or Woman... I am writing this diary after reading yet another diatribe about the "tone" of the national presidential debate. This time by Howard Fineman. Over the past few months the right-leaning national press has focused in on the "attacks" by the Obama campaign on poor old Mittens. To be sure, there have been pieces on tax returns, residency, off shoring - all to be bemoaned by the intelligencia as a snark-fest, sniping that is beneath us, etc. Mittens has rolled out the sympathy plea to keep the debate about "issues." And now we are all to be dazzled by the new wunderkind with impeccable character and a brilliant insightful mind.
Well, I am not buying any of it! And I hope you wont either...
For the past 3 years we have endured a rollicking culture war assault on our president. We have heard how, he isnt proposing that he will take away your guns... NOW, but just wait. He wants death panels - but he just isnt telling you. His hidden agenda is to turn over the country to the Muslims, while he is sitting in those church pews. On and on the litany goes - Pres. Obama just isnt a good guy. He doesnt believe in American exceptionalism. He is indoctrinating and crushing your children. He is forcing this bill down our throats so that he can destroy America. Every bill debated, every bit of legislation brought to the floor, held up, mis-characterized, demonized, because "we just cant believe any good is meant by it..." Now I will admit that many times, the GOP has played the we want the power back game - and their obstructionism has been based in that. But the media, and many of the American people have bought into this mistrust the president meme.
Boys and Girls, this is not about the issues the president is facing, it is about who he is, plain and simple. Oh sure, there is the occasional and gratuitous - "he is a nice guy but he didnt have the experience" statement thrown out there. But make no mistake about it, the GOP saw favorable personal numbers and have sought to destroy those. The internet is full of it. CNN, FOX, and even occasionally MSNBC have all played into it. They have given air to things never said by our president and things that are diametrically opposite of what is in the bills. How for instance, does one come out killing grandmas by providing health care for all americans? If your answer is: because there are unintended consequences - then work to make the bill better - you were invited to the party. But that isnt really your answer now is it? Your answer is really that this foreigner should have no right to tell YOU what to do! IS that birth certificate real? Every news organization has run the question. No commentary, no thinking, just the facts right? Behind it all, the unspoken - Obama just can not be trusted.
And now we have: This attack ad is... That attack ad is... Obama releases a new attack ad... The campaign has gone negative...
Really!? So for 3 years the guy has had to hear "he isnt trust worthy." He finally stands up for himself and says "by the way - you should look at the people throwing the rocks" and we should all be incensed at the incivility? Well I am NOT. In fact, I believe it IS the debate. The state of the world economy, not to mention the U.S. economy is directly and brutally the result of wealth extraction by the worlds powerbrokers. The bankers. lawyers, policy makers we have trusted for the past 30 years. We have setup a financial system that allowed them free reign over the worlds resources and power bases, because we thought they would mind the shop. But during that time, we have also allowed those same people to become fabulously wealthy and influential over our daily lives. No harm no foul as long as the majority of people are doing OK and are left unmolested. But that is not how it turned out. The simple things we did for ourselves - as middle class communities - like investing our money in social security, setting up a safety net for the poor or the unlucky, unionizing, well, that was apparently too much. If we have money to send into Social Security - then we have more money to send to the Koch brothers?
And now we are being told - preached to - by those same people that they did it all on their own. There is no such thing as the collective good (as Ayn Rand said). That we as individuals should care only for ourselves and damn the future. We rewrite the Christian Bible so that it is to our new found liking. We redefine moral good and "genius" to describe what we have become (Paul Ryan a genius?). As we seek to dismantle social services, school systems, community activism, fair voting and more, we are being fed this - "keep what you kill" religion without the slightest regard for our history or our accomplishments as a people. (Nearly half the blogs out there have some statement about how the Mars Curiosity landing would have been done under budget and sooner if government hadnt interfered!) And, far too many of us are giving in to that prayer of greed. It is tempting - if we didnt know better. If we didnt have the past to look at - staring back at us with "yellowing eyes" like the Frankenstein monster that it is.
Everything has happened before... the debt crisis-manufactured by the powerbrokers to extract more power and more wealth. The moral indignation of having to care for the poor. The lies, distortions, graft, political corruption of money, has all happened before. And again it sits at the door, waiting to pounce if we let it. Its tools are the same - greed, ignorance, racism. And holding its leash are the very people that we entrusted with our national wealth. The robber barons of today - pouring millions into our political system and stripping those that might disagree with them of their voice.
So this brings me back to the point. What KIND of people are asking to take over the governmental reigns of power? Who do we trust? Afterall, anything can be said on the campaign trail - but who do we think has the mettle to understand our predicament. Who will LEAD? OK - so many will argue that the characterization above is not accurate. That the choice can be characterized in a different way. I say that history proves you wrong. The choice is one of giving into greed and averice - or understanding the interconnected and dependent nature of ALL mankind. It is the choice to evolve -plainly. And that the mettle of a leader is a recognition of this fact. President Obama is making plain his direction. He has chosen to stick to the better nature of our evolution. Sounds like an attack doesnt it? Or maybe it just sounds like exactly what it is - a mirror of what we are becoming. And the details in that mirror are pretty ugly - "trust me - I do pay taxes, except that time when I didnt but told you to trust me..." "he doesnt have health insurance - then he should die, that is the way our system works..." "Gays have no business in the military or getting married - just because" "I am saving medicare..." "Privatize social security because even though it has nothing to do with the debt, I still think my pals can make more money off the old folks left alive..." Too many of us have our fingers on that leash - "because if you do these things - America will be no. one. Because if you do these things YOU will get a brand spanking new tax cut. Because YOU are better than everyone else on the planet, you deserve it..."
Yep, swallow the RED pill and you dont need to care anymore. A lot of us have swallowed the pill and we dont like what we see when we look into that mirror. So we call it an attack ad, we call it uncivil.
But I call it leading. Leadership sometimes means showing people the path they are choosing AND showing them the nature of those that would have us give into unlimited greed. The Obama campaign has chosen to lead - by showing us what our choice is for our future. It does matter if our leaders have made a mint out of destroying companies and disenfranchising workers - then refuse to pay taxes on their ill gotten gains. It does matter if your heros are Ayn Rand and you style yourself her disciple. it matters if you have spent the last three years holding the U.S. hostage to your temper tantrums for not being in power. It matters if you think breaking the promises of social security is OK because you can make a profit from someone else's investment. It matters if you have done everything in your power to convince the American people that this is who they are. If you could Mitt -igate taxes and get away with it because it is legal - but the school in your community will go under because you did - is it still right? Your answer MATTERS. When it is a choice between the common good and just getting richer - your answer should determine if you become president. And if for you it doesnt - then dont blame President Obama for that monster you see in the mirror.
So who do we trust - President Obama is a black guy that had to struggle against an uneven playing field all of his life to get to where he is. He is holding up a mirror to show us what we are becoming and asking us "did you know..." On the other side, we have a couple of rich frat brothers. They have a pot of gold for us all. Who do we trust - This IS the debate.