John Nichols on "Ted Sorensen and the Liberal Faith"

John Nichols (The Nation):

Sorensen was not nostalgic for a more politically potent past. He believed that Democrats needed, always, to outline and articulate ideals that spoke to the better angels of the times. They could not merely be a slightly less cruel or self-serving variation on the Republicans. It didn’t work that way.

"Democrats masquerading as a kinder, gentler version of Republicans lack credibility," Sorensen explained in his important 1996 book, Why I Am a Democrat (Henry Holt & Co, 1996).

"Having served Kennedy when he was senator and President, I know that criticism of presidential compromises that bridge the divide between the parties on a particular piece of legislation comes more easily to legislators and candidates who would rather fight than enact,” he wrote.”But it is also true that a party loses the election, loses its way, indeed, loses its very reason for being if it becomes merely a pale imitation of its opposition." MORE..

Howie P.S.: As a teenage political junkie, Sorensen was my role model. I still hold him in high regard.