|
It would not let me edit after a certain period, but now that my word processor has behaved like a human, here is a cleaned up version. My apologies in advance for spam
Let me preface this before the Hate mails and Unrecs start flying. What I am about to write is a sort of "Devil's advocate" piece, something to make people think about things that get lost in the shuffle. However, Since I know I will be judged from the get go, let me make some things clear. Yes, I am disappointed that Obama has gone too far to the right, yes I am angry that he is not being agressive, yes I will curse him if he fails to bring home, AT THE VERY LEAST, a GOVERNMENT RUN alternative to insurance ("public option" is a weak word) AND an end to the Iraq war. However, I see a lot of us wondering why we are spinning our wheels, and using catchphrases like "the definiton of insanity is" but I do not see much honest reflection as to why we on the left shoot ourselves in the foot again and again. Take what I am about to say as something to think about, not as a slam our ideals on the left, and certainly NOT as praise of the right wing. After all, the HIV Virus is an effective killer, but none would praise it, so none should praise the right.
People wonder why Obama does not embrace the farther left. One article even compared this mess to braveheart, where, if only Obama charged out, the loyal left would follow him. Let me ask a blunt question; when have we on the American left EVER given solid backing to any of our Presidents? Yes, now FDR and LBJ and JFK are praised, but like many lauded dead, people forget how much they were hated when they were alive. FDR was always accused of selling people out, of making too many compromises. LBJ, even though he actually enacted more civil rights and welfare programs than any president before or since, was considered a sleazy figure, totally separate from his stance on Vietnam. JFK had the advantage of dying young, but people accused him of cronyism, especially since he hired Bobby.
But let's get to more RECENT history. Carter has since been vindicated on many things, but read reports of the time, and many on the left thought he was too religous. Enough Democrats were angry at him where Ted Kennedy ran a challenge against him, and although Ted bowed out, we Dems showed that we were very willing to fight each other, wasting time and resources to soothe our egos. The GOP was able to sell that as weakness, a formula they would repeat and exploit. As far as Bill Clinton, we on the left were not united behind him. Disclaimer, I myself am furious at him for many things, none of which involved a cigar or an intern, but when he got impeached, people were not exactly protesting in the streets that the impeachment process was being abused; many were hoping he would resign. Then let's get to Gore. I am not going to fight the old battle against the Nader voters, they have their minds as made up as the people who think Obama was born in Kenya. However, even the most die hard green cannot deny the WELL DOCUMENTED FACT that Rush Limbaugh was tickled pink, and even encouraged his GOP listeners to fund Nader. The fact is again, we proved that rather then be a unfied force, we would rather slit each other's throats, and the GOP knows how to play us like harps!
OH, let's go forward. John Kerry, a true war hero, one who could earn medals, and have the courage to throw them away. But even Doonesbury made fun of him saying he looked like Herman Munster. Then of course, there was the Dean fight, where, as much as I love Dean (the man who proved that Southern states can and do vote Blue), he made a fool of himself, not just with the whole Yeee-haw bit, but by saying he wanted to be the choice of "confederate flag wavers with Gun racks." See, Obama was not the first to try and seek approval from the sort of folks who would gladly lynch him! When the swift boats came, what did we do, we sighed, and blamed Kerry. Of course, if a Media Armada does not like you, lies about you with impunity, that is the president's fault, not the people who still buy the papers and watch the shows, right? We all know how many of us demanded en masse that our cable company took off Fox news, or actually boycotted products advertised, wait, we did not, at least not in an organized manner.
And finally, the last election. Disclaimers again, the vast majority of Hillary voters were not racist, there happy now? However, Hillary, whether by accident or design, did not fire Mark penn, tell her husband to stop making comments about mugging, or even stop praising her old buddy John McCain. We had plenty of the so called left saying that they were far enough to the right to elect John McCain, so ya better vote for Hillary. How did Obama win, not by attacking Hillary, because if he did, it would have been scary negro vs. older white lady, no, he appeased the other side, making it seem that he was not really that scary at all. Let's be honest, there are only two sorts of people that can say anything offensive or scary, those with a death wish, and those who are harmless because they act in such a silly manner none feel threatened by them, like Michael Moore, John Stewart, and yes, even at times St. Dennis Kucinich.
So, the point I am NOT trying to make is that we shoudl just follow obama, or not hold his feet to the fire. The point I am making is that many of us are acting like we are some sort of cohesive force that would happily blow wind in his sials if he would only be the leftist we want him to be. The point of this essay is, we have not shown that at all in the past 30 years. If anything, we have acted like a slippery base which you cannot base anything on, always ready to turn on each other. I am not saying we should nto DEMAND out of Iraq and INTO the Public option..I am saying that we should stop and wonder how come the Mass Media is feeding us so much paranoia, the rumor the hint that someone said this, and that we devour every little bit. You don't think the Media knows that the one thing that keeps the left from being organized is that we are paranoid and self-hating? The right is too, but they have the pigs in the cleric collars to keep them stupid and herded, we do NOT want to turn off our brain, which is good. However, if we do want to be the smart party, let's not do the very thing that, admittedly Obama seems to be doing: letting our intellect outwit us, and our wariness become FEAR.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
