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CRUNCH TIME DEMOCRATS: TIME TO STOP TRASHING OUR OWN TICKET
This entry was posted on 8/23/2008 10:22 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
When I visited HuffingtonPost.com's website first thing this morning, the first thing I saw was half a dozen blogposts up criticizing Joe Biden as a poor choice for Obama's VP. (In all fairness, there are now as many praising him.) But scanning the titles, I read that he was "no friend of the working class," that he had a big mouth, that he might be "Obama's Dick Cheney," and so forth.
Later that morning, a right-wing friend called me and complained that Rush Limbaugh was now praising John McCain, when this guy listens to Rush every day and KNOWS how much Limbaugh hates McCain. (In fact I remember, during the primaries, when Limbaugh stated, flat-out, that to nominate John McCain would spell "the end of the Republican party.")
THIS is the difference between our two parties, and Democrats, it's time to grow up and get over ourselves.
I understand that there are many disgruntled Hillary supporters out there who have never trusted Obama, who think he somehow doesn't deserve his success, who think he's ill-prepared for the White House, but as my right-wing friend put it: "There are many conservatives who can't stand McCain, and we've done our share of howling, but we're getting pretty quiet now."
Yes. They are stifling their own doubts because they know that the single most important issue right now is WHO DO WE REALLY WANT IN THE WHITE HOUSE FOR THE NEXT FOUR OR EIGHT YEARS?
Democrats pride themselves on their tolerance, and we LIKE the fact that we can argue amongst ourselves while the Republicans come across as a bunch of robots. But bloggers, especially, need to realize that it is not just people who can be counted on to vote Democratic in November who are reading our words.
Recently, I got into an argument with another right-wing friend about Obama, and we went back and forth by e-mail on this point or that point, and I would quote the NY Times and he would call it an Obama-rag, and then he would quote RightWingNews.com and present it as some sort of definitive word on the subject, and finally I said, "Look, I don't have time to argue with you about this. Nothing I say--NOTHING--is going to change your mind about voting against Obama. I could argue every day for months and that would never change. I have to reserve whatever energies I have to persuade and convince the undecided voters who might be reading my words that Obama should be our next president."
He was scornful of that, claiming, "Aw, you just like to preach to the choir. You don't want to have to argue anything very vigorously."
You gotta laugh. I mean REALLY.
I said, "OBVIOUSLY you've never visited a progressive website! All progressives ever DO is argue! We've got the Hillary supporters who hate Obama; we've got the Independents who don't know WHO to trust; we've got whites and blacks who think a black really has no chance to get elected; we've got Naderites who refuse to believe they had anything to do with Al Gore's defeat in 2000; we've got all KINDS of opinions. We're a rabble-rousing bunch, and not all of us can be depended upon to vote with the party."
He made some snide comment about how Republicans have "core values they don't depart from," which made me want to go into a screaming tirade about reproductive rights, the environment, climate change, health care, corporate evil, and so on, but I didn't because I DON'T HAVE TIME.
Don't get me wrong. I don't agree with every single solitary little tiny thing Obama ever does. I don't expect anyone to, and if they did, I'd worry about them. And I'm not saying that we should never express those doubts or disagreements in public--and I know Obama wouldn't expect us to, either.
But this is crunch time, folks.
The conventions are upon us; school's about to start; and people who were too busy worrying about the price of gas over the summer are going to start paying attention to these two campaigns. More and more people are getting their news and information online, and don't assume for a minute that the only people who read progressive blogs are progressives.
Right now, for the first time in my memory, we've got many, many disgruntled Republicans and even conservatives who believe in Obama and want to vote for him. THEY'RE now reading these blogs. My sister, who I tease as a "recovering right-winger," does not agree with everything I write by a long-shot but she reads all of it, and she is a strong Obama supporter. There are many out there like her.
There are also young people who have never cast a vote before and are looking for motivation to get out there and get registered to vote and show up on election day, not to mention actually volunteer for the campaign. There are Independents who admire and respect John McCain and are having a tough time right now choosing between him and Obama because they honestly don't realize just how conservative McCain really is. There are all sorts of people who turn to a place like HuffingtonPost.com and Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos to seek information and opinion.
Believe me, the so-called "liberal press" is doing quite a good job of trashing our candidate as it is. First thing this morning, AP correspondent Ron Fornier put up a piece on the Yahoo news page called, "Biden Pick Shows Lack of Confidence."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080823/ap_on_el_pr/veepstakes_analysis
He opined that by going with an "ultimate Washington insider," Obama was abandoning his change-mantra and showing how spooked he was by the recent gains of McCain in the polls.
I supposed if Obama had picked Hillary, he'd've written, "Obama Has to Hide Behind Pantsuit of Woman to Save His Ass."
And if he'd gone for Evan Bayh, maybe, "Obama Goes for Nerd Vote By Choosing Running-Mate Who Parts His Hair in the Middle."
There will likely be a flood of such analysis over the next few days, competing with the undecided or wavering vote along with progressive news sites.
Do we want to join the chorus or counter it?
WHO THE HELL DO WE REALLY WANT IN THE WHITE HOUSE IN JANUARY? REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT?
Every single solitary thing we do from this point forward should be to ensure that we get a Democrat in that position so that we can stop the headlong rush to destruction launched by Bush/Cheney and promised to continue by John McCain.
Every single solitary thing.
McCAIN IS OUR OPPONENT, NOT OBAMA.
Even Hillary knows that, and that is no small thing, believe me.
Every word we write from now until November is influencing voters.
Do we REALLY want to continue trashing our own candidates?
Democrats, it's time to grow up and get over ourselves. Let's get a Democrat in the White House in November. Right now, that is ALL that should matter to ANY of us.
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