Abstract

Visualizing a Neo-Rainbow

The authors comment on the Democratic Party and the progressive effort to create a political and electoral power base in the United States. While progressives found little to get excited about in the John Kerry campaign, there were no viable third-party candidates, leaving them without a fully satisfying choice at the ballot box. The Rainbow insurgency of the 1980s, including the 1984 and '88 presidential campaigns of the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, and the building of the National Rainbow Coalition have much to teach us today. Jackson tapped into three key constituencies: the African-American political establishment, African-American religious institutions (including both Muslim and Christian denominations) and the left. These constituencies had differing, though often overlapping, agendas, which inevitably led to both vibrancy and tensions within the movement. No one expected Jackson to receive the Democratic Party nomination, let alone win the presidency, but the power of the movement and the potential for something longer-lasting signaled the importance of this initiative. The post-Rainbow initiatives generally did not recognize and embrace a central strategic conception of Jackson's: that success depends on wielding power both within the Democratic Party and outside it. In this context, the fight must take place both within and without the Democratic Party. To carry out such a struggle necessitates organization, vision and strategy. It also needs the right core in order to anchor it in reality and build the united front that such an effort or insurgency must represent. We believe these to be the key parameters for an effective neo-Rainbow electoral strategy.