Goddamnit. The biggest problem I'm finding with primary season is finding out that people that I truly like - and have always liked - sometimes write or say things that make me sad. To be fair, I'm sure it's possible that I have elicited the same response from other Kossacks.
I'm going to tread lightly here because I don't want to "call out" another Daily Kos diarist but I can't write this rebuttal diary without at least referencing the salient points of the recommended diary that has prompted me to respond.
So I'll have a go on it over the fold.
The diary in question states that "Obama is wrong". I read the diary - it's brief - and the thing that seems to have driven the diarist's ire is one line of Barack Obama's South Carolina victory speech. That line is:
It's not about rich vs. poor...
It links to a TPM article. This is where I have my first issue. It doesn't link to the text of the full remarks made in the speech so that people can read what was said IN CONTEXT and judge for themselves, regardless of the outcome.
So here is a transcript of the full text of the speech. And now here's some context around the remarks that were excerpted:
Theirs are the stories and voices we carry on from South Carolina. The mother who can't get Medicaid to cover all the needs of her sick child. She needs us to pass a health care plan that cuts costs and makes health care available and affordable for every single American. That's what she's looking for.
The teacher who works another shift at Dunkin' Donuts after school just to make ends meet, she needs us to reform our education system so that she gets better pay and more support and her students get the resources that they need to achieve their dreams.
The Maytag worker who's now competing with his own teenager for a $7 an hour job at the local Wal-Mart, because the factory he gave his life to shut its doors, he needs us to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas and start putting them in the pockets of working Americans who deserve it and put them in the pockets of struggling homeowners who are having a tough time and looking after seniors who should retire with dignity and respect.
That woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since the day her nephew left for Iraq or the soldier who doesn't know his child because he's on his third or fourth or even fifth tour of duty, they need us to come together and put an end to a war that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged.So understand this, South Carolina. The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It's not about rich vs. poor, young vs. old. And it is not about black vs. white.
This election is about the past vs. the future. It's about whether we settle for the same divisions and distractions and drama that passes for politics today or whether we reach for a politics of common sense and innovation, a politics of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.
This is very simple to me. Obama believes and has stated that divisiveness, as a tactic of politics, doesn't WORK. And I would challenge each of you here: tell me where, in the past seven years of this cataclysmic Administration, where Democrats have gotten anything - ANYTHING - by being divisive. What ever happened to the idea that it's prudent to keep your friends close and your enemies closer? And is it not unarguably a better path to at least try to give the opposition something that allows them to save face, thereby reducing the likelihood that they will oppose you endlessly?
Yeah yeah - all you people that just had their knee hit them in the forehead and have moved to type out some long, pithy comment about who we're dealing with and what assholes and liars and lawbreakers they are - SAVE IT. I can't really think of very much that we've accomplished by being divisive even in the face of such an opposition. Rather, I think all we've accomplished is to become collectively more pissed off.
The other issue I have with the diary is the SAME ISSUE I have had with certain candidate campaign tactics (and a disclaimer: knowing the diarist as I do, I do not believe this was intentional) in that it takes one sentence of a very long speech, presents it without context, and then draws conclusions on that out-of-context sentence. No where in the diary are there links or information to back up the implicit claim that Barack Obama doesn't care about the poor or somehow thinks the issue of poverty is irrelevant.
So I'll apply some rigor here and present you with some information.
Senator Obama has introduced legislation in both the 109th and 110th Congresses. Some of the more interesting ones are as follows:
Sponsor: S. 1180 [109th]: SAVE Reauthorization Act of 2005 - "To amend title 38, United States Code, to reauthorize various programs servicing the needs of homeless veterans for fiscal years 2007 through 2011, and for other purposes."
Sponsor: S. 1770 [109th]: Hurricane Katrina Fast-Track Refunds for Working Families Act of 2005 - "To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for advance payment of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit for 2005 in order to provide needed funds to victims of Hurricane Katrina and to stimulate local economies."
Sponsor: S. 2257 [109th]: Hurricane Katrina Working Family Tax Relief Act of 2006 - "To provide for an enhanced refundable credit for families who resided in the Hurricane Katrina disaster area on August 28, 2005."
Sponsor: S. 2280 [109th]: STOP FRAUD Act - "To stop transactions which operate to promote fraud, risk, and under-development, and for other purposes." [Diarist's note: this is ALL about the mortgage industry and predatory lending practices particularly targeted at poorer and underserved communities.]
Sponsor: S. 2433: Global Poverty Act of 2007 - "To require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day."
Sponsor: S. 2428: National STEM Scholarship Database Act - "To direct the Secretary of Education to establish and maintain a public website through which individuals may find a complete database of available scholarships, fellowships, and other programs of financial assistance in the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics."
Sponsor: S. 2347: Prevention Through Affordable Access Act - "To restore and protect access to discount drug prices for university-based and safety-net clinics."
Sponsor: S. 2330: Veterans Homelessness Prevention Act - "To authorize a pilot program within the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development with the goal of preventing at-risk veterans and veteran families from falling into homelessness, and for other purposes."
I've only provided a few piece of legislation, those that a cursory examination reveal that they help the disadvantaged among us. His record of legislation is much longer, of course. You can look at ALL the bills he sponsored in the 109th Congress here and in the 110th Congress here.
And if just looking at the record isn't enough, there have been articles about Obama's plans to combat poverty (yes, folks, he has a plan and policies to address the issue). Via The Washington Post:
Although Obama offered some of the same proposals as Edwards, such as a transitional jobs program and an expanded earned-income tax credit, he presented a sharply different overall objective: fixing inner-city areas so they become places where families have a shot at prospering, without having to move.
As an example, he cited the Harlem Children's Zone, an initiative that seeks to improve one section of that New York neighborhood with an array of services, including prenatal counseling, early childhood education and free medical services. Obama urged replicating the program in 20 cities, which he estimated would cost a few billion dollars a year. "If poverty is a disease that infects the entire community in the form of unemployment and violence, failing schools and broken homes, then we can't just treat those symptoms in isolation," he said. "We have to heal that entire community."
The odious Washington Times reported that Obama's plan proposed $6 billion in spending to help the poor.
To everyone: You may disagree with Obama's plan for poverty. You may think it approaches it from the wrong direction or that it doesn't go far enough. That's valid. But to say that Obama doesn't care about the poor is not supported by the facts. To say that a selectively excerpted statement of "It's not about the rich vs. the poor" is indicative of the erroneous fact that Obama doesn't address the issues of the poor is sloppy.
And regarding the "VERSUS" construct - when you build a VERSUS approach, by default, you build a win or lose outcome. Yet that's simplistic and flat-out wrong. I would be considered "rich" (according to my tax bracket) but I am not VERSUS the poor. I have health insurance, but I am not VERSUS those who don't. It's about the poor. It's about affordable healthcare for everyone. It's about opportunities for everyone. It's about getting out of Iraq. It's about safeguarding our rights. If we lift up the poor, we all win. There's no VERSUS about it. VERSUS means that one side LOSES - and history tells us that sometimes, that side is OUR side. I'd rather eliminate that or at least move towards reducing it. I can't find fault in rejecting the culture of VERSUS. Taken with the actual facts and in this light, Obama's comments were spot-on.
To the Original Diarist: You are hands-down one my favorite people. You know that. I have issue with your characterization, but not with you. Just so we're clear.
Update [2008-1-28 20:48:18 by RenaRF]: litho has pointed out in this comment that's it the comments BEFORE the rich v. poor statement that really sets the context. I had tried to keep this brief, but I made an error - that should have been included regardless of diary length. I have updated the quote in the diary body to correct my error. Thanks, Litho!!
Addenda: Please see Hunter's front page post for some fabulous statistics on where it makes all the sense in the world to work cooperatively.