I hereby declare that my support for Barack Obama is conditional. It is conditional on principles that I personally hold dear. I have given money, donated time and attended rallies. I have chatted up co-workers, relatives and complete strangers. I have done more for Barack Obama than I have done for Howard Dean, which was the first campaign where I got involved. Join me after the break so that I can tell you why I wouldn’t support a Barack Obama candidacy.
I will not support Barack Obama if he disparages any of Hillary’s wins as ‘not counting’.
If Barack Obama loses the pledged delegate count and then threatens to have ‘super delegates’ push him over the top, I will not support him.
I will not support Barack Obama if he goes ‘Sista Souljah’ on any ethnic group be they whites, Jews, Hispanics or whomever.
If Barack Obama targeted his campaign to only ‘black voters’, I would not support him.
If a state was excluded from sending delegates to a Democratic National Convention because of a rules violation and Hillary Clinton took her name off of the ballot and Barack kept his name on – and then after the election in that state Barack started complaining that those delegates should count – I would not support Barack Obama. I would not support him even if it meant losing those delegates would cause him to lose the election.
If Barack Obama hired a campaign strategist that worked for Blackwater or union busting organizations, I would not support him.
If Barack Obama dropped the 50-state strategy, I would be very disappointed and I would put his chances of winning in November at 0.
I have donated three times to the Obama campaign. But if he sells his donor list to a spammer, he will not get another dime from me.
If Michelle Obama came out tomorrow and called Hillary a ‘phony’ or a ‘fantasy’, I would loose respect for her and re-evaluate my commitment towards her husband.
If Michelle Obama stated that "the poor don’t need a president", I would e-mail Barack Obama and tell him to keep her off of the campaign trail. I would be outraged.
If a high-level supporter of Obama comes on this blog and writes a diary wherein he calls Hillary the ‘Chick Jesus’ or the ‘Female Messiah’, I will lobby Kos to get that account band immediately. I would HR the tip jar. I would also be disappointed if Obama continued to accept support from that person.
If Barack Obama doesn’t show up for an important FISA vote, I would re-evaluate my support.
If Barack Obama had a 28 year-old daughter who campaigned for him, made phone calls for him and lobbied super delegates for him, but refused to give interviews, even to 9 year old girls, I would be a little bit put-off. If an otherwise outstanding journalist uses an off-color remark about it, I would be upset. If the journalist apologized, his network apologized, the leading anchor on the network apologized and he was suspended, I would let it go.
If Barack Obama said that Fox News treated him better than any other network, I would think him a liar and seriously evaluate my support.
If Barack Obama took campaign money from Rupert Murdoc, I would re-evaluate my support.
If Barack Obama stopped using ‘We’ and started using ‘I’ in his speeches, he would probably loose my support.
There have been several comments levied at me from Clinton supporters that go along the lines of "If Barack was in the same situation, his supporters would be doing the same thing." Well, obviously, I can’t speak for all Obama supporters. But speaking for myself, it is precisely because Senator Obama does not use these tactics that I am supporting him.
As mentioned above, my support is conditioned on these principles. The only people that I give unconditional support to are my three children. Even support for my wife is conditional upon fidelity. I do not follow anybody blindly.