image via hellostlouis.com

He has written a speech fit for an angel dancing on the head of a pin.

A speech for the nominee he wishes the democratic party could nominate. I wonder if such a person exists anywhere but in the lucid and light filled corriders of Ted Sorenson’s mind? I sure hope so. It would be a dream come true.

Theodore “Ted” Sorenson, President Kennedy’s speech writer, has written a proto- acceptance speech for an, as yet, undetermined Democratic Presidential nominee. Washington Monthly asked Sorenson to write the “speech of his dreams”; the speech he would like to see the next nominee give at the Democratic party convention in 2008.

You should read it. Out loud.

You really don’t fully appreciate how good it is until you hear the rhythms.

You can enjoy the whole thing here :The New Vision – Theodore C. Sorensen

It has the kind of common sense that has been missing from our public dialogue for much too long. For example, he reviews our national secuity with a sober eye,

The threat of another terrorist attack upon our homeland has not been reduced by all the new layers of porous bureaucracy that proved their ineptitude in New Orleans; nor by all the needless, mindless curbs on our personal liberties and privacy; nor by expensive new weaponry that is utterly useless in stopping a fanatic willing to blow himself up for his cause.

but does not use that threat as a weapon to terroize or tyrranize the American voter.

Let me assure all those who may disagree with my positions that I shall hear and respect their views, not denounce them as unpatriotic as has so often happened in recent years. I will wage a campaign that relies not on the usual fear, smear, and greed but on the hopes and pride of all our citizens in a nationwide effort to restore comity, common sense, and competence to the White House.

One of my favrite parts–he does not shrink from the word “liberal”. Nope, no cringing, no windging no hiding from it like it was a dirty word.

I will not shrink from opposing any party faction, any special interest group, or any major donor whose demands are contrary to the national interest. Nor will I shrink from calling myself a liberal, in the same sense that Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, John and Robert Kennedy, and Harry Truman were liberals—liberals who proved that government is not a necessary evil, but rather the best means of creating a healthier, more educated, and more prosperous America.

He calls out both the Bush Administration and the American people for the erosion of America’s greatness over the last eight years.

During these last several years, our nation has been bitterly divided and deceived by illicit actions in high places, by violations of federal, constitutional, and international law.

We have adopted some of the most indefensible tactics of our enemies, including torture and indefinite detention.

We have degraded our military.

However, the thing I like best, is that while acknowledging what has gone wrong, and while pulling no punches about how it went wrong and who took us down the wrong path, this speech focuses on calling out the very best that is in the American people. It speaks to our better selves. The the nation we want to be and can be.

True, some of us have been sleeping for these eight long years, while our nation’s values have been traduced, our liberties reduced, and our moral authority around the world trampled and shattered by a nightmare of ideological incompetence. But now we are awakening and taking our country back. Now people all across America are starting to believe in America again. We are coming back, back to the heights of greatness, back to America’s proud role as a temple of justice and a champion of peace.

The purpose of public office is to do good, not harm; to change lives, help lives, and save lives, not destroy them. I look upon the presidency not as an opportunity to rule, but as an opportunity to serve. I intend to serve all the people, regardless of party, race, region, or religion.

Let us all, here assembled in this hall, or watching at home, constitute ourselves, rededicate ourselves, as soldiers in a new army. Not an army of death and destruction, but a new army of voters and volunteers, in a new wave of workers for peace and justice at home and abroad, new missionaries for the moral rebirth of our country. I ask for every citizen’s help, not merely those who live in the red states or those who live in the blue states, but every citizen in every state. Although we may be called fools and dreamers, although we will find the going uphill, in the words of the poet: “Say not the struggle naught availeth.” We will change our country’s direction, and hand to the generation that follows a nation that is safer, cleaner, less divided, and less fearful than the nation we will inherit next January.

Now that’s talkin’ my language!

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