph Run."

It was too little, too late.

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I think that the Greens made a good move here. A political party needs to be about much more than a strong personality--just ask Ross Perot's rudderless Reform Party about that. While Nader did a great deal to bring the national spotlight down on the Green Party during his run in 2000, his weird, almost arrogant behavior as of late has shown that he is not as interested in building a viable party in the long term as he is in running for president, and more power to him--his issues are still, by and large, my issues, too, but I've pretty much come to the conclusion that one man cannot change the political system that exists now. Actually, I'm beginning to think that Nader is trying to shape the debate, rather than gain political power, and he may very well be having some success with that, at least within the Democratic Party.

This David Cobb guy sounds pretty cool. Of course, he won't win, but that's not really the point, either. His nomination shows that the Greens are going on without Nader's powerful personality, that they're getting out from under the temporary shadow that he cast: to me, the meaning of this is that the Greens are in it for the long haul. A few years from now when global warming has gotten so bad that even NASCAR fans are outraged with the corporate power establishment, and both the Democrats and the GOP are stuttering like idiots, the Green Party will be ready to sweep into power.

I hope.

Of course, I'm taking an Ambien, holding my nose, and voting for Kerry come November. I'll be living in Louisiana by then, and I think that state may very well be up for grabs; I'd never forgive myself if Bush won there by a small margin. If all goes well, I'll have plenty of vitriol here at Real Art to spew at conservative Kerry early in 2005. Really, his only plus is that he's not a talking chimp like Bush: he's going to screw up for sure, just not as badly W.

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