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Back in the winter/spring of 2008, during the height of Primary Season, when we looked at, listened to, and heard the words of then-Candidate Obama, - if Daily Kos was any indication of the larger thing, and for argument's sake, let's say it was -- we saw and heard what we wanted to see and hear.
We carried those individual perceptions into the August Convention, into the debates and autumn campaign, into and through election day. And, like 5 witnesses to a traffic accident (multiplied by 13,890,000) -- who all see the same thing, and yet all see a different thing -- we carried those by-now-hardened viewpoints into and through 2009, right up to the present day.
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Invesco Field, Denver. August 28, 2008.
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But while there were over 69 million votes cast for Barack Obama (meaning over 69 million individual perceptions and understandings of him), it seems to me that we can, indeed, boil that vast array of perceptions down to two great camps. Well, at least I have.
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And depending on one's larger camp or school of thought, so goes how they continue to view, be encouraged by, be frustrated with, President Obama right now. In other words, where each of us were then explains where we all are now.
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Anyway, back then -- if Daily Kos was any indication of the larger thing, and for argument's sake, let's say it was -- there were actually two general schools of thought or perceptions among Obama supporters and they never really lined-up with one another.
Perception #1: "Change" means everybody, everybody eventually including most if not all Republicans, would be swept-up in a great bi-partisan tidal wave of patriotism and empathy and we'd all get along and great and necessary reforms would be made. The few recalcitrant Capitol Hill Republicans who were not caught up in the whole Spirit of the Movement would either be left to brood on the sidelines or eventually be pressured by their own constituents to become part of the program and eschew being part of the problem. This is an accurate summation and paraphrasing of many, many, many opinions expressed here at Daily Kos from (roughly) November 2007 - June 2008. Shorter version: "Kumbaya."
Perception #2: Hillary is out of consideration (owing to her DLC ties and refusal to express any contrition for her "Yes" vote on the AUMF), and so is Edwards (alas), and so is Biden (chiefly for his pushing that horrific bankruptcy bill through) and so, almost by default, the time has come to support Obama. Besides, he would constitute a Fresh Start for U.S. politics and his nomination and election would send a powerful and positive message (which it did) to the rest of the world about (young, optimistic, African-American, bright and well-educated, open-minded). As for the naivety of the Kumbayah Crowd, well, when that pipe dream (assuming it ever was Obama's) hit the wall of Washington Reality, Obama would be quick to shift gears and Get Things Done, whether by charm, sweet reason, arm twisting or Any Lawful Means Necessary, because he would be too motivated to succeed to allow the GOP or Blue Dogs to make him fail. This was the camp I in which I found myself.
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Assuming arguendo that I'm at least in the ballpark, then to a great degree this would explain why there continues to be a rift among Democrats/Progressives/Liberals in the blogosphere about what President Obama is up to now. The people who generally perceived Senator Obama through the glasses of "Perception #1" see President Obama's constant and consistent "reaching out" to Republicans as either a fulfillment of his promise to "Change the way Washington works", or as the genius of his 11-Dimension Chess skills. Those who generally viewed Senator Obama through the glasses of "Perception #2" now see little but either and obsession to appease the GOP, which ends up being no "Change" at all.
And thus we discuss and argue at cross-purposes.
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