Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>What is striking about the 2004 elections is that, both inside and
>outside the Democratic Party, leftists are more divided and can
>exercise even less power than before.
-The "left" had two candidates in the Dem primaries - Kucinich and -Sharpton. Neither took off. The "left" has a presidential candidate - -Nader (and Cobb if you're feeling generous). No takeoff there either. -So wuzzup with this?
Or maybe the "left" is broader than this and many leftists were supporting Dean and even Kerry. Neither Sharpton nor Kucinich was nominated by some convention of "the left." They basically nominated themselves. In fact, Dean's rise was far more the product of mass action and mobilization.
What is notable is what a tiny percentage of activists, demonstrators and left thinkers are actually members of "the left", so Yoshie and others continually claiming to speak for "the left" against "Democrats" or other non-leftists have little basis for claiming that mantle. The overwhelming majority of those who demonstrated in the streets against the Iraq War will be voting for Kerry next week. So Kerry is the candidate of "the left" by any reasonable measure.
Nathan Newman