Okay, some of you have forced me to make MetaJesus cry. I've seen argument after impassioned argument grace the recommended diaries list for the past two days excoriating Obama's supporters that are revolting his revolting decision to go back on his word and not filibuster the FISA bill if it contains immunity and I can no longer keep my virtual mouth shut.
This is DailyKos, whose stated mission is to elect Democrats. Most people here - especially Markos - want to elect Democrats - especially Barack Obama - and will continue working very hard to do so.
Those of you that are upset about the revolt are misdirecting your anger. The argument against those revolting seems to go something like this: Obama may have done a bad thing by changing his position on whether or not he'll filibuster FISA but even if that is legitimately worthy of criticism, we should all pull our punches to keep from doing anything that might make Obama look bad before the election because this could cause him to lose the election.
I, and I think many others, see this quite differently, follow me below the fold if you care to hear about it...
My main problem with this argument is that the anger over the revolt is directed at those revolting instead of where it should be squarely aimed: at Barack Obama. My opinion, and I think there are many others that agree, is that the revolt is not what will hurt Obama, Obama changing his position, flip-flopping if you will, and trying to put lipstick on that pig is what will hurt him. The anger should not be at those revolting* but rather at Obama for giving them something to revolt about.
I, for one, think it hurts him more to reverse himself, to go back on his word and not filibuster FISA when he said he would if it contained immunity than it does for a bunch of his most ardent supporters to call him on it. There is still time to pressure him to do the right thing and he can still do the right thing and keep his word.
Doing the right thing and doing the easy thing are seldom the same thing and it takes leadership to do the right thing when it isn't the popular thing. I believe that kind of display of leadership would make Obama look strong. Being afraid to do the right thing because of what the opposition will say, or for whatever reason, makes Obama look weak. Whether or not you agree with that argument, I think you would at least agree that it is a valid argument.
I don't think anyone expects that Obama will be able to actually stop the bill from becoming law. But I expect him to keep his word and to try. He can work to rally support for blocking any bill that contains immunity or he can make a political calculation and vote to gut the 4th amendment for the sake of percieved political expediency, but that certainly doesn't represent change.
You may not think the opposition would stoop so low as to attack Obama for someting that he helped them on or call him a flip-flopper because he changed his position but I don't give Republicans that much credit. They are not nice people.
There are always arguments against holding elected officials accountable and there always will be. We can't hold Obama's feet to the fire now, because it will damage him and might cause him to lose the election. We won't be able to hold his feet to the fire either after he wins the election, as some have suggested we should, for one compelling reason or another I'm sure.
But we can hold his feet to the fire now thanks to the organizing tools that he himself has provided and the beauty of it is that I believe that, irrespective of whether or not he'll change his mind, he'll hear what we have to say and I think he will listen to what we have to say. And furthermore, that what we have to say will actually mean something to him.
And it will not cost him the election.
*To leave this on a lighter note, all this talk of revolt made me think of the scene in History of the World, Part 1, where someone tells King Louis that "the peasants are revolting" to which he replies, "you said it, they stink on ice!" If you don't want to talk about Barack Obama and FISA, and I certainly don't blame you if you don't, at least leave your favorite line from History of the World, Part 1 in the comments.