Chlorophyll

Though the dust has not yet settled on the most recent Presidential selection, we need to look forward. As Ted Glick, Molly Ivins, Michael Moore, and others have said, we need to mourn, but then head back out to the streets. We must redouble our efforts. W's ongoing stay in the White House is a massive setback, but let's not forget our victories over the last few years. We stopped the Multilateral Agreement on Investments. We stopped the Free Trade Area of the Americas in its tracks. We shut down the WTO in Seattle. And so on. We can do more.

We need to take the fight to Bush. Just as during his inauguration in 2000, we need to see to it that he never gets a moment's peace. Let's be there every time he shows his face, telling him what we think of him. In Congress, let's support progressives like John Conyers and Barbara Boxer, and ask them what they're still doing in the Democratic Party. As for cowards like Kerry, Edwards, and the whole bevy of faux liberals (for example, Hillary Clinton), let's target those races to run Greens in when the time comes. No worries about spoiling there -- there's nothing to spoil.

Speaking of races to run, it's not to soon to think about running a Presidential candidate in 2008. OK, maybe it's a little too soon, but come back and read this in a month or two.

I see five qualities Greens will be looking for in a Presidential candidate next time around.

1. A woman. If we can find a woman of color, all the better.
2. A party member.
3. Someone who will run an all-out, gung-ho, damn-the-torpedoes campaign.
4. Someone with name recognition in the general public.
5. Only one candidate, decided by a vigorous but respectful and fair campaign.