This is getting stupid. Support for one candidate on favouring his or her policies; support for a candidate through the campaign he or she has run; where exactly did this disappear, and this animosity factor in? The divide between "Obamacultists" and "Hillbots" is sickening, and to an outsider watching these two "progressive" sites – the DailyKOS and MyDD – I despair that progression has stooped to this level of infantile tribalism.
Most sickening is the extent to which both factions are blinded by animosity and support for candidates through love of civil war, and not the things that truly matter. We must not forget the issues. We must also never forget to look in the mirror.
A disclaimer first: I am a member of DailyKOS, not a member of myDD. However, in the interests of impartiality, I have found myself browsing the latter pages in search of a more rounded picture of the so-called progressive movement in your United States blogosphere.
I’m glad we can all agree that the DailyKOS features a heavy Obama bias on the front page. I hope we can all agree that myDD is weighted with Clinton supporters. There is something noble about taking a step back from your investment and analysing the bigger picture. Unfortunately, during this primary season, many on both websites have become far too entangled with miniature details. For example:
In this eloquent diary on MyDD, a Hillary supporter condenses an Obama speech into one phrase and will never vote for the man because of it.
On the other hand, some details seem rather larger as obstacles. Look here:
The infamous Universal posts on myDD, expressing how many in Hillary camp will not vote for Obama because they have been called "racists". Link for the morbidly curious.
This last issue seems heartfelt, if expressed with unnecessary vitriol. And vitriol, one might argue, is fine if it is merited. But for some, I'm afraid, your investments have clouded your view of the big picture. It seems rather tragic that it takes a special sort of person to admit that both candidates have flaws. Somehow, the norm has come to include hideous projection, of all things. I want to deal with this hypocrisy, lest we lose our sight completely.
MYDD SAYS: Obama supports voter disenfranchisement in FL and MI.
REALITY SAYS: So does Hillary Clinton, as exemplified by her treatment of Texan caucuses. http://www.dailykos.com/...
MYDD SAYS: Obama is a liar about his association with Wright, Rezko, his law professorship, his oil lobbyist money.
REALITY REPORTS: Clinton, too, lies. About her foreign policy experience, about sniper fire repeatedly, about NAFTA.
MYDD SAYS: Obama is a racebaiter, a real racist using the media to misogynize Hillary.
REALITY SUGGESTS: Clinton surrogates suggesting Obama’s presence relies entirely on his blackness; suggesting Obama is ‘too black, or not black enough’; emphasising tiny excerpts from an enormous history of a black church to signify some sort of anti-American conspiracy from the black man Obama.
MYDD SAYS: Obama has run the dirtiest campaign, like, ever.
REALITY CONCLUDES: Clinton’s buttering-up of the Republican nominee, her dismissal of voters swinging away from her, her suggestion that superdelegates should reverse overall voter decisions – these, too, are dirty tactics.
This is just a small fragment of many of the large arguments going on between supporters of both of these candidates. Despite how it may seem, I am not trying to simply "one-up" Hillary supporters, either. Merely I am trying to illuminate a question that many, I think, have not considered:
How is it you can vote for McCain over Obama on any of the above grounds? If Obama has run a negative campaign, so has Hillary. If Obama lies, Hillary definitely lies. The race card, it has to be said, has been deftly played by the Clinton campaign as much as it has the Obama campaign. DEMOCRATS: What standards are you all holding one candidate to that can’t be held to the one you are supporting?
Which of you will see the big picture? If you do, you might learn that supporters do not equal the candidate. The policy, the campaign, these are the reasons to vote.
Looking at that elusive big picture, is your candidate’s campaign really so virtuous that you can vote for the GOP? The GO-flipping-P?!
If you are interested in fixing your economy, in leaving the Iraq war. If you want to see a progressive agenda in the Whitehouse. There is no way you can allow hypocrisy to smear the ballot for a third Bush term. Many argue their morals cannot be swayed after their treatment by the Obama camp: I ask you to consider the feelings of Obama supporters who have seen the discrepancies of the Hillary campaign that you have not. Many say they will not vote for Hillary Clinton – something that those at myDD attribute to madness while they claim the same argument for the opposite side. But what morals are we progressives holding when we sign up for McSame?
Some arguments from both sides are astonishingly bogus.
Many are protesting through real emotion. Sometimes misguided, sometimes well-informed.
But for God’s sake. For those of us who are looking at America after eight years of civil liberties destroyed, eight years of torture, eight years of war agenda, of fearmongering, I ask: How can you forget what we are fighting for?