Unity08. A people's movement to take our country back.

Yesterday, Sam Waterston posted a question on Yahoo Answers, asking people why they thought Democrats and Republicans had become so polarized and unproductive.

That unleashed a flood.

So far, Sam’s question has generated nearly 7,000 replies – a number that will only rise, since the topic will be open for the next month. We were pretty amazed by this response. To put it in some perspective, three of the presidential candidates have also posted questions on Yahoo:

• Hillary Clinton’s (which ran over the winter) attracted about 38,000 answers during the month that it ran
• Barack Obama’s is now active (for another week) and has produced just over 17,000 responses
• Mitt Romney’s has generated around 12,000 replies since it was posted three weeks ago

Law and Order star Sam Waterston, as you probably know, has been speaking out for Unity08 for a few months now --perhaps most notably in a dazzling April 25 address at the National Press Club (which can be viewed
).

Now, Sam has posted a question on Yahoo Answers about the plague of partisan polarization and paralysis. Your feedback is encouraged -- you can find Sam's question here.

You may have heard about Survivor creator Mark Burnett's effort to create an independent presidential candidate through a reality show. It might be good TV, but it's probably doomed from the start, thanks to FEC regulations. But in the latest issue of Variety, the top Hollywood trade publication, writer Ted Johnson notes that Unity08 presents a far more credible alternative to the two-party monopoly.

The question of why Unity08 does not plan to adopt a formal platform has been the subject of some pretty intense discussion lately on our message boards. The criticism boils down to this: How can we possibly attract delegates if we don’t stand for anything besides basic bipartisan cooperation?

I completely understand that line of thinking. But I think we actually stand for something much bigger than a platform. Look at it this way:

The people of France will choose their next President next week, and if you’re a geopolitical dork like me, you may know that the candidates are named Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal. (And if you’ve been too preoccupied with the first month of the baseball season to pay much attention to the European political scene, well, kudos on leading a much more balanced life than me.)

Anyway, the Cliff’s Notes overview is this: Sarkozy is the choice of a right-leaning political party that is the rough equivalent of our Republican Party, while Royal represents the dominant party on the French left, the rough equivalent of our Democratic Party. They were the top two vote-getters in the April 22 preliminary election. (Royal would be the first woman to lead France.)