Democratic Candidates Speak Out in First Joint Forum
By Kim Forrest
In their first joint forum, the 2004 democratic presidential candidates spoke out on issues ranging from education to the war in Iraq Wednesday night.
The forum, sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund, a non-profit children’s advocacy group, was purported to focus on issues relating to children, but talk of the American success in the war on Iraq was on everyone’s minds and lips.
While the democratic candidates agreed on many issues, the war was a subject where the candidates were divided. Five of the candidates had previously expressed their opposition to military action in Iraq and maintained their beliefs in the forum.
“[The war] opens up a new dangerous preemptive doctrine,” Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean said.
Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), former Senator from Illinois Carol Mosley Braun, Rev. Al Sharpton of New York, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), expressed similar sentiments in their opposition to war, saying that the war took the focus away from domestic issues.
“I’m glad Saddam was toppled,” Sharpton said. “But I would also like to see things toppled in this country.”
Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), John Edwards (D-NC), John Kerry (D-MA), and Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO) all voted for the resolution that entitled President Bush to attack Iraq. They defended their position, stating how action in Iraq is part of protecting the homeland, and also noting that domestic programs should not suffer because of the money and attention paid on the war.
“This is not an either/or choice. It is actually the responsibility of the President of the United States to be able to do two things at the same time,” Edwards said, gaining laughter and applause from the crowd.
After discussing the war, candidates were asked questions on a variety of topics. The Democrats were many times placed on the defensive, as was Kerry, who defended his announcement this week that, if elected, he would only appoint justices to the Supreme Court who supported a woman’s right to have an abortion.
“Women have the right to make that critical, painful, and difficult decision,” Kerry said. “And the government has no business intervening in it.
When Lieberman was asked why he did not serve in the military during Vietnam, he explained that he was exempt for two reasons, the fact that he was a student, and because he was a father.
“And do I regret it? I do,” he said, and added later, “But in some sense, I hope that my service in public office and particularly my backing of the military has helped, in some ways, make up for that.”
As the program dictated, children’s issues ranging from education and school testing to foster care were highlighted in the discussion.
Like the other candidates, Gephardt was critical of the current administration’s handling of such issues.
“This President and this administration has made a fraud of Leave No Child Behind,” he said, referring to the current administration’s education program, “We need new leadership in this country to really Leave No Child Behind.”
The final question, relayed to all of the candidates, was about the current affirmative action case, a program that all of the candidates support.
“The University of Michigan was trying to…create diversity, to give opportunities, in ways that did not entail quotas,” Braun said.
While all the candidates drew applause and laughter from the crowd throughout the two hour forum, it was Lieberman who stood out with the most resounding response of the evening, as he expressed that the Democrats would be successful in the 2004 presidential campaign, despite skepticism about beating the incumbent President.
“I want to tell you why I know we can beat George W. Bush,” he said. “Because Al Gore and I did it.”
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire.
