Down with Absolutes!

In every sense of the word, national elections this year will be a referendum on the past eight years of cowboy diplomacy from the George W. Bush presidency. Eight years. Eight years of malevolent nastiness from a president who makes Bill Clinton seem honorable. Eight years of failed policies including, but not limited to, the cavalier doctrine of preemptive war, non-existent job growth, stagnant wage increases, a further push to the Right of the Supreme Court, tax relief for those who don’t need it, decimation of habeas corpus, and the squandering of a budget surplus left to him by President Clinton. Mock all you want, but this election is about change.

In that same vein, change is desperately needed in Delaware. For the past eight years we’ve lived under the rule of a woman whose questionable intellect is only out-measured by her ignorance of the issues facing this state on a daily basis. Take your pick. The prison rape. The Delaware Psychiatric Center scandal. Lack of accountability of her cabinet officials. The smoking ban. Testing the clarity of the water via a $5 pair of Keds. Ruth Ann Minner has been a failure. Not of the epic proportion of George W. Bush, but enough to piss off a clear majority of Delaware voters who can’t wait to see her gone.

And where was Lt. Gov. John Carney? Unlike the presidential ticket, the lieutenant governor is elected SEPARATE from the governor. At every turn, John Carney had the chance to say to Gov. Minner: “You’re nuts. You’re out of touch and I don’t have to put up with your crap. I was elected separate from you and will now go about my own business.” Until a few months ago when Lt. Gov. Carney realized his divine right of succession to the gubernatorial throne was in jeopardy, John Carney did little to show himself as a man who was willing to buck the Minner Machine. For years, Minner has ruled with her downstate democratic cabal of Sens. Thurman Adams and Nancy Cook. The three of them were old Senate buddies from the 1970s with their own agendas. But where was John Carney? Did Lt. Gov. Carney have much to say about any of the Minner Administration’s transgressions? I certainly can’t remember anything in the seven-and-a-half years before his run for governor. If anything, John Carney has been a willing waterboy for the Minner folks who’ve maintained their iron fist over Delaware politics since the turn of the millennium.

But Delaware Democrats have a chance on Tuesday to send a message to the HIGH Dem leaders in Delaware. The Democrats who’ve been guided and maneuvered for the past decade by Daddy Tom Carper. They can send the message that their party has been perverted by powerful partisan interests and choose to select State Treasurer Jack Markell to represent their party on the gubernatorial ticket in the November general election. They can choose to say “Enough is enough!” and call an end to the cycle of Carper-Minner-Carney-Adams politics that has infested this state for far too long. Where has John Carney been these past eight years? Sitting at the head of the Senate while politicians like Thurman Adams, Tony DeLuca, Harris McDowell and others made the Senate their own personal playground.

In every sense, Jack Markell represents the “change” being promised to us on the national level by Barack Obama. John Carney, on the other hand, represents the old. He represents a continuation of failed policies in the same way John McCain can be viewed as a logical extension of the failed Bush years. I’ve long thought that perhaps what Delaware needs is a CEO Governor to clean house of all the ridiculousness that is so pervasive in state government. Jack Markell was a business man 10 years ago who saw the birth and growth of the Nextel organization. Jack Markell took the Treasurer’s office and turned it into an advocacy organization to assist people in learning how to best handle their money.

Jack Markell is no dynastic Democrat. He doesn’t come from royal blood or the anointed lineage that is seeking to become the highest executive in the state. He’s a personable figure who truly sees the best in what Delaware government has to offer its citizens. In my very brief conversations with Jack and his staff, I’ve been bowled over by the kindness, the generosity, and the sincerity of a man who has chosen to run a campaign on the issues and without the vileness often present in such dead-locked and heated primary elections. Jack has said over and over that while it may not be his “turn” to run for governor, it’s certainly his “time.”

If for only one reason you should vote for Jack Markell on Tuesday, it’s to send a message to your party, the Democratic Party, that business as usual will no longer cut it. The Democratic Party is supposed to be about the people. For too long the powerful interests have been running things and telling its rank-and-file members to go sit at the kiddie table while they handle business on their behalf. With Jack at the helm, he’ll help redirect the Democratic Party of Delaware to new heights and will also redirect the state government to be more responsive and accountable to the 800,000 residents of this great state.

Vote Jack Markell for Democratic Candidate for governor on Tuesday.