A Sunny Afternoon with DA Kaiserslautern

A group of passionate Democrats, good food and a superb venue – these were the ingredients for a happy afternoon spent at the home of Ron Schlundt and Amy Peaceman in Landstuhl. The hosts, activist Democrats for many years, made sure that the event was a success with their kind attention to the needs of everyone.

The attendees, about 50 of them, came from Kaiserslautern, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. All were invited as an effort to increase cross-border contact, to exchange views on the current political situation and to renew and deepen friendships. It was a splendid idea.

Speaking with the guests, most of whom were teachers at all levels of instruction, it was striking how startled they were at the large number of members in DAL. Not wanting to be impolite, I did not ask what their membership was, but they clearly felt DAL had a large membership. Discussion with local Democrats centered on the difficulty in reaching members of the armed services, having used in times past creative initiatives to reach this target. They are prohibited from having direct access to the soldiers.

The highlight of the meeting was the talk by John McQueen, editor and publisher of the “Wednesday Wire”, which is linked to on the front page of Democrats Abroad:

http://www.democratsabroad.org/stay-informed/wednesday-wire/

Mr McQueen gave a very sober, knowledgeable run-down on the current state-of-play regarding the mid-terms in November. I’ll not go into detail, but he is confident that if the election were held now (September) the Democrats would certainly take the House. He sees the Democrats winning 5-8 governorships and is very encouraged by the increased effort to win Secretary of State offices – the office that controls the voting process in that state (see Kathryn Harris).

However he and other guests foresaw dangers in an ‘October Surprise’, which might take the form of the announced capture or death of Bin Laden; suppressed voting, through methods like deliberately creating long lines of voters; and ‘scary tactics’ taking advantage of the hard- to-believe fact that 32% of Democrats still think Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11.

My one point of contention was his suggestion that the Democrats may not think it politically wise to impeach Bush and Cheney, as some are afraid this may be seen as revenge for the attempt to impeach Clinton. He saw a plethora of candidates vying for the nomination, including Dodd, Edwards, Warner, Biden, Kerry and Clinton. He could not forecast who would get the nomination.

A lively discussion ensued, and the eternal question for Democrats was raised: Why can’t the Democrats come up with a soundbite that better frames the issues from the Democratic standpoint? If you go to Mr McQueen’s site, you’ll see that many people are trying to come up with an answer.

The meeting broke up with promises made all around to try and keep this cross-border contact alive. DAL will play its part by informing DA Kaiserslautern of DAL events in the hope that some of their members can participate.

Attending from Luxembourg were: Bonnie Adelson, Randy Bradley, Michele Linnen, Jo Anne Moeller and Graham Cleverley.

Jo Anne Moeller

Secretary, DAL