I am not defending Obama's vote for the FISA `compromise'. He was wrong, in my view. He was wrong to promise to support a filibuster against TELCO immunity. He was wrong even more not to follow through. These days everyone, left and right, is finding reasons to take potshots at Obama. Perhaps it means that he is successful. Or that he is a centrist after all. Most likely it means that people put Obama up on a pedestal where no politician belongs. Not even MLK or Gandhi. If you have heard of MLK but not Stokely Carmichael; if you know about Gandhi but not Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, it is because the compromises they made eventually made their movements succeed.
The opposition to FISA has attracted large numbers of sincere progressive activists. It has also attracted some agitators and hotheads. A case in point is the diary below by Mike Stark. Yes, that Mike Stark. The founder of the 23,000 member group on myBO.
The author quotes Nader to the effect that there is not a dime's worth of difference between Dems and Republican.
Let us get something out of the way. Ralph Nader was wrong in 2000 when he said
that there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the two corporatist parties.
Hello? Let me list some points where Gore would have been better than Bush
Iraq invasion. This alone is a Five Trillion dollar difference.
Torture of detainees.
Detainees.
Letting Bin Laden escape in Tora Bora.
Appeasing Musharaf in Pakistan
Kyoto treaty
Tax cuts for the wealthy
Competent administration of FEMA. Heard of Katrina?
FISA. Yes, FISA. Gore would not have abused his powers the way Bush did.
Prosecution of Gov. Seligman
Firing US attorneys over political causes
Really, do I need to list more? How serious can you be if you maintain that there is only a 2 cents worth of difference between the two candidates now?
Some of these things are unpredictable, I would stipulate. I don't really know if Gore would have caught bin Laden. But he would have been a hell of lot more competent at that fight than W. That much I think is obvious.
Retroactive immunity for telecom corporations that broke the law.
Let that sink in for a few minutes.
Yes, let it sink in.
Illegal searches are terrible. Letting the corporations that helped the Govt conduct them get away with it is bad also. So is torture. So is the Iraq war. We live in a time there is a lot to be angry about . All because of a few votes that went to Nader. Just remember that. It is one thing to get angry over a singe issue. It is another to figure out how to get out of the hole we are in now. And how to make sure our hasty actions can bring about another calamity.
Politics is about making choices. Purity does not work in politics. That does not make politics dirty. It just makes it real.
Gandhi was not pure. Ask Netaji Bose. MLK was not pure
In 1960, black college students initiated a wave of sit-in protests that led to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). King supported the student movement and expressed an interest in creating a youth arm of the SCLC. Student activists admired King, but they were critical of his top-down leadership style and were determined to maintain their autonomy. As an advisor to SNCC, Ella Baker, who had previously served as associate director of SCLC, made clear to representatives from other civil rights organizations that SNCC was to remain a student-led organization. The 1961 "Freedom Rides" heightened tensions between King and younger activists, as he faced criticism for his decision not to participate in the rides. Conflicts between SCLC and SNCC continued during the Albany Movement of 1961 and 1962.
The SNCC were right to criticize MLK. He had his flaws, like any human. But the compromises he made were part of a broader strategy. As imperfect as King was, he eventually won with the help of LBJ and other imperfect politicians. That is how the system works.
Obama is not perfect. He is not a King or a Gandhi. But he is what he have right now. He is our best hope. Criticize him. Challenge him. Try to make his program better. But don't ever suggest that there is no difference between him and the other side.
Sometimes it is the most obvious lessons of history that are the most important.