To the Editors:

In the months preceding November 2000, I did my best to restrain myself from choking the life out of the throngs of Nader-supporting Obies on campus.

When George W. Bush w(l)o(st)n the election, and America realized that the third party candidate had buoyed the empire of evil into the White House, I hoped that Oberlin College would use the tragedy as a growth experience, and not make the same mistake twice.

Last week, I learned from a fellow Obie that history is repeating itself, and that Oberlin students are rabidly campaigning for Howard Dean.

I write this open letter to the College community asking all of you to pause for a minute and THINK. Dubya would love nothing more than for Howard Dean to win the nomination. Why? Because Dubya would love to win the 2004 election by a landslide.

Howard Dean has no foreign policy experience. In a time of “homeland security” and “orange alert!”, this issue alone will allow Dubya to crush Dean in November.

Dean is viewed as ultra-liberal by conservatives and moderates, and thinking liberals are not impressed by Dean’s environmental record and corporate favoritism.

Let’s face it folks, the post-Iowa “YEEARGH!” didn’t help Dean’s case either. Should Dean win the nomination, the Republicans will:
1) throw a party, and then
2) begin the (painfully easy) process of destroying Dean’s (already shaky) public image. Dubya will win... and he will win big.

I urge you to consider voting for a different candidate. I joined the Clark campaign two weeks ago, because I like his policies, and I believe he is the only one who can beat George Bush.

You can check him out on his website: www.clark04.com

I don’t want to see Oberlin lead the way to another four years of the evil empire. Please do not let history repeat itself.

—Lis Kidder
OC ’02