From Newsweek: Alan Khazei is Teddy’s Rightful Heir and should get his seat.
You can read the article for comments on the other candidates, if you wish; here’s the punchline:
…Alan Khazei, a nonpolitician who has raised some decent money but still lacks name recognition. You may remember a photo of Kennedy wearing a bright-red jacket when he came home from the hospital. The jacket came from City Year, the pioneering national-service program Khazei co-founded in 1988. Bill Clinton used City Year as the prototype for AmeriCorps, which is now nearing 600,000 Americans enrolled. After helping to save AmeriCorps when the Republicans threatened it with extinction, Khazei worked closely with Kennedy on a big expansion of the program that Obama signed this past spring. Khazei is running a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington campaign and already has thousands of young volunteers. More important, he’s the only candidate in Massachusetts who stands fully with the president on education. “Building the world’s best education system is no longer just a moral imperative because our children deserve it,” Khazei said in a well-informed speech last month. “It is the key to our economic recovery and the backbone of our international security.” Obama will be saying something similar in Wisconsin this week as he stumps for reform. Shouldn’t he get some first-class help in the Senate in trying to achieve it?
Second, in an opinion piece in the Patriot Ledger, JoAnn Fitzpatrick offers a list of reasons to support Khazei, and concludes
We need the best this rich state has to offer, someone unafraid to appeal to our nobler instincts, someone who recognizes us as citizens and not members of groups. This election is about leadership, not horse trading, and Khazei is the candidate with the qualities we need.
Thanks for pointing me to the PATRIOT LEDGER endorsement.
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p>It’s amazing how much enthusiastic support he is getting from the people who are thinking and watching this special election.
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p>There is something extraordinary and exciting about this candidate.
Praise from a columnist. Good, but well shy of something that can honestly be called “the Patriot Ledger endorsement.”
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p>I can’t help but think that you know this already. No spin, please.
Note that I was careful to frame it as an “opinion piece” — attach what weight to it you choose.
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p>I don’t known who “Apricot” is (other than an enthusiastic Khazei supporter), so my guess is that (s)he is fairly new to this game — I of course could be very wrong!
It’s no surprise, he’s a good guy who has been doing something really good with his life and has been connecting to the media for City Year for many years-there was no conflict. This is different- this is politics and it makes me wonder- E.J. Dionne also wrote a piece on this election talking about each candidate but picking out his personal favorite- Alan Khazei. Unfortunately, as a journalist, he didn’t mention that they were friends.
Another positive piece was put up in HuffPo- again Arianna is a personal friend. Time magazine’s Stangel-personal friend.
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p>Don’t we think that reporters should mention this in their pieces or recuse themselves for the sake of objectivity?
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p>Not saying that either of these articles mentioned were cases of personal friendship, yet with the other two examples I know about, it does make one wonder about the responsibility of the media to declare.
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p>Again, no question, Alan Khazei has been an extraordinary community organizer. He should be judged on that as a qualification for Senate.
I don’t mean my question in a challenging way, I’m truly curious. Nor am I questioning your facts (I’m assuming they are); actually, I think it’s pretty impressive.
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p>Still, since I didn’t know these things, his media friendships obviously had no bearing on my becoming a supporter of Alan’s. I was won over by his idealism (as translated into action with City Year and AmeriCorps, for example), his values, his enthusiasm, and his clear ability to work well with others.
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p>Because he is a man of high integrity, has a sense of service, and is a real action-oriented individual, it does not surprise me to learn that he’s made lots of friends along the way.
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p>In the end, you put it best:
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p>I believe that makes his experience more job-related to the Senate seat than the experience of any other candidate. Working in the Senate, after all, is not just about having a good voting record (which Kennedy had), but also about forming coalitions with people of diverse interests (as Kennedy did) and getting things done.
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p>Thanks for the additional insight into Khazei’s amazing career.
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p>Well, if Capuano, Pagliucca, Coakley…or even Baker think otherwise, then it’s news to me. I’m glad this out of state guy likes Khazei’s idealism, but to be honest at this point I’ve had my fill of idealists promising to learn on the job.
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p>Particularly an institution such as the Senate is a place where so much of the action is zero-sum. I’d ask prospective voters…what do you think Khazei’s first month on the job would be like, compared to the other candidates, or even Al Franken.
sabutai,
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p>If you’ve had your
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p>then I guess you must be backing Khazei, as an idealist who will not have to learn on the job. He will “hit the ground running on day one!” as the saying goes. He worked closely with Ted Kennedy and others for years to accomplish all that he has done in his career.
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p>As I see it, he’s the candidate with the best credentials, in terms of experience, for this position.
We have a guy in the Corner Office who promised to hit the ground running, an idealist who wouldn’t need on-the-job training. While this site is the last place I’d expect agreement, I join most Bay Staters in saying that promise wasn’t kept. It’s going to be hard enough to learn to be a Senator from working as AG or Congressman, but meeting with Ted Kennedy’s staff to craft a single bill doesn’t make you a Senator-in-waiting.
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p>We look for different things from candidates, and we have two awesome choices in Coakley and Capuano.* If Khazei wants me to trust him, he can earn it by showing his skills in an elected position that isn’t as vital to the Commonwealth as a Senate seat.
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p>*PS: To use Khazei’s only memorable line back on him, if he’s doing such an awesome job at Be The Change, aren’t we better off leaving him where he is?
While I don’t want to engage in a debate over whether President Obama has kept his promises, but I fail to see how you can effectively prove that he hasn’t attempted to keep his promises. It would be naive to assume that everything he promised would happen right away and without the roadblock known as the GOP. Arrow taught us that we must prioritize, and the president has done his best at that.
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p>Following your line of logic, are Coakley and Capuano bad at their jobs? Or just not doing very well? Regardless, we should reward them with a harder job? I’m not suggesting they are bad at their jobs, but if they’re doing so well, why don’t we keep them there?
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p>I whole heartedly disagree with your “prove yourself” mentality. We are asking people who want to serve as legislators to become career politicians. You may be thinking that you’re not suggesting that he become a “career politician”, but what other option would he have? At every point along the spectrum someone is demanding more legislative experience. If not the Senate, then the House. If not national, statewide. If not statewide, local. With few exceptions, our demand for a perceived “special” level of experience, only gained through elected or appointed office, is limiting the number of candidates we deem “worthy”.
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p>Although, you may not feel that is a problem. But if Alan had taken that same mentality, there might not be a City Year and subsequently no AmeriCorps.
It seems to me that sabutai is engaging in “my mind’s made up, don’t confuse me with the facts!” — which is fine, I am not in the business of winning other candidates’ supporters away from them — still, as you have done, any unwarranted charges must be answered!
I appreciate the attacks, don’t ever stop. President Obama has done an amazing job as president, considering what he walked into. Much better than I expected given his four years in the Senate and several years in the state Senate — still far more elected experience than Mr. Khazei has. Hence I wasn’t talking about him…your friend Alex just confused “Corner Office” (that’s in Boston, Alex) with the “Oval Office” (Washington, DC).
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p>Alex was also confused about something else I wrote. He calls the “good people should never be promoted” thinking my line of logic, when of course it was Khazei’s attempt at humor during the debate. It seemed a one-off, but a snippet that’s been repeated by his supporters since. I don’t take it seriously, I’m just surprised to see that his supporters do — and amused that it’s dismissed when coming from the mouth of somebody else.
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p>You are both welcome to disagree with the concept that would-be officeholders should prove themselves. That’s your right, and I know many voters will award their support to the least experienced candidate in any race using that very rubric. I can only ask that you forgive my odd insistence that not every elected office is one where we should take a chance on the person whose speech most warms our hearts. I realize that intrinsic to any self-declared outsider campaign is condescension to those of us who prefer somebody with experience and a track record, and it is essential to provide a steady rhythm of mockery and attack on anyone not enlightened enough to put cynicism (learning from experience) aside in favor of change/hope/energy/Big Citizenship (nice words).
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p>When I turn 35 and declare my candidacy for president, I look forward to your support.
While you rightfully took me to task in the first two paragraphs, you might as well have just called us idiots in the last paragraph; you just as well did in your blog.
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p>I never suggested I was picking the least experienced candidate in the race, or the one who moved me with their words, I suggested that I place a different emphasis on experience outside of the political realm. You fail to recognize that others define the idea of “proving themselves” differently than you do. Well, maybe you do recognize this but deem it an inferior logic as evident by your constant condescension.
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p>You also shouldn’t assume that my support of an outsider campaign immediately infers my lack support for “insider” candidates.
Let me come to the defense of our Governor. I think he has done a wonderful job. You have the amazing ability to speak for the rest of the Commonwealth, as in “I join most Bay Staters …” Wow! You’re really in touch with a lot of people!
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p>Funny how the public opinion polls seem to disagree with your conclusion, and show Deval on his way to re-election. Not by unanimity, for sure, and I expect he will have a tough campaign on his hands. Still, at this point, it appears that enough people approve of the job he’s doing to bring him back for a second term.
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p>It’s no secret to people on this forum that I’m an unabashed fan and supporter of Mr. Patrick. So, if your logic is sound, I guess that’s enough reason for me to support Khazei. I like to think I’m more thoughtful than that, however, and have come to two decisions independently, based on the merits of each candidacy.
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p>I don’t agree with either man on everything; in some cases (as in my agnosticism around casinos) I disagree with both of them! Yet, politics, to me, is not about finding a candidate who agrees with me on everything (there’s no such animal!) but about finding a candidate who will govern well.
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p>Our Governor has more than lived up to my expectations and hopes. Sure, he’s made his share of fluffs, and has admitted as much. Still, when you look at what he’s accomplished, it’s amazing. He’s got more than a year to go in his first term, and look at all he’s done. This has already been the most productive term of any Bay State Governor in recent memory!
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p>In case you weren’t paying attention, the Transportation Reform bill went into effect this week, for example. The most sweeping and sensible reorganization in our state’s government in decades. With much more to be done, admittedly, but look at the mess he inherited!
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p>I could go on praising Deval, but this is not the place for that, I suppose. Back to the main point of this post: your disdain for our Governor has only increased my conviction that Khazei is the right choice for our next Senator. As I said, I don’t expect to win your support, but I do expect you to stick to the facts, or at least state your own values and not speak for “most Bay Staters” as if you were some sort of an authority on what other people think. Thanks.
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p>No, Mr. Wilcox, I’m not just “in touch with a lot of people”. I can read a poll. 42% of Bay Staters view him unfavorably. He can’t top 40% in a three-way race. Those are facts.
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p>(PS: It’s no secret that I intend to vote for Deval Patrick given a dearth of worthwhile alternatives; however, that is not the case in the Senate race.)
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p>I would venture a guess that it would be very similar to every other senator. You know just as well as I do that freshmen senators are handled by their staffers who have been a part of the Hill for years. It’s more so about the candidates ideals, than it is their experience. If anything, i would venture that Alan would quickly move issues he is passionate about and have that tempered with the experience of his staff.