Because of our overwhelming majority of Democratic registered voters in DC, Obama is projected to win 90% of the vote (Kerry/Edwards got 89% in 2004). Our 3 electoral votes go to the ticket with the highest vote total, so Obama will get all 3. Remember that the national vote does not determine the winner of the Presidential election, only the electoral votes.
The DC Statehood Green Party is a member party of the Green Party of the United States. In DC's Presidential Primary of February 12, 2008 Cynthia McKinney won a plurality of our Party's vote with 41%. Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente were selected by the Green Party Convention in July to be our Presidential/Vice Presidential candidates for this election.
I am proud to belong to the DC Statehood Green Party and the Green Party of the United States with such outstanding candidates as Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente! McKinney and Clemente have systematically critiqued the domestic and foreign policy record of the Democratic Party leadership and Obama/Biden's articulated platform. I strongly endorse their critique, while recognizing that Obama is without question preferable to McCain. First, I believe that the election of our first (acknowledged) African American President will be an historic blow against racism. Second, especially on the domestic front, Obama's pledges are preferable to McCain's, with Obama's plan to progressively restructure our federal taxes standing out. However, Obama's foreign policy is clearly committed to continuing U.S. imperial project, especially with respect to expanding the war in Afghanistan, refusing to stand up for human rights of both Palestinians and Israelis in a just settlement (for more on this issue go to: http://www.endtheoccupation.org, the website of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation). Further, Obama's pledge to expand the U.S. military budget would make it virtually impossible to convert our unsustainable fossil fuel-based economy to renewables in time to avoid global warming catastrophe looming in a decade unless we act now.
By speaking truth to power, the McKinney/Clemente ticket will help defeat McCain by educating our electorate to the real issues. Obama has been moving to the center, triangulating the progressive voters, taking them for granted. This actually helps McCain. The McKinney/Clemente campaign will pressure Obama to sound more like a Democrat and less like a Republican. Paraphrasing Harry Truman, why vote for a Democrat who sounds like a Republican when you can vote for a real Republican? Finally, with an Obama Presidency and full Democratic control of Congress, the Democratic leadership will no longer be able to blame the Republicans for failing to implement a progressive program for our nation. This will be the best opportunity to break the stranglehold of the corporate duopoly on our political system.
We urge progressive DC voters to consider voting for the McKinney/Clemente ticket to help achieve their goal of gaining 5% of the national vote in order to qualify for public financing to help build the Green Party. Beating McCain/"Pain" in DC, coming in second to Obama/Biden, will send a message that we are emerging as a force to be reckoned with, helping to win a progressive agenda in an Obama administration.
National campaign website: http://votetruth08.com/
