I'm a marginal Edwards supporter, and I wrote a diary about it a little while back. It's my only bona fide "candidate diary."
But really, if once this primary season (epoch?) is over, Edwards hasn't made it...I'd be happy to support Barack Obama, and work hard to get him elected. I'm not thrilled with any of the candidates because they've been collectively weak in getting out of Iraq, but they are all in a different moral universe than those creepy Republicans being offered up as POTUS.
Though I'd like to see Edwards last past this day -- I think his approach makes more sense right now -- I'm also a little nauseous at some of the nonsense being thrown around about all of the candidates. I know a lot of people here feel that way, but let me point to a prime example of how candidate blindness makes people desperate, and frankly, stupid.
(below the fold)
I admired THIS diarist when I first started hanging around this site a few years ago, but she has become so anxious to crush Barack Obama that she will apparently say anything.
Here's a sample of the latest garbage, straight from the diarist's fellow Obama-loather, Taylor Marsh:
OBAMA FALSELY CLAIMED THAT HE WAS A LAW PROFESSOR: In 2004, the Sun-Times reported that, “Several direct-mail pieces issued for Obama's primary [Senate] campaign said he was a law professor at the University of Chicago. He is not. He is a senior lecturer (now on leave) at the school. In academia, there is a vast difference between the two titles. Details matter.” In 2007, Obama was quoted in the AP saying, “‘I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution.” Obama is listed as a “Senior Lecturer in Law (on leave of absence)," not a law professor, on the University of Chicago law school web site. [Chicago Daily Herald, 3/8/04; Chicago Sun-Times, 8/8/04; AP, 3/30/07; law.uchicago.edu]
This claim is the purest of crap.
I've taught at the college level plenty of times. I once did a semester merely subbing for someone taking a leave of absence. I won't name the school, but it was a very respected liberal arts college with lots of notable alum.
My title -- and it was on my paycheck, mind you -- was "visiting professor."
Ladies and gentlemen, I have never been anything but an adjunct at any school where I've taught. Tenure has never been a goal of mine, and I've never pursued it. Indeed, I've never taught anywhere long enough to be a serious contender.
But I've always been called "professor." It's amused me at times, since I don't seem respectable enough for the title, especially compared to Obama. And for me, it's usually had the qualifier of "adjunct," "visiting," or some such. But as far as the word being so rarefied as to apply only to tenured professors -- good god, what a load of bunko. It's splitting micro-hairs in order to get in a cheap shot.
Obama was head of the Law Review at Harvard. This is an amazing accomplishment. And Daily Kos' legal rep, Adam Bonin, took law classes from Obama at Univ. of Chicago.
The man was a Law Professor, whether Taylor Marsh and the rest of the peanut gallery like it or not. This was a desperate attempt to make Obama seem like a liar, and the reckless stupidity of the attack speaks volumes about how the primary wars have made too many people devolve.
This will probably offend some posters I like here at Daily Kos, but I'm amazed at much hero worship there has been in all the candidate camps. I'm not a subscriber to the Great Man (or Great Woman) theory of history, so I don't get the hysteria.
All of these candidates have strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, I prefer one at present, but he has some weaknesses his rivals don't. It's just absurd to act as if the world will crumble if one's chosen candidate doesn't make it all the way.
This isn't because I think the stakes aren't high in this country right now. It's precisely because of the enormity of the country's challenges that I think our problems are not simply addressable by who is President. A President succeeds or fails based in large part on the entire system she/he operates within, and it's going to take generations to fix that, assuming we don't f***ing kill ourselves first.
The work MUST be pursued on many fronts, by enough people committed to making a difference -- or else we go nowhere. Even if one President is a great progressive, he or she can be thwarted by a combination of big monied interests, a whorish media, a Congress determined not to cooperate with -- or even destroy -- the administration, etc., etc. And even if this President has some good years, it can all be undone quite easily by the next administration and Congress, if enough people want it to happen.
Conversely, if the system is broken enough, truly evil bastards like Cheney and Bush can get elected and thrive in it, and the system will already be in place to support them...as it has been for these two lying thugs.
Most of you know all of that full well. In fact, I realize that many of you have done much more grassroots work over the years than I have -- including working for candidates -- than I have. And I thank you for it.
But primary time brings out a collective mania where we let our enthusiasm for candidates flood our brains. I swear, it's like some kind of addiction. Speaking as a recovering addict, I'm actually not completely being facetious. I've felt the buzz of a good candidate fight here on Daily Kos. It can be a blast, at times. And it's not necessarily deadly, but it's a lot of energy spent... and we kid ourselves if we think it's all about Fighting the Good Fight.
No matter who locks down the Democratic presidential nomination over the next few weeks, I'm determined to go much more local in the activism and political work I manage to do with my rare spare time (young kids makes it tough, as many of you know). I'd like to help candidates where I live become part of the "More and Better" Democrats in office , with an emphasis on the latter... I'm in a primary-ing mood, after the piss-poor 2006 Congress. And I haven't done enough work in the trenches. That's my fault.
It's just sad that so many otherwise smart, politically astute people in these here parts have snapped their tethers and gone beserk over the One True Candidate. That person doesn't exist.
If our democracy stays this corrupted, not even a great candidate can make a long-term difference. But if we right our country through sustained collective work -- I mean over years, and more likely generations -- we can thrive in spite of a lousy President or two.
In the meantime, foaming at the mouth and telling pathetic lies about your favored candidate's rivals -- like "Obama was not a law professor!" -- gets us nowhere fast, and makes a lot of us look like fools.
I've said my piece. Thanks, Happy Iowa Day, and to all a good night.