I'm fairly new here. I've lurked on and off over the years, but it's only recently that I've been following things closely. So, obviously, there's a rift between those who support and those who do not support Obama. And it has made me curious. How fundamental is this disagreement? Do we have the same goals? Is this a question of strategy?
So here are my questions:
1) Are you pro-Obama? Anti-Obama? Neither?
2) What is the goal?
3) What is the strategy?
Here's my answer (just to give an example):
1) Neither. I do not believe the problem (or the solution) is the person; I believe the problem is structural.
2) The goal is reversing the concentration of wealth at the very top (i.e. greater economic equality). There are other issues that are important to me, but I believe this is the most pressing, in large part because I don't think we can do anything until we fix this problem (e.g. the environment).
3) Short of revolution (which I think is the only answer about half the time), the strategy that makes the most sense to me is to put our efforts into strengthening organizations and institutions (special interest groups) that will promote the economic interests of the poor and middle class. I will not give my money, time or votes to the Democratic Party; rather, I will give these things to organizations. These organization can then support the Democratic Party or Democratic candidates, but my loyalty is to the organization, not to the party or to politicians. (Without going too far into it, I believe this strategy is the logical conclusion of the research of Hacker and Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics - article here, book here).