I have drunk the Kool-Aid
Jan. 31st, 2008 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
topazSorry, it's another political post. Feel free to skip it.
Earlier this month I wrote that I would be okay with pretty much any of the Democratic candidates as the party nominee. But it turns out that's not really the case. I'm in Obama's camp now, and I find that every day I want more to see him win.
I remember when Obama gave the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The next day a lot of people had commented that he'd just kicked off his campaign for the 2008 presidency. I never did see that speech but I remember being surprised by how widely agreed everyone was on this point. Obama was unquestionably the big star of the convention that year.
All last year I watched his campaign build up but I didn't pay very close attention.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
keyne asked me who I thought I'd be voting for, and I told her I wasn't sure but I thought maybe Obama. She asked me why.
"I'm not sure," I said frankly. "I just like him."
I felt silly saying it even at the time. It's the worst kind of reason to vote for someone for president. But, dammit, I did just like him, even if I couldn't put my finger on why.
In the last couple of months it's become clearer to me why. Obama's campaign has emerged from being a dark horse to a very serious contender, and it has brought out the worst in the next front-runner. Clinton's campaign has responded with an absolutely appalling under-the-table attack. I'm sorry: I wanted to like Hillary in this election, I really did, but I can't. Since Iowa her entire campaign strategy has been shamefully divisive, from trying to exploit Black-Latino cultural tension to the completely inexcusable attempt to grab Michigan's and Florida's delegates back (after the party agreed not to seat them at the convention). It has been nothing short of outrageous.
What I find so remarkable is that despite the increased acrimony of the campaign, Obama has not responded by counterattacking. His message throughout his campaign has been about the extraordinary things that we could do, as a people, if we can do them together. And even as the primary fight gets down and dirty, that continues to be his strategy.
And it's working. The Gallup polls show Clinton's national support continuing to erode and Obama's continuing to rise. People are rejecting the scorched-earth strategy that Clinton has brought to the table in favor of Obama.
That is what really floors me. It's not just that Obama has a message of unity that's nice to hear. It's that he appears to be someone who can actually make it happen. There are a lot of things that we're doing wrong in this country, and I do believe that Obama's policies would represent a real step forward. But not only that, I think he may be able to help bring the country together at a time when we have perhaps never been more partisan and fractured.
Here's an example. Just one. His name is Rod Dreher. Dreher is a conservative columnist for the Dallas Morning News. The day after South Carolina, he wrote this on his blog:
Dreher's comment is only one of hundreds that I've seen from all over the country. Obama gives me hope again. He's bringing people together. I've seen my community unite around him like never before. I've never voted for a Democrat in my life but I'm going to vote for him. People are saying this over and over and over again.
I'm one of those people. I have never seen a candidate like this and I don't think I ever expected to. Hearing him speak, and reading how people feel about him, reminds me of what my parents used to say about Allard Lowenstein when they worked on his campaign in the 1970s.
I think that we are on the verge of, god help me, a transformative moment in American politics. I think that we have an opportunity to make something truly extraordinary happen. I hope you'll help me by voting for Barack Obama.
(But if you don't, don't worry, I'll still love you anyway. :-)
Earlier this month I wrote that I would be okay with pretty much any of the Democratic candidates as the party nominee. But it turns out that's not really the case. I'm in Obama's camp now, and I find that every day I want more to see him win.
I remember when Obama gave the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The next day a lot of people had commented that he'd just kicked off his campaign for the 2008 presidency. I never did see that speech but I remember being surprised by how widely agreed everyone was on this point. Obama was unquestionably the big star of the convention that year.
All last year I watched his campaign build up but I didn't pay very close attention.
keyne asked me who I thought I'd be voting for, and I told her I wasn't sure but I thought maybe Obama. She asked me why."I'm not sure," I said frankly. "I just like him."
I felt silly saying it even at the time. It's the worst kind of reason to vote for someone for president. But, dammit, I did just like him, even if I couldn't put my finger on why.
In the last couple of months it's become clearer to me why. Obama's campaign has emerged from being a dark horse to a very serious contender, and it has brought out the worst in the next front-runner. Clinton's campaign has responded with an absolutely appalling under-the-table attack. I'm sorry: I wanted to like Hillary in this election, I really did, but I can't. Since Iowa her entire campaign strategy has been shamefully divisive, from trying to exploit Black-Latino cultural tension to the completely inexcusable attempt to grab Michigan's and Florida's delegates back (after the party agreed not to seat them at the convention). It has been nothing short of outrageous.
What I find so remarkable is that despite the increased acrimony of the campaign, Obama has not responded by counterattacking. His message throughout his campaign has been about the extraordinary things that we could do, as a people, if we can do them together. And even as the primary fight gets down and dirty, that continues to be his strategy.
And it's working. The Gallup polls show Clinton's national support continuing to erode and Obama's continuing to rise. People are rejecting the scorched-earth strategy that Clinton has brought to the table in favor of Obama.
That is what really floors me. It's not just that Obama has a message of unity that's nice to hear. It's that he appears to be someone who can actually make it happen. There are a lot of things that we're doing wrong in this country, and I do believe that Obama's policies would represent a real step forward. But not only that, I think he may be able to help bring the country together at a time when we have perhaps never been more partisan and fractured.
Here's an example. Just one. His name is Rod Dreher. Dreher is a conservative columnist for the Dallas Morning News. The day after South Carolina, he wrote this on his blog:
Look, I don't want a man who believes the things Barack Obama believes to be president. But I've got to confess, he makes me proud of my country. When's the last time you heard from a politician that made you proud of your country? (January 27, 2008)And this from a conservative Republican, folks! An honest to god conservative!
Dreher's comment is only one of hundreds that I've seen from all over the country. Obama gives me hope again. He's bringing people together. I've seen my community unite around him like never before. I've never voted for a Democrat in my life but I'm going to vote for him. People are saying this over and over and over again.
I'm one of those people. I have never seen a candidate like this and I don't think I ever expected to. Hearing him speak, and reading how people feel about him, reminds me of what my parents used to say about Allard Lowenstein when they worked on his campaign in the 1970s.
I think that we are on the verge of, god help me, a transformative moment in American politics. I think that we have an opportunity to make something truly extraordinary happen. I hope you'll help me by voting for Barack Obama.
(But if you don't, don't worry, I'll still love you anyway. :-)
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 01:40 am (UTC)I am also troubled by the populist drive, the orchestration of his campaign by David Axelrod, and the careful obfuscation of his state voting record. He dodged a lot of votes in IL where his vote wouldn't matter either way, but where his voting RECORD could come back to bite him. To get both his state and his national seat, he first took a very low road during the state primaries: he worked to have his opponents' supporting signatures disqualified. Democratic voters. Was he a great choice for senator? You bet! But now he is being carefully, craftily painted way, way too holier-than-anyone when compared to his actual record.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-03 12:04 am (UTC)I did read the background articles linked to the Wikipedia page for David Axelrod (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Axelrod_%28political_consultant%29), but I'm still not clear on why Axelrod's connection to Obama is a warning sign. He's been involved with some machine candidates in the past, but apparently is regarded by both Democratic and Republican operatives as uncommonly principled and idealistic for a political consultant.
I wasn't familiar at all with the story about disqualifying ballot signatures, and that story is probably the one I find most alarming of any that you raised. I did find this Tribune article about Obama's state Senate campaign: "Obama knows his way around a ballot" (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070403obama-ballot,1,57567.story). It's a troubling story, but I note that: there was no shortage of irregularities in that campaign on anyone's part; Obama went forward with striking the petition signatures but expressed substantial reservations about taking that route; and at least two of his opponents acknowledged in print that the signatures they collected were invalid. In that light, I'm not sure I agree that there's reason for serious ongoing concern about his political ethics. I'm open to hearing more, though. I'm trying to be as open as I can to reasons to be disillusioned about this guy.