RE: Was A Vote To Recall the PRI a Vote For Vicente Fox?

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Green Party of California, as Peter Camejo, who
supported the recall individually, was at pains to point
out frequently when he spoke, was DIVIDED on the
recall. It's not a monolithic or disciplined organization.

The Green Party took no formal position on the recall.

Opposition to the recall by no means signifies support
for Davis and his reactionary policies, nor also does
it signify unwillingness to struggle against them as has
been suggested. Davis and Feinstein campaign with
the "no" position and saw "no" as a vote of confidence
in Davis. But others who voted "no" didn't see it or say
it that way. I'll agree that a certain fuzziness is possible
in this respect on this issue.

Were there a mighty progressive tidal wave against
Davis and his reactionary policies, that would have
been a good thing, a great thing. The procedure for
recall of elected officials is a good one which should
be retained. But using it on THIS occasion was not
a good thing, and saying so and voting against THIS
recall did not, necessarily, signify political endorse-
ment for the incumbent Democrat, Gray Davis.

In the existing situation of California capitalist politics,
the Schwarzenegger campaign, and the capitalists
who backed him, AND the more openly rightist Tom
McClintock, succeeded in harnessing opposition to
Davis's reactionary policies into what appears to
be a landslide of support for Schwarzennegger.

This does not fit the definition of a "good thing" in
my opinion. The only good which might come out of
this will be any impetus to struggle against cutbacks,
such as with the driver's license bill, and so forth.

We will see what happens, though opposition to the
repeal of the driver's license bill has already been
announced, at least in the Spanish-language media.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K14021036

Unlike the 2000 US Presidential election, no one can
or is claiming that the Green Party was a spoiler in
the California election campaign. After all, the Green
candidate's 3% vote was not the margin by which the
Democratic Party lost the election. No one has said
a word to suggest that the Greens were spoilers in
California.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California





~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.