Browsing the 'net over the course of this election season, it doesn't take long to witness the same widening gap between Obama and Clinton supporters that happened here taking place in the comment sections of major newspapers, on internet forums and YouTube, even between close family members. On Friday the hostility found its way into the presence of the former President. I've been reading the front page of DailyKos for a while, but only recently began sifting through the discussions, and I have to admit to being dismayed. I'm a loyal progressive, and was out in the ice canvassing for Senator Obama here in Maryland, but I cannot condone any more flame-fanning by my fellow Obama supporters.
Senator Obama has this nomination locked up. Clinton supporters are understandably upset, dismayed, disheartened, and bitter. In my mind, being a compassionate human being means having the capacity to put yourself in other people's shoes, and in the blogospere there has been far too little energy expended on bridging the demographic divides that have remained remarkably resilient throughout this campaign for the nomination.
I'd like to propose that we continue to seriously ask ourselves before hitting "reply" or "post" or "send" whether the comments we're about to unleash to the world are serving our cause or hindering it.
I ask that you believe me when I profess my passion for this candidate. I became a supporter because he was the only candidate who had never supported the war in Iraq. That's my main issue. But there are many, many reasonable Americans for whom that one issue is not primary in their minds. When one of us writes something that dismisses a Clinton supporter as being less intelligent, less educated, close-minded, or senile, we do a disservice to our candidate, and more importantly, we do a disservice to America. Going into a Clinton rally and ranting and raving about how two-faced some position of Senator Clinton's is does nothing to help bridge the divide our party now faces. We won, so now is the time to humble ourselves and work to overturn the stereotype that so many Clinton supporters feel to be the reality. Are we all out of touch elite college grads? Is Obama just a puppet of his Ivy League political masters? Does Obama look down upon regular working-class folks? Do his supporters?
My biggest fear is that blogs like the DailyKos will transition from becoming bastions of support to major liabilities for Obama in the general. If all we have to offer is comments about how clueless and out-of-touch old people are, or how only racist Democrats don't like our candidate, then we will be a drag on Obama, not a boost to him. I know that you can't extrapolate the comments in one election-night thread to the opinions of a whole site, but I'm speaking here because now is the time to transition from cheerleaders to ambassadors. When we see pro-Obama nonsense that harms the cause of reconciliation, whether on this site or in another forum entirely, we need to be the first to rebuke it.
If we believe our candidate when he says that a white person who lost an opportunity to a person of color because of a quota has a right to be frustrated, then we should never attack that person for their frustration. Obama is going out of his way to extend the hand of peace, and if we believe that he is a different kind of politician, one who disdains pandering and phony rhetoric, then we should be striving to emulate him and set a new tone for the debate going forward.
Senator Clinton has fought a good fight, and although I could never have supported her (I would've voted for Nader again if she were the nominee since I don't live in a swing state), I have close friends who did because they value the experience she has over what they view as vacuous idealism. If we don't follow Senator Obama's example but instead continue arguing with Clinton voters, we risk feeding into a stereotype that can then be easily transferred to the Senator himself. Every Clinton supporter we offend could be the difference between turning this country around and sending it further into the dark ages (if they choose to stay home rather than support our nominee).
I beg of all people who love this country and who support Senator Obama: pledge yourself to diplomacy and reconciliation. If, after successfully nominating a true agent of change, it turns out that Obama zealots cost the Democrats another presidential election... we will have reaped what we sowed.
Peace