Some Wisdom
Okay, People. Lets get real about elections. Some of you, I'm assuming, are voting for the first or second time in a general election and are experiencing despair over Obama's perceived move to the center. Some of you are worried about compromise, some of you see him as selling out. Lets put this in perspective:
His campaign is being run by very talented people who know what they need to do to get him elected, which is to appeal to the "center" If you are an Obama supporter and live in Seattle, you are almost certainly far farther "left" than most people in the country.
Part of Obama's appeal is that he defies that narrow, linear, left-right dichotomy. Thats his "new kind of politics" and its refreshing after 4 decades of baby-boomer era thinking. His outreach to evangelicals is long overdue in the democratic party, but he clearly has not given up his environmental stance or his social justice values. Lets try and be creative on how we think of what it means to be progressive.
He clearly wanted to be seen as someone with the ability to compromise on FISA, that is to say he wanted to demonstrate that he is not a prisoner to the radical left. Compromise is a part of politics. Its not always pretty, but sometimes necessary, especially on a bill like FISA, which is not as damaging as Dailykos has made it out to be.
I guess I'm just afraid that I will spend 2008 like I spent 2000, trying to convince people to vote for a terrific candidate (Al Gore!) over Ralph Nader because my lefty friends got upset over the political compromises Gore had to make in his career. I hope the lesson is that we do sometimes vote for the lesser of two evils, but the evil gap between candidates can be a deciding difference in the fate of our country! The result was Bush, for 8 fucking years! So stand by your man! Don't give the media more reasons to report a lack of unity in the Democratic Party and for crying out loud, vote and tell everyone else to do the same!
His campaign is being run by very talented people who know what they need to do to get him elected, which is to appeal to the "center" If you are an Obama supporter and live in Seattle, you are almost certainly far farther "left" than most people in the country.
Part of Obama's appeal is that he defies that narrow, linear, left-right dichotomy. Thats his "new kind of politics" and its refreshing after 4 decades of baby-boomer era thinking. His outreach to evangelicals is long overdue in the democratic party, but he clearly has not given up his environmental stance or his social justice values. Lets try and be creative on how we think of what it means to be progressive.
He clearly wanted to be seen as someone with the ability to compromise on FISA, that is to say he wanted to demonstrate that he is not a prisoner to the radical left. Compromise is a part of politics. Its not always pretty, but sometimes necessary, especially on a bill like FISA, which is not as damaging as Dailykos has made it out to be.
I guess I'm just afraid that I will spend 2008 like I spent 2000, trying to convince people to vote for a terrific candidate (Al Gore!) over Ralph Nader because my lefty friends got upset over the political compromises Gore had to make in his career. I hope the lesson is that we do sometimes vote for the lesser of two evils, but the evil gap between candidates can be a deciding difference in the fate of our country! The result was Bush, for 8 fucking years! So stand by your man! Don't give the media more reasons to report a lack of unity in the Democratic Party and for crying out loud, vote and tell everyone else to do the same!