So I was purusing the comments this morning, when I stumbled upon this comment by a fellow Kossack:
In honor of the next Batman movie, The Dark Knight, I hereby am sending out the bat signal to call upon either Kid Oakland, Delaware Dem, DHinMI, or some other griseled vet to post a wise, group-hug/take-action type unifying diary that will calm this place down a bit so we get a look at the larger perspective.... perhaps maybe a JeffLieber for the humor factor.... or somebody who is good with words and umm stuff (LOL) to get us thinkin' again..
to the Batmobile!
First, I wrote a comment in response that right now, the things I would say to this community would not be calming, and that I thought the brouhaha was dying down anyway.
I probably should follow my own advice and stick to those words, but right now I am at the same time laughing at the hilarity of it all and getting very angry that this community needs to be reminded of anything.
Perspective? You want perspective? Okay, how about this. First off, if the only hope for Obama to win the election rests on me writing some calming words to convince a few fanatical purists to vote for him, then we are all screwed. Seriously, we should just all kill ourselves now.
Here's more perspective: We are a wonderful community, but we are microscopic compared to the electorate at large. And the much disruptive and vocal purists who now hate Barack Obama with all the passion and vitriol that they reserved for Bush, well, there are about 10 of them.
10 out of three hundred million. We just think there are a lot of them out there because they are so goddamn loud. Like the sound of a lone cricket in your bedroom, you would think the insect was monsterously large, but instead, in the corner, it is small enough to fit on your thumb.
"Hey, look at ME, Barack Obama is ignoring MY issue!!! How dare he!!! I condemn him to Hell for all eternity! Doesn't he know I am most wise and he can only follow MY advice if he has any hope to win?? And he won't win now, because I am not voting for him, or supporting him, or campaigning for him ever again! Doesn't he know how important I am!!"
That is the purist argument. Incredible narcissism with an overdose of petulance to boot.
We demean and lower ourselves whenever we respond to such arguments. And we should not take the ravings of a few to be representative of the many. Further, while I am being disrespectful of the purist few, they deserve it. Because not only do they act with petulance and narcissism in reaction to an understandable disappointment, but in the end, most of them come around and vote for the object of their scorn anyway.
So why should I reward bad behavior? Why should I reward their temporary anger and actions with attention and begging? How do you treat a spoiled child having a temper tantrum? Either send him to his room until he calms down or ignore him. I choose the later, since I currently lack the power to send anyone anywhere. Soon perhaps, but not now.
Look, I think it is safe to say that many here are a little perturbed by the awkward lurching to the center that the Obama campaigning has undergone recently. Yet, most of the lurching has been a media invention. Obama dissing Clark on Monday? Media invention. Clark dishonoring McCain on Sunday? Media invention. Obama backstabbing us on FISA? Yes, I was disappointed that he did not say he was uniformily against the bill or retroactive immunity. But did anyone actually read the Obama statement? Did anyone actually listen to legal scholars on our side? My disappointment with him has lessened considerably when I did read it and when I did listen to John Dean. Some are still pissed. That's fine. You can be pissed. But eventually you will get over it and get back to work in getting the man elected. I'm sorry, but those are the cold hard facts.
We are still going to vote for this man.
We are still going to support him and campaign for him.
I mean, the choice is Barack Obama v. John McCain. If I have to convince any of you who to vote for and who to support with your time and money, then we are all screwed. We should all kill ourselves now.
How's that for perspective.