The arguments about Obama being pragmatic on FISA are complete and utter bullshit. So I'm not using a strawman, I'll quote from the diary that currently sits atop the rec list:
- he avoids creating a rift among Democrats, which the media loves
- he deprives the Republicans of an issue this fall.
More like deprives the Democrats of an issue this fall. The public doesn't want this shit. I'm pretty sure that the Democrats could have framed this issue extremely favorably by saying this to the American people:
The Republican administration has teamed up with the fat-cat CEOs and multi-millionaire investors. have illegally spied on you. Here in America, when someone wrongs you, they owe you damages. Therefore, if your telecom company illegally spied on you, then they have to pay you damages. YOU WILL BE PAYED MONEY FOR THIS. And it won't even come out of taxpayer money. It will come from rich telecom executive bastards (and multi-millionaire investors) who were wiretapping you... probably so that the Republicans in power would pay them some of YOUR TAXES for this service. WTF?
Argument won. Democratic landslide victory. But Obama and the pro-corporation Democrats have deprived the rest of us of this issue.
On the first argument you brought up, there is a rift among Democrats whether it is exposed or not. The best way to handle a problem is not to ignore it, last I checked. There are those who believe we have the right to privacy, and there are those who believe it as long as it doesn't affect the bottom line of their corporate masters. It's the DLC losers of the party, and the pro-corporation Democrats against the rest of us. The good news is that we have the majority, 128-105. The motto of this website is more and better Democrats. Well, I'd like to propose an amendment to the motto: more and better Democrats. Because the more thing just isn't working that well.
Yeah, I know some districts aren't going to be for a true progressive candidate. Still, the answer isn't appeasing them by putting up some DLC dead-ender against the Republican. The answer is talking with the people and selling them on progressive ideals. It can be done. It has to be done if we're going to get any real improvement. As Lincoln said:
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all the other.
And he was right. I feel the same thing about the class warfare and corporate authoritarianism that is going on right now. Either we will go down this road to 1984, or we will turn around and get back to some of our nation's greatest ideals of individualism, freedom, and a moral distribution of wealth through regulation and anti-trust laws toward corporations. We will become all of one society or all of the other.
Man has the capacity to change his mind through logical debate. It is, perhaps, our greatest ability as a species. That is the path that needs to be pursued. Not the path of appeasement and political calculation. Obama got this one wrong, and it was a big one because of what it implies. It was the second time (remember the Columbia and Peru trade deals that he was for?) that he has taken a stance that will benefit the corporations at the expense of the American public. Now there are trend lines to how he will handle Wall Street vs. Main Street issues, and they're trending down. We need to keep putting pressure on Obama to make the right choices. He deserves our scorn for this, and he's getting it. Hopefully he will make better decisions in the future.