Endorsing Alan Khazei: "Pick the candidate that would make Teddy PROUD"

I join the growing number of progressives, the Boston Globe, Kennedy family members, Newsweek, esteemed Larry Lessig, Boston Community Activist Mel King and now Wesley Clark in my support for Alan Khazei. Boston Globe Endorsement "With high hopes, the Globe endorses Alan Khazei, the prime mover behind national-service policies, as Massachusetts’ best chance to produce another great senator." In Khazei we have a thoughtful true progressive whose life is dedicated to civic participation. He took John F. Kennedy's idea of a peace corp for America and made it into a reality. Senators from Massachusetts have a luxury; they will never have to take a tough vote. For that reason we need them to be more then a good vote. Like Kennedy, we need a Senator who can provide a vision for this country. Khazei is the best chance for that. Its not just that he is the only candidate to take the time to write full position papers, he has holistic approaches that reflect a real world understanding of addressing our countries needs. Ask yourself honestly, do Coakley and Capuano provide vision for progressives as Kennedy did? They are mediocre politicians first and progressive second. "Pick the candidate that would make Teddy PROUD" - Larry Lessig's quick presentation on your choice sums it up best. Wesley Clark said it about Afghanistan but this is true of all of his positions: Rather than make the easy appeal of simply bringing our troops home, Alan has done the hard work of detailing how to do so while insuring Afghanistan does not once again become a haven for terrorists. And, at the same time, Alan presents a comprehensive strategy for defeating the terrorists globally. Alan, more than anyone else running for Senate in Massachusetts, presented a detailed approach and compelling, new ideas for accomplishing our goals. Blue Mass Group on why I support Alan: In general, Khazei's position papers are the most detailed of all the candidates. Another candidate saw fit to pooh-pooh position papers since, in his view, "nobody in Washington is waiting for the senator from Massachusetts to be elected to bring their plan," but that's a little too high-handed for us. We want to know that our next Senator has something to bring to the table. We don't expect that all the plans will make it into the statute books next year, but we'd like to know that there's a place to start, and that he or she will think creatively about the big challenges facing our state and our country. Khazei has clearly done that. And my home paper the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. But Mr. Khazei appears to offer something a bit different. He has a deeply genuine and expansive vision of public service that he calls “Big Citizenship,” and speaks of creating an “opportunity society.” He is a student of history who has traveled widely, has dealt with power brokers on both sides of the political aisle, and is a man who has retained the youthful energy that led him to co-found City Year. I was at one time really excited about the prospect of having a female Senator from Massachusetts, it is far past its time. Until I heard Martha Coakley speak it was a bunch of empty platitudes and nothingness that was so terrible I questioned if she was serious. I encourage everyone to go to her site and check out her page on "details." During the Debate she twittered a link to her "plan" for the economy. In it there is not ONE specific bill or position just more emptiness. Not one real idea on how to resurrect our economy. Nothing about a position on jobs bill, nothing on what to do now that we have a foreclosure crisis. I had so many people retweeting and agreeing how embarrassing the page was I would not be surprised if it was taking down. My favorite is that she lists her prosecution of corruption by going after Menino's employee who deleted one email. The other was prosecuting ONE firm involved in the big dig - not any of the large corporations who support her campaign - but the one family owned local business whose parts were not used as THEY THEMSELVES warned the contractors. To any Coakley supporter my question is, WHY DO YOU WANT A BEN NELSON part deux? Massachusetts can do better. I then thought about Capuano, but everyone who knows him warns of his temperament, and his lack of leadership is just disappointing. If becoming senator he will vote the right way, but in Massachusetts that is the easy part, will you be a leader. He has had plenty of time and seniority to distinguish himself and yet all I know about him is that he gets angry. For me the President Bill Clinton's endorsement is the strongest example of the type of triangulating corporate Senator Martha Coakley will be. She is directly in line with the DLC corporate President that he was. I don't blame President Clinton in the early 90's for not providing real left leadership, but I also do not romanticize his presidency as so many are want to do. As an Obama supporter and now Khazei supporter I can't think of a stronger endorsement for the pragmatic progressivism they embrace then former President Bill Clinton opposing them. I am going along with Sen. Kennedy's thoughts and backing the candidate who most closely follows the candidate he backed, not Clinton's candidate. I am endorsing the candidate that would make Teddy proud.