Yup you heard it, I no longer support him. Not going to donate another dime, not waste another moment of time, who knows I may even decide to throw my vote away and not even make a mark on the ballot...unless you think I should vote for McCain instead? I mean after all Obama is no different from him anymore so it doesn't matter, right? You know actually screw all the Democrats, I live in a somewhat conservative district I think I can get my Democratic incumbent Rep unelected (he voted for the FISA thing, so we must purge after all).
Now you're all wondering why I'm making this very big switch when I definitely lean pretty well to the left. Well, you all changed my mind, actually. This is supposedly a blog to get Democrats elected and put their support for Obama, well from the looks of it he's now the bastion of evil twice as worse as McCain and his base no longer supports him. I think I've seen enough threats to withhold volunteering and funds and even on votes to come to the conclusion that you no longer support your candidates unless they stand for everything and do everything you want (right, because Obama is the Messiah and can change the minds of 45% of all Democrats? please....) I came to see this conclusion before the primary even ended, with the vitriol over everything he did (I heard enough screams from the economic diaries), but this FISA thing has been the deciding factor. If the heads here have decided to give up on Obama, well there goes November.
Yup, the private base that he has taken such a huge risk on relying on in lieu of public funds has decided to abandon him. Maybe he deserves it for not going against the torrent on the FISA bill (if you honestly think anyone's going to be able to filibuster, you're worse than naive), maybe he deserves it for not being perfect elsewhere or even because he gasp has to move to the center at least in the campaign in order to win (in case no one noticed, McCain is trying to do that too, but why let reality take hold of your purification rituals), maybe he deserves it for being black or simply not Hillary, maybe for some other reason, who knows maybe he doesn't even deserve it. But if there's one fear for this campaign from the heads to the little people it's the volatility of his base. Yeah it's a powerful grass-roots thing I suppose, but damn if it isn't the most unstable easily-disgruntled to the point of self-destruction base of any candidate (except maybe Hillary's strongest supporters who still think that the delegates may make a surprise support for her in August but those people haven't known reality in months). This is why people aren't so sold on Obama folks, because they think his base will not donate the money and time and won't show up to the ballot boxes. You know, all those young people and those who are so easily dissatisfied that you voted for Nader twice before.
This is not to add anything to the discussion of the FISA situation, though if you want my take on it here it is (and yes, people I am against the frigging bill but far as I'm concerned it's nothing that hasn't happened already, thanks be to Bush): it's a damn shame he has expressed a willingness to vote on it (read, NOTHING HAS HAPPENED YET! but tell that to the people who were threatening not to vote THURSDAY...god I can see maybe yesterday but BEFORE the fact!?), I hope he doesn't vote for it but realistically it's going to pass no matter what. Now for those of you who think that at his word he can make everyone suddenly not vote for it (like you people on Thursday), he's not a party leader. He's a presidential nominee yes, but don't kid yourself into thinking he got there without the party heads. Yup you heard it right, the likes of folks like Pelosi, Reid, et al control what happens in the party at least in Congress. You honestly think he can control the 45% of Dems who voted for this bill, something they WANTED passed long ago? You think with almost half the party voting for it he can realistically get 80% of Dem Senators to go into a filibuster? I'm not going to hold my breath on that miracle.
Do I wish that he would support the Constitution and at least vocalize a lack of support for it? Of course. Now do I think any Presidential nominee with a fractured base and not the head of the party otherwise is going to be foolish enough and tell the people that allowed him the nomination that they're breaking the law and should be taken down? Please do tell me that you think any sane person would bite the hand that feeds you. That's the price of politics, people. You want to be President, you sell your soul to the devil. He's a politician folks, he's going to do what he sees is in his best interests with regards to this campaign. And for those of you asking for him to show "leadership", tell me when has he shown any since he's been in Congress. I cannot make one citation of such, frankly. That's why he wasn't my first choice, that's why I didn't even bother giving him (or anyone for that matter) my support until late April. That's why I'm only "merely" disappointed at this, because the rational side of me knew to expect it especially out of the "spineless Democrats" and I've given up on thinking things would be different now.
But hey, you know what? As bad as you all think he is now, you got someone else who wants to win who is 100 times worse, whose base is coming together (granted they aren't enthused, the one thing that always helps the GOP is they have intra-party DISCIPLINE) and who is settling on his image while we've done nothing but infighting since February. If his base cannot get it's act together and put their support around the candidate (as I still see many hold-outs from racists and ex-Hillary folks and am going to guess some of you are jumping ship too), you can kiss the next four years good-bye. You honestly think he represented "change" everywhere? I sure as hell didn't. You know why? Not because of my clear skepticism that's being realized, but because I see the big picture.
Who here thinks that the Republican Party we see today got that way overnight? Nope. This swing to the far-right has been 40 years in the making folks. First we had Nixon, which as we know ended badly, but it gave rise to Reagan (the Jesus of the GOP) who represents their first pinnacle and then it reached a second one with Bush II. Do you not see that it takes decades to really change dynamics that far off the center? That's the point of the 50-state strategy, and that's the point of electing a Democrat even if he's on the Center. You cannot move your party to the left until you establish your party as the dominant party of the country. The Republicans have dominated since 1968 and look where they are now. If you want change, you need to accept that it is going to take quite a few election years and a lot of work to move left not just the party but the ENTIRE country. The only way the left is going to win is if you move the entire national dynamics left. We're currently right-of-center in this nation, and while the pendulum is starting to swing left it's not very stable yet and if you let it fail now you're going to be waiting another decade before you can try again, mark my words.
So there you have it folks, Obama isn't your Messiah and he sure knows how to disappoint the left (including me). But the reality is, if he loses, we lose a lot more than the Presidency. We lose pretty much everything we're fighting for to the fringes of politics for another 8 years, we lose the ability to win back our Constitution and our progressive values. But this is one thing that is really at stake: this election is about the old ways of doing business versus the grass-roots support of little people. Obama is taking a HUGE gamble with the way he's operating to receive funding and support, and everyone of you here knows it. What do you think his loss is going to do for your progressive blogging causes? It's going to demonstrate in the psyches of any upcoming politicians that they're not to be depended on, that they're too far to the left and too volatile to do any good. That they will dump you on a dime if you don't espouse 100% of their values. Is that perception correct or even warranted? That is not for me to say, but I guarantee that this will be the view of anyone else who wants to be President or even a Congressman. Now if you all cannot pull yourselves together by the time when it's really crucial, don't be surprised to see the netroots be taken backwards another five years.
Not asking you to be happy about FISA or what Obama has yet to do (but we solely can infer), on that or anything else. But what I am asking you to do is to act like he's your candidate and support him. None of this conditional "put his feet to the fire" (please someone tell me what that means besides black-mail to someone who isn't even in the relevant office yet, it really is starting to sound childish and ungrounded in reality), none of this shutting down all operations for a week every time he disappoints (and he will disappoint you a lot more now that he's in the general election). You can be unhappy all you want at what he has done or what he has yet to do or not do, you can espouse your disgruntled nature aloud all that you desire. But do not--I repeat--DO NOT forget the big picture. There's too much at stake, and sadly things will get worse for our causes before they get better. Let's not make the time waiting before getting better increase with a McCain in Congress. Or am I asking too much out of a party that has never been united in decades? I guess November we'll see huh?
In case some of you are incapable of reading between the lines, I still support Obama and plan to vote for him, but am having a hard time justifying doing anything to help him win when his own base is incapable of doing so. Call it my desire not to waste my time/money/energy on a losing candidate, as well as my general skepticism.