Why I'm voting for Obama...but not canvassing or calling for him

[thatcrazycajun]

I've been receiving still more requests from the Barack Obama campaign, from MoveOn, and various other Democrat/liberal groups via e-mail to help the final push by calling people or knocking on doors. I'm reading some of the more excited postings from people who sincerely believe in Obama's potential as an agent of change and hope.

And I plan to vote for him tomorrow, if only as the lesser of two evils. I'm sorry, I wish I could drink the Kool-Aid, too, down to the bottom of my Democrat-for-two-decades heart I do. But I can't.

You see, I want a true, unashamed liberal-with-a-capital-L Democrat as president, and I'm just not convinced Obama is that much better than either of the Clintons in that regard. I don't think I'm quite far-left enough to vote Green (even if I didn't know firsthand what a nutjob Cynthia McKinney is), but I'm a bit further left of center than the party's leadership tends to like.

I want a president who will do what I consider to be the morally and ethically right thing, rather than the politically smart thing or the "pragmatic" thing, every time or close to it. Obama has shown, with his Senate votes and his public statements, that all too often, he won't...and he's lied to us about it at least twice that I recall: once on FISA and once on public campaign financing.

I want a president whose first act, immediately after taking the oath of office, will be to order George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Karl Rove and all their minions put under arrest and tried for crimes against humanity, the Constitution, the other nations of the Earth and innocent Americans. I want to see those two bastards perp-walked in handcuffs right off the inaugural podium and hauled off to jail where their no-good sumbitch asses belong. Obama won't do that.

I want a president who will take advantage of the now truly Democratic Congress he will likely have in January, and call on them to repeal the Orwellianly-titled USA PATRIOT Act at once. I can't believe Obama will have the balls to do that.

I want a president who wouldn't even think of letting the big telecom companies get off scot-free for aiding and abetting Bush's heinous illegal wiretapping scheme. Obama's already proved he won't do that with his vote on the FISA extension last summer. He decided he'd rather avoid giving the GOP a fall campaign issue than do what he must know in his heart was right.

I want a president who will come out, openly and publicly, firmly and unequivocally in support of the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry under the law, and call for repeal of the shameful Defense of Marriage Act that I still haven't forgiven Bill Clinton for signing. I can't see Obama doing that either, not with a re-election campaign in 2012 to think about. (He might, after sufficient time in office to gain support, order "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ended...but I ain't holding my breath.)

I want a president who will set the federal science agencies—FDA, CDC, NIH, EPA and so on—free once more to report on the facts of science as they are, in their entirety, and assure me that neither his administration's ideology nor industry's wishes will dictate the presentation of said facts. I want to believe Obama will do this, but I've yet to see any indication one way or the other.

I want a president who will forge a new energy policy for this country that gets our economy off of oil entirely—not just foreign oil, but any oil at all—and off of coal (there is no such thing as "clean" coal, despite what that industry claims) and, at a minimum, curtails the building of new nuclear plants until much more is done to assure their safety and the safety of the waste they produce. What I've seen and heard of Obama's energy plan so far does not inspire me with confidence.

I want a president who will do his utmost to insure that federal agencies, in any conflict between big business and consumers, always and vigorously side with the latter rather than the former. Will Obama do that? It shames me to admit that at its highest levels, my party is every bit as bought-and-paid-for by corporate cash as the GOP...and Obama will need that money to run for re-election.

I want a president who will get rid of all the right-wing ideologue judges that the GOP began shoveling into the federal courts two decades ago with Ronald Reagan and the elder Bush, and start appointing ones who are more fair and impartial. This includes Supreme Court justices who will strike a balance between honoring the Founders' intent and construction and allowing the Constitution to grow and change with the times. (Translation: more Stevenses and Ginsburgs, no more Scalias and Thomases.) How much has Obama said about this?

In short, Obama has talked a lot but said far too little to reassure this dyed-in-the-wool liberal that he won't be any more than marginally better as a President than the now-soulless shell of John McCain. The only thing I can think of to suggest that he will be is that he will have my party's leadership and apparatus behind him (and occasionally, one hopes, confronting him) in a way that McCain wouldn't.

I will vote for him tomorrow. And I am allowing myself the smallest of hopes that (a) Obama will win and (b) that his victory will be large and decisive enough to prevent any GOP dirty tricks from stealing it. But he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from me beyond the first 100 days. And how can I urge anyone in good conscience to vote for someone in whom I do not have complete faith myself? All I can say is vote Democratic, up and down the ticket, even if you don't entirely believe in Obama either, if for no other reason than to enforce on the Republican Party the real 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not get away with it.

Comments

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

I want a president who will set the federal science agencies—FDA, CDC, NIH, EPA and so on—free once more to report on the facts of science as they are, in their entirety, and assure me that his admiistration's ideology will not dictate ordering suppression of said facts.

Hey, don't forget NOAA! We're more than just the National Weather Service. We do a lot of environmental science. The current crew doesn't like us very much because we tell them the truth.

As for the rest of your wish list, as I've said before, we never get the chance between Mr. Perfect and Mr. Awful. We get the choice of Mr. Awful and Mr. Perfectly Awful.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that Obama is not as left as I'd like. The thing is that we, the netroots, are that far left -- and need to show, by deeds, that we're the folks who made this happen. That means keeping pressure up AFTER the election to ensure as much good stuff gets done as possible -- and that means being able to say "we're they ones who..." I'm not saying that's a good enough reason to get out and walk your feet off in a GOTV effort -- but it's not a bad one.

Don't give up on the government even before you get it installed.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that Obama is not as left as I'd like.

Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Not going to. I believe in The Point of Good Enough, and also in applying pressure and making changes to things I don't think are good enough.

In any event, he blows away the competition by many orders of magnitude.

Time to go put in my deux centimes on the ballot.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

A fine set of points, and I can understand all of them intellectually. I, too, am much more of a lefty than the quote socialists unquote in the democratic party who are actually far more middle-of-the-road than I'd like them to be. The right has moved so far to the right in the past 40 years that I am. overall, sickened and disgusted by them.

However, I fundamentally disagree with your basic point. People (and I am one of them) vote, overall, based on emotion rather than reason, and on an emotional level, I find the Obama candidacy exciting and refreshing. I'm not too happy with the religion thing, and I would prefer that we just get out of Iraq as quickly as possible, but I think there is a chance Obama can really unite America in a commonality of purpose on a scale that hasn't been seen since the FDR administration, and I want to see that he has that chance. And on the campaign funding issue, I see Obama's move as, in the long run, an extremely smart one. To me, it is worth breaking a small principle to win a big election, and instead of abusing the principle break by taking tons of money from big corporations, most of Obama's funding has come from small personal contributions.

In my button-making days one of my custom orders said, "Never let your morals prevent you from doing what's right."

I'm more adherent to ethical standards as opposed to morals, but it kind of makes sense to me anyhow.

[jslove.livejournal.com]

I don't really think of some of your wants as all that far to the left. I agree with most of them, I think, at least in the broad outline.

Be that as it may, I want an administration that will govern for all the citizens of the country, right or left. I want to hear complaints from all sides. That's because we have diverse beliefs, and it's impossible to keep all of us happy all the time.

I read about how having 60 Democrats would make the party filibuster-proof, but that's simply not true. Legislators may have an official party affiliation, but they cross party lines all the time on votes. That's because they represent their constituents first, and the party second, which is as it should be since they derive their authority from their districts, not from the party.

Enforcing party loyalty is simply not always possible, though you can get it when you really need it if you choose your battles carefully.

And part of choosing your battles carefully is not talking about unpopular positions that you don't need to talk about. There is a good chance that he will do the right thing in a lot of cases. We have to wait and see. Compromises will have to be made.

I would dearly like to see the current administration prosecuted for war crimes. Unfortunately, the International Criminal Court's charter essentially gives them immunity (go read it), so we have to do it ourselves. I don't think Obama could get away with arresting them on the inaugural podium, and I really don't want him to get assassinated over something like this. Perhaps later. We can hope. This issue is so loaded that we need a groundswell of public opinion to enable it.

I don't think we should get entirely weaned from domestic oil and coal. I do think we should stop using them as fuel. Also, I think that we need nuclear plants, and not to wait, even though we have to properly solve the nuclear waste problems sooner than later. I also want the brain-damaged raising of corn for ethanol to end. If we need bio-fuels, we should choose ones that make sense, that have a positive net fuel output, rather than just making corn farmers rich and driving up food prices. Solar, orbital, wind, tidal, and geothermal power all have their place, and perhaps other forms I haven't thought to include. And we need energy storage, which is inherently dangerous, and distribution, which will cost money and enrage landowners.

I'd prefer to see Congress limit the liability of the spineless telecoms companies rather than either have them get complete immunity (wrong message about breaking the law) or put to the torch (how the investment community might interpret unlimited liability). There needs to be some penalty to discourage this in the future, but lawsuits may not be the best way to get it.

I fear armed violence if the election appears to have been stolen. I'll be hunkered down out of the line-of-fire, thank you. The most dangerous people at that point might be the police. I am hoping for a throw-the-bums-out type of landslide.

[maugorn.livejournal.com]

Here's the thing about Obama not being liberal enough.

I don't mind that too much. Remember that wonderful speech he made at the previous DNC, how fearlessly leftist he sounded then? The social climate was very different then, and it's changing- and it would seem to be for the better!

And now, as a society, we seem to be moving far enough to the left to embrace, not only an African American, but a Democrat, AND a man who rejects the rhetoric of the far right instead of pandering to their base.

We've come a long way.

The thing is, that right now, we need to stop having presidents who are somebody's president, but not somebody else's. If "my" president were elected, it would end in tears, because few want all of the things I want, and many items on that list are feared by many.

We need someone to be "everybody's" president. And when a few steps to the left are shown to make a good dance, more will join, because at their hearts, most Americans do like a good dance.

We're taking steps to the left, and I'm glad of it, and I *will* drink that Koolaid to the bottom of it's glass.

Consider this: the McCain/Palin ticket is almost as far to the right as it can go. And if they're elected, there's not much right left before America becomes a very sad and mean place to be.

The fact that Obama has alot of left to go before he starts scaring us is nice, and bodes well. It means that IOHO, there's alot more he could do that we will see as improving on a good thing, before it possibly gets to be too much.
That leaves a lot of room to bring the nation with us.

Also, watch Obama real close. I've also been checking his record, especially on the issues where it *looks* like he copped out or sold out. On most of those issues, I swear, that the end result was progress that his proponents, while not joyous, could embrace, and a compromise that the opponents seemed to be able to live with.

His economics are like that, as is his stance on gay marriage.

This is going to be a *very* useful skill to have as Chief Executive in these times.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I don't see either candidate being able to do anything that'll get us out of the morass we're in.

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

"You see, I want a true, unashamed liberal-with-a-capital-L Democrat as president, and I'm just not convinced Obama is that much better than either of the Clintons in that regard."

I do think that Obama is significantly less conservative than Clinton.

I'd really rather elect a president who was slightly liberal, but slightly-conservative Obama is still enough better than the other options we've had lately, for me to feel very good about voting for him. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with a Real Liberal, but hey, maybe if I could see a moderate liberal in action for a while first, that idea wouldn't seem so foreign ... and maybe moderate-conservative Obama can pave the way for a moderate liberal in the future.

(It's not prely a left/right thing for me -- Obama strikes me as being upright, intelligent, and effective, as well as being not-too-terribly-conservative. My first choice dropped out of the primary race too soon, but I'm quite comfortable with Obama, my second choice.)