Like most of us here, I'm torn by what Senator Obama wrote last week.
I wrote him a letter last night. It sums up most of my feelings.
He truly seems to be a good guy, and someone we want on our side.
Feingold and Biden are not singled out in my letter for any reason other than illustration. Any two other Democratic Senators who have voted at extreme ends of the spectrum, yet left us floundering would do.
Feingold is a good guy too, and he's on our side. Biden is a Democrat.
I forgot to mention some things. One was that if we want the Democrats to represent our base, there should be at least 22 female Democratic Senators, 6 or 7 people of African Descent a few Asian folks and 6 or 7 persons who identify as Hispanic, if they choose t do so.
Maybe he'll respond. I'll post that. (Yes, I'm still dreaming)
Senator Obama,
I am writing in reference to the diary you posted ion the "Daily Kos" blog last week.
I don't know if you frequent that site, or indeed have ever gone there, but you or your staff may have noticed since you posted your diary a number of other diaries have popped up in reference to yours (I will be posting this letter as a Diary on the Daily Kos, so please count this among them). Most of those diaries, as well as many of the comments attached to your own diary, are, to say the least, impassioned, and somewhat critical of your comments.
I would like to address some of the issues raised by your diary.
I have three basic points. We, the Democratic, progressive and "liberal netroots" people of America like you, hold you in high esteem, and hope that you can help us change this great Nation into one of equality and fairness for all Americans. We are ambivalent about your diary posting last week. Capitulation on the part of our elected Democratic representatives to the Republican agenda as enacted by George W. Bush, the 109th Congress and their administrative supporters is unacceptable, and a recipe for disaster.
The part about you:
When I saw you speak at the Democratic National Convention on television last summer, I was excited. I said, "Here's a guy who is not only living the American dream, he's one of us." Millions of Americans see in you a hope for the future. It isn't your history or your ancestry that matters. It's the fact that you speak about an America for which most of us yearn.
Since you arrived in Washington you have made some moving speeches. Most recently the "$100.00 to gas up the SUV" comment you made in reference to evacuating from New Orleans succinctly described the differences between the "haves" and the "have-nots" in this great country.
You have also spoken about changing the nature of the discourse in America. You seem to want to shift from bogus `compassionate conservatism' and rehashed trickle down economics to a common good and a common sense of what is right and what is wrong. You seem to want to point out that stealing of loaf of soggy bread is no more ignoble than stealing $600,000.00 from the U.S. Government while being paid to feed our troops. In the current system the first thief is vilified, while the second is awarded more chances to steal from the public.
Most people also recognize that you are a freshman Senator and the junior Senator from a State with a fairly vocal Senior Senator. You are also young by political standards. (You're even younger than my eldest siblings are.)
With the above said, of all the sons of African immigrants in the Senate who are total sell outs to the DLC and the failed centrist movement, you are the worst. (please note the irony of the above statement.)
The Ambivalence:
Our ambivalence comes from what seems to be a very mild, middle-of-the-road approach to the predicament we are in, in this wonderful nation. I recognize, as I mentioned above, that you want to change the tone of the discourse (it was in the title of your diary). It seems that you are trying to be diplomatic.
The problem is that we here are living in a world where diplomacy is becoming a relic of the past. The President of the United States of America has demonstrated time and again that he has no respect for diplomacy. His response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 was, "You are with us or against us." He failed to state that this only applied to nations and people to whom he was not already beholden. When weapons inspectors were allowed back into Iraq in 2002, he decided that they were not going to do their job appropriately and pushed for a preemptive strike against a country that posed no threat to the United States. On October 16, 2002 when the Senate and House of Representative abdicated their power to wage war, he promised more diplomacy, but provided none. When the Senate told the President that it had more questions about the suitability of appointing John Bolton, who has been openly critical of the United Nations, as the ambassador to the United Nations, one of the highest profile diplomatic positions on Earth, the President side stepped the Senate and made a recess appointment.
It is the perception to millions of us on the `left' in America that the President and his cohorts are openly hostile toward us and the American way of life. The Bush administration has both advocated and committed torture against human beings, while claiming that those of us who call that immoral and criminal are "Un-American." The Bush administration has illegally PAID people to write propaganda in favor of their scheme to systematically dismantle our public education system, and criticized those who have spoken against such acts.
This is not an atmosphere where diplomacy seems like the best tool.
Further exacerbating the situation is the fact that millions of Americans are hurting. They are hurting badly and they see no means to alleviate the pain. One Diarist on Daily Kos on Sunday October 2, 2005, wrote that she has so little time to worry about Tom DeLay's illegal dealings and your perceived wishy-washyness, because she is becoming buried in debt. This is true of millions of hard working, honest Americans. The "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005" does little to alleviate the pain.
The people displaced by Hurricane Katrina are going to find it harder to make ends meet every day. Folks in the towns who have accepted the `victims' of Katrina are going to find it harder and harder to make room for people, when competition for the already limited number of jobs increases.
Civil rights and civil protections are being attacked every day. People of color and people of alternative lifestyle are afforded less equality and less opportunity today than they were 5 years ago.
The America that we built together as a people over the past 229 years is under attack from those who want to dictate how we worship, how we work, and most frighteningly how we reproduce.
Capitulation:
In your diary you defended the choices of various Senators to vote for John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
You seemed to make a subtle distinction between those people who are generally progressive and those who seem to give in to the Republicans at every turn.
Academically I think most people can see the difference between Russ Feingold's choice and Joe Biden's. Feingold has a liberal history while Biden is a centrist. The problem here is twofold. Firstly the 22 of you folks who voted "Nay" had it right. Chief Justice Roberts failed to demonstrate that he was the right choice for the job.
The problem with Senator Biden's vote: Since Senator Biden voted for the above mentioned law that denies good, hard working, honest people the ability to file for bankruptcy, even under extreme circumstances, he has done enough to harm the people of America this year nullify any good his Nay vote on Chief Justice Roberts did.
The problem with Senator Feingold's vote: Since the above mentioned law is already in place, and we know that Chief Justice Roberts is soft on corporations, we can only assume that when the bankruptcy law is challenged in court, that if it gets to Chief Justice Robert's desk, he will uphold that law, and damn the citizens. We are not privy to whatever Chief Justice Roberts may have told Senator Feingold, so we can only expect the worst.
Essentially these two Senators have worked in tandem to harm the American people. In schoolyard bully terms, Biden pushed us, and Feingold knelt behind us so we'd fall on our backs.
You probably don't see things this way, but many of us do.
In your diary you also suggested that ousting anyone we perceive as being hostile to our way of life is counter productive and won't help us gain control of our Government. That's a fine sentiment, but there comes a point where we HAVE to decide weather or not our elected Representatives are actually representing our interests.
I'll add a personal note to this. I have an 8 year-old daughter (just a little older than your eldest). If John Roberts overturns Roe vs. Wade and manages to deny my child her reproductive freedoms, (as President Bush wants him to do,) it will not be Russ Feingold who bears the burden of that ruling. It will be my child who pays the price for Senator Feingold's decision if she is ever in a position to want to exercise her reproductive rights, and is denied the ability to do so. The same goes for your kids, and any women with whom my infant son eventually becomes romantically involved.
I want the blessing of Liberty for my kids and for yours.
This is why I say, that we as a people cannot allow our Senators to tell us that they are working for us on the campaign trail, and then vote against our interests in the Senate.
So, here's the way we'd like it to work. We as the Democratic Party will set an agenda. (You might call it a platform.) If our Senators work to advance the agenda we will support them. If our Senators work against the agenda and sell us short, then we will, rail, rant and rave against them and most importantly vote them out of office.
Thank you for your time