I think in all the kerfuffle about whether to "have Obama's back" or to castigate him, Glen Greenwald hits exactly the right note in his post on Salon. He inspired me to write Bill Burton at the Obama campaign not as a way to heap scorn on Obama, but to point out to him the POSITIVES of fillibustering amnesty.
The whole greatness of Obama's campaign is that WE are funding it, the only constituency he owes his nomination to is us. But if we don't use that power and remind him where that $280 Million came from, than it means nothing and we are just a sprawling ATM. If lobbyists can call and pressure a candidate when their donations are ignored, why can't we? I support Obama, and will continue to do so, but he wants citizen involvement, and apparently he wants people in his cabinet who are Republicans and who disagree with him and makes it clear he wants critical energy, so here I am, being involved and disagreeing:
Mr. Burton,
I have been a long time supporter of Barack Obama, and have donated several times to his campaign. One of the primary reasons I did so was my belief in his ability to buck the all-to-frequent tendency of Democrats to capitulate to the Republicans before there was even a real fight. His principled stand on the war, his firm beliefs about talking to belligerent leaders, and finally his promise to fillibuster any law that included Telco Amnesty convinced me over the long primary fight that he was just the candidate this party has been looking for. For him to so quickly and easily break a promise to fillibuster Amnesty when no real threat is present (the Republicans are in disarray and polls show the country practically hates the administration) would be truly disheartening for those of us who believe he will be a new kind of leader. There may be some kind of political calculation going on here that I don't understand, but what you must surely understand is that most of Barack's success has come from the enthusiasm of activists and people who believe in his moral depth. If he concedes that, he will seem to become one of those politicians who do things "the old Washington way" who he has spent so much time eloquently attacking. What will happen to the excitement if his words ring hollow?
Think instead of the immense political and moral power of taking a principled stand here and fillibustering the Telcom amnesty provision! Think how that will read to people...even those who disagree with Obama will be unable to deny his moral strength. I beg of you to consider the millions who have worked on and funded Obama's campaign and what it will mean to us to see him stand up for OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES. You think you've seen energy and enthusiasm on Obama's behalf? You ain't seen nothing. If Obama does this thing, if he stops this bill, I will buy my ticket to Ohio or Florida or wherever you want me THE NEXT DAY. I'll take all of October off to make sure that man is elected. And I'm positive I'm not the only one who will react this way.
Please don't take us for granted. That has been the Democratic recipe for electoral disaster in the past. Ignite us, inspire us, lead us, but don't EXPECT us.