I consider myself pretty cynical, aka "realistic," when it comes to politics. I expect very little on the issues that are most important to me from any candidate that can survive to become our nominee. One thing, however, really impressed me about Obama in the primary. He gave me hope for a new kind of politics, but not the consensus-building one he talked so much about. What impressed me was the politics he actually practiced in the primary.
Finally it seemed like we had a candidate who could garner the support of the party establishment while moving beyond the self-destructive CW of our consultant class. Finally, we had a candidate who seemed to understand that ceding the definition of the narrative to the right and then playing defense was a losing game. Finally, we seemed to have a candidate who realized that party organization needed to be broad - e.g. campaigning in 50 states, appealing to traditional non-voters, and refraining from the idea of trying to score cheap political points by reflexively attacking ANY faction of the Democratic coalition - instead of fighting an ever-narrower war for an ever-shrinking number of swing voters in an ever-shrinking number of states.
In the last 2 weeks, I don't see that candidate anymore. I'm withholding judgment, because it's only been a couple of weeks, but I'm very worried by what I've seen. The Obama campaign suddenly looks a lot like the Kerry and Gore campaigns. If there's a common appeal of this site - at least to those of us who've been long-term activists - it's that we were sick and tired of seeing an isolated party incapable of looking beyond a hopelessly outmoded CW get its lunch money taken by a clumsy band of right wing ideologues over and over again.
We've been burned repeatedly. We've seen idiocy and failure rewarded and entrenched ever deeper in our party's power structure. Are we not right to protest if we perceive the Obama campaign as going down that path yet another time? The progressive blogoshpere has grown tremendously in a short time, but we're still a tiny and rather marginal voice. If we want to be heard on this stuff, we have to howl. If the Dem party establishment doesn't listen to us now, do you really think they'll listen when they have the White House and huge congressional majorities? Get real. We have peak influence right now. It will ebb for a while after the election. Now is the time to protest. I’m not advocating abandoning our candidate; just working to make our voices heard.
The criticism of Obama's recent moves isn't holding out for the perfect on marginal special interest issues. It's about core issues. It's about how our party conducts politics, and - far more importantly - about the rule of law itself. I'm really dismayed by how many comments I've seen on Kos in recent days characterizing Obama's support for gutting core constitutional rights as "just one issue." It's not just one issue, damnit. What's happened in this country over the last 7 years is a disaster of historic proportions. Our checks and balances have been beaten down with the collaboration of our so-called opposition party. The theory of the Unitary Executive has replaced the Constitution as the functional guiding principle of our government. With his support of the FISA rewrite, Obama - at best - offered his tacit approval of this state of affairs. I have a problem with that, and I'm going to voice it.
I will volunteer for Obama in this election. I'll give him money. I'll vote for him. I'll do all this 'cause he's all that there is and he's a lot better than the alternative. I even still acknowledge that his campaign may know what they’re doing and be right. I may look back on this moment as not so bad, after all. Given my experience with this party, though, I’m not taking that on faith. When Obama appears to be selling out the core principles on which our nation is supposed to be based, I'm going to bitch. When he seems to be repeating the mistakes that have doomed this party to electoral defeat and collaboration in the Bush disaster, I’m going to bitch. That's all, bitch and switch my personal focus from more Democrats to better ones. Am I really not even allowed that? If not, what makes us better than the Republicans?