Vote for Obama? You bet. Work for him? Ummm...

[thatcrazycajun]

I am a loyal Democrat, honest to FDR I am. I vote the straight party ticket wherever and whenever possible, and I speak out for the party and its platform and candidates at any opportunity (as those of you who read this blog frequently have reason to know). I even did time on MoveOn.org's phone banks two years ago, as I reported here at the time.

But now the organization wants me to do the same to get Sen. Barack Obama elected President. And I truly would rather see him than John McSlime grabbing the White House keys come 20 January of next year. But try as I may, I can't seem to find the desire in myself to go to that much trouble again.

See, as loyal a Democrat as I am, I know full well that my party, at its topmost levels, is every bit as shamelessly co-opted by big business and special-interest groups as the Republicans are. I happen to agree with some of the groups, but a lot of the companies that dump huge wads of campaign cash on the party itself and on its candidates —including major industrial polluters, workforce exploiters and spying telecoms—often are doing so simply to hedge their bets; many of them also donate to the GOP, some in larger amounts. And even some of those that only donate Democratic are doing so to buy access to push their agendas, not all of which may line up with my views.

And then there's the question of Obama's fitness for the job. Leaving aside the fact that he hasn't even finished his first term in the Senate (and has spent almost half of that term derelicting the job to run for President!), the bastich has already gone back on his word to us before even getting the job—not once, but twice. He promised he would take public financing for his campaign and accept the limits on spending that went with it. And he promised to fight the vast, unconstitutional expansion of Presidential surveillance powers (and the "get out of jail free" card for J. Edgar Bush's accomplices in the telecom industry) that the GOP demanded in the FISA bill this past summer. On both of these promises, Obama has welched...and I have still to see anyone in the mainstream media call him on it.

I know that the vast majority of folks in the rank-and-file of both parties are decent, honorable people. And maybe, just maybe, they can raise enough of a ruckus once the guy is in to remind him on which side his political bread is buttered. But they won't be the ones with the most leverage. That would be the Congressional leaders who have already shown themselves spineless in the face of GOP perfidy, and the corporate bigwigs who would finance an Obama re-election campaign, and the party bigwigs who control the machinery. They are the ones who can buttonhole Presidents in the back rooms of power and threaten, cajole and bargain to get all or some of what they want...regardless of whether it serves the people's interest.

I'm afraid of having to look at myself in the mirror the morning of Wednesday, 5 November after an Obama loss and ask, "Did he lose because I didn't do all I could?" But I'm more afraid of trusting him enough to give blood, toil, tears and sweat only to have him betray the party's stated principles once he's in office. I remember only too well how Bill Clinton caved on too many issues where the GOP and the right leaned on him, even before his own priapism and mendacity had weakened his standing: gay military service, the Telecom Act/DMCA, welfare "reform," NAFTA (which should really stand for "Nearly All Factories Taken Abroad") and on and on. Once burned, forever shy.

So I'll urge people to vote Democratic. And I may even suggest they consider voting for Obama. But that may well be as far as I'm prepared to go this time around. If you want to argue me out of this position, feel free to try. (On the other hand, I helped my employer help People for the American Way print and assemble its Georgia state voting guides today, so it's not as if I haven't done a little extra.)

Comments

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

At this point, it might be more important to work on keeping the voter registration system honest. I don't know if that would seem more like a straightforward investment in the future. It looks like you're tending a little bit that way anyhow.

And otherwise, here's a handy phrase for what's been done to you:
"strip-mining idealism".

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

Do you really think your roll as a citizen is about electing the right person and going home?

I believe Obama will make a good president. I believe he will make bad cals on many things. He was wrong on FISA. No two ways about it.

But this is a game for grown ups, not a color war. It is about understanding that we elect men and women who -- by and large -- try to do the right thing, at leats by their own lights. It is about understanding that the political process when it works is about building consensus between disparate positions and opinions. FDR is remembered as a great leader, but he moved to the left in no small part because of pressure from Huey Long and he made a deliberate decision to sell out the civil rights progressives to hold his coalition together.

Lots of calls I think were wrong, but it did not change the fact that he was also a great man, of courage and bravery and with the charisma needed to carry the country through some of its most difficult times.

I do not know if Obama will rise to the caliber of an FDR. But I do know that even FDR wasn't FDR when he was elected in 1932.

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

My recollection of the situation is that Obama said he would take public financing if McCain did the same, and if McCain would promise to rein in the Republican 527s that could outspend anythin he could get via public financing. The Republicans are pushing that first part and conveniently letting the second part go unnoticed.

As for the fear that Obama might not turn out to be the Obama of our imaginations, well, that is a possibility, but it's like getting into a relationship and thinking, "I can't get too deep into this relationship. I'm going to get hurt." I fully expect that Obama is going to do things I don't like. Hopefully not too many of them, but there will be some. And when he does I can get together with a couple million of my closest friends and say, "We worked for you. We gave you money. We got you elected. Now we are going to come and ask you to work for us."

But Obama is just one guy. He can only do so much even when he's 100% behind something you or I want. That's what makes the Congressional elections so important. And it's what makes people who are willing to hold his feet to the fire so important. He has said, "I can't do this without you." By "this" of course he means getting elected, but I take it to mean get the country back on the right track." Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's what I get out of what he says.

One more thought: We have a long way to go to repair the damage done by the Republicans over the last 40 years. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, then another, then another. Getting control of Congress back in Democratic hands was a good first step, but it was only a first step. So far it's been admittedly a halting, trembling first step. But the plan to take this country back has several parts to it. The next step is to get control of the White House back into the hands of the Democrats. From there the task is to elect more and better Democrats to Congress. By "better" I mean more progressive, more willing to enact programs like universal health care and Apollo-style works programs for transportation and energy and universal education and all the things this country needs to climb out of the hole it's been dug into. It's going to take a long time. Getting the Republicans out of the White House is only one step, but it's a very important step.

Me, I am donating to the Obama campaign. I may even try to help in other ways. Because the idea of having John Sydney McCain III occupying the White House for four years -- in effect a third term for Bush's failed policies -- is something I can't stomach.

[maugorn.livejournal.com]

Remember that in Clinton's case, he was in a constant uphill battle against GOP majorities. The fact that he got things done at all in the face of the constant obstruction is a miracle.

I kind of wonder who *wouldn't* need a quickie in a cloakroom after dealing with that day in and day out.

However, if you don't want to work for Obama, per se, you can think of yourself as working for Biden.

Of if *that* doesn't turn your crank, think about working for giving them a chance to set up a cabinet that's not full of wackjobs and hawks.

But you know, after looking at the latest polling numbers for your state, I'm not so sure that your sweat and blood is going to help sway 6% and turn another 6% over to Blue in the heart of the bigoted South.

*But* nancylebov makes a really compelling point.
You CAN make a difference in the fairness of this election by signing up as a poll worker. patches023 does that around here.
You can be one more set of eyes and ears on the *process* to make sure it's done fairly and accurately.

Most jurisdictions require that pollworkers come from both parties to help ensure objectivity.

A Democrat in your district or some nearby district could actually be very a valuable and sought after commodity, especially with your understanding of tech issues and computers.

Hmm?

[patoadam]

I agree with you about Obama's FISA vote. I don't have a problem with his rejection of public financing. I see nothing unethical about accepting private financing. It's a good thing for a President to change his mind when circumstances change. What is important to me is that Obama refuses to accept money from Washington lobbyists and PACs.