From what I've seen of the draft platform for 2008, Barack Obama deserves better than to be represented by such a piece-of-shit platform. I'm sorry if that grates against some DUers' sensibilities, but I thought the objective was to win in November.

It all starts with the Preamble, weakly stating that "It is time for a change" and "We can do better" while bleating how America "defeated fascism," blissfully unaware that a fascist has been occupying the Oval Office for around eight years now, with an even bigger fascist is destroying our energy policy and serving as the PNAC's mouthpiece for Bush's delicate ears. And the platform calls the occupation of Iraq "ill-considered." Somewhere in the corridors of power of the Democratic Party, the balls never dropped like they should. (Lest you think that comment sexist, may I remind you that Cindy Sheehan has always spoken about Iraq with more conviction and forthrightness than most elected Democrats ever have?)

Okay, here we go. Right into Chapter I, "Renewing the American Dream:"

For months the state of our economy has dominated the headlines–and the news has not been good. The sub-prime lending debacle has sent the housing market into a tailspin, and many Americans have lost their homes. By early August, the economy had shed 463,000 jobs over seven straight months of job loss. Health, gas and food prices are rising dramatically.

But the problem goes deeper than the current crisis. Families have seen their incomes go down even as they have been working longer hours and as productivity has grown. At the same time, health costs have risen while companies have shed health insurance coverage and pensions. Worse yet, too many Americans have lost confidence in the fundamental American promise that our children will have a better life than we do.

We are living through an age of fundamental economic transformation. Technology has changed the way we live and the way the world does business. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the advance of capitalism have vanquished old challenges to America’s global leadership, but new challenges have emerged. Today, jobs and industries can move to any country with an Internet connection and willing workers.

Leadership on these issues has been sorely lacking these past eight years. In the 1990s, under Bill Clinton’s leadership, employment and incomes grew and we built up a budget surplus. However, our current President pursued misguided policies, missed opportunities, and maintained a rigid, ideological adherence to discredited ideas...blah, blah, blah...will the Platform Committee PLEASE get to the fucking point, already?! Don't they realize how little time we have to effect any real change in how America does things? Enough with the spiel of telling the party faithful what every single American who isn't a moron already knows, people. Give us the plan so we can get on with our lives.

Now we come to the statement on "Affordable, Quality Health Care Coverage for All Americans." Paragraph after paragraph dealing with health insurance, and only a pittance of support for medical research that might actually cure diseases and disorders so we don't have to keep paying more and more co-pays into our health insurance plans. Ritalin is not a cure for ADHD, nor is insulin a cure for diabetes. Could the Platform Committee please see the forest for the trees, here...?

And here we have the energy policy. 25% of our electricity from renewable sources by when? 2025? Sorry, that's too long. The Chinese will already have a moon base by then. Speaking of the Chinese, while they try in their own ham-handed way to deal with their own greenhouse emissions, let alone clearing Beijing of smog so our Olympic athletes don't start coughing and wheezing, our government needs to start taking the lead on global warming and pollution and making corporations fall in line instead of dictating policy. And I don't want to see any mention of cellulosic ethanol when we're starting to see food riots in some corners of the globe because impoverished moms can't buy corn to feed their babies due to the corn being converted into ethanol to go into some Republican soccer mom's Ford Excursion for $3.80 a gallon. At least the platform mentions a desire to "crack down" on energy speculators, but it stops short of outlawing the practice. You cannot kill the Hydra by merely chopping off a couple of heads and crossing your fingers.

Looks like firearms have their own paragraph. Have Democrats on Capitol Hill learned their lesson since DC v. Heller? Let's find out: We can work together to enact and enforce common-sense laws and improvements, like closing the gun show loophole, improving our background check system and reinstating the assault weapons ban, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals... Say goodbye to all those electoral votes in the southern and western states, Platform Committee - you've just branded as a criminal or a terrorist any law-abiding American who owns a semi-automatic rifle or pistol that holds 11 shots instead of 10. Great job! Ever hear of the PUMA acronym? You've just introduced us to SAMA - Second Amendment, My Ass!

The paragraph on "Faith" makes no explicit mention of preserving separation of church and state. Enough said on this topic.

Immigration. Okay, here we go: For the millions living here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules, we must require them to come out of the shadows and get right with the law. We support a system that requires undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. They are our neighbors, and we can help them become full tax paying, law-abiding, productive members of society. So now we're buying into the "English as our official language" meme that the Republicans have been harping on for so many years? Sure, I want to see illegal immigration reduced, but the Founding Fathers never mentioned anything about making all Americans learn one common language.

I think my rant has gone on long enough for now. This platform, as it currently stands, is repeating the mistakes of the past while making too many concessions to the Republicans. Is it too much for me to ask that the Democratic Party produce a DEMOCRATIC platform?!? I want Obama to win in November - and this draft platform is nothing but an impediment for him.