Cronkite's Proposal

Television news legend Walter Cronkite made his first post on the new left-leaning celebrity blog started by columnist and socialite Arianna Huffington. The site is positioning itself as a more multi-faceted counterpart to the dreadfully one-sided Drudge Report, and it will be interesting to see how well it's able to establish itself, not to mention how committed it's more high-profile contributors will prove.

As for Cronkite, whose involvement can't help but lend a bit of credibility to the entire venture, he wrote:

I've got some other exceedingly interesting pieces up my sleeve, like a proposal that the Democratic Party organize a convention this year to debate and resolve a platform that would provide the confused electorate some idea of what the party stands for - a regretfully missing ingredient in the politics of the moment.

Not a radical idea at all but certainly one with merit. The only problem is that the necessary media coverage to make such a grand gesture work might be hard to come by. Most people can't stomach and don't really care to see an all-out platform battle even if the different wings of the Democratic Party started tearing each other to pieces on national TV.

Still, showing the Democratic Party's diversity of thought, challenging the monolithic concept that the Republicans have fabricated, could be of immense value. As for the purposes of this site, I'd say Nebraska (Qwest Center anyone?) would be the perfect place to host such a convention, both geographically and politically.

The one problem would be the attention it would bring to Sen. Ben Nelson's being a Democrat on the verge of an election year, but advancing the idea that it's okay to be an otherwise moderate-to-conservative Democrat so long as the concerns of the working class and disadvantaged remain central to your focus could provide a huge boost to the Democratic idea in the Midwest and across the country. Hell, it could even help Nelson. If you're running with that "D" by your name, might as well do so proudly and invite others to join the team.

So, the idea's been proposed. If anyone from the Nebraska Democratic Party wants to make it a reality, I say go for it. Just tell Howard Dean and the powers that be that Cronkite sent ya'. We ain't in it for the glory around these parts.