Like me when I was little, my daughter has a security blanket.  At the first sign of conflict, she instinctively seeks out Blankie.

Some day she'll have to give up Blankie.  A difficult (but necessary) process. 

My parents began the process of freeing me from my blanket by telling me it would distract from my "work" at preschool.  I had to leave it home.

Just like Linus from the Peanuts cartoon, most of us had an attachment to some kind of security blanket.   At some point, we left our blanket at home.  We took the leap of faith we would survive without being wrapped in its protection, and we discovered that it freed our hands to do other things.


In politics, the security blanket is called a political party.  We instinctively cling to it, and it brings us comfort.


Plain & Simple:  I'm not asking people to give up their security blanket in favor of mine.  I'm just asking them to leave it at home for the 2008 election.  You'll be fine, I promise.  And frankly, it's distracting us from the work that needs to be done.