A confession of hypocrisy and a plea for healing

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Saturday October 06, 2007 · 9:51 AM PDT

2007/10/06 · 09:51

[M]aybe the trivialization of politics has reached a point of no return, so that most people see it as just one more diversion, a sport, with politicians our paunch-bellied gladiators and those who bother to pay attention just fans on the sidelines.

Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, p. 41

W]hat's troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics--the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and the trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem.

Audacity of Hope, p.22

I, an Obama supporter have helped perpetuate this very dysfunctional dynamic here by getting in to juvenile and toxic pissing matches with supporters of another candidate, My confession and plea below the fold.

Those who post here have a passion for politics that most of our nation sadly lacks. Unfortunately, passion is much more of an engine that it is a steering wheel. It has caused me to behave at times in a way in conflict with my own personal values as a progressive and with the vision for our politics advanced by Barack Obama. Insults, hyperbole, stupidity. A hypocrite twice over I have been. And, like my fellow Brooklynite,I apologize.

I do not apologize for my views on the issues, on my candidate, or on other candidates. I do not ask that of everyone else. Have I been unnecessarily harsh in stating those views? Yes. And that is something I will not do anymore.

In the long run, the issues that separate John Edwards and Barack Obama are miniscule. Indeed, it is more a manner of the approach and and tactics each employs rather than their values, vision, and goals for this party, this nation, and this world. Taunts over missed votes and bad votes and HOPE and LEADERSHIP contribute nothing to our dialogue or to our party. More akin to Yankees fans and Red Sox fans taunting each other in a bar than a dialogue to improve our country.

So, I make this plea to my fellow Obama supporters here: let us practice what our guy preaches. Let us not be afraid to admit that we don't know everything, that we don't hold the patent to progressivism, and that there are a lot of very smart Edwards supporters who share our core values.

I cannot demand that Edwards supporters reciprocate, but I request it. I don't want to fight any more. I want intelligent discussion. I want to talk with people with whom I disagree, not score points against them. Where my arguments are weak, I want to learn from people who point it out. I understand, and I hope that Edwards supporters understand, that a single obnoxious poster advocating for a candidate doesn't represent that candidate or the bulk of his supporters. Similarly, a single cranky comment from a poster shouldn't impugn that poster's overall reputation.

It's going to be an exciting, depressing, inspiring, and heartbreaking primary season here. If we can approach it like progressives instead of warring tribesman, we all can benefit. At times, every one of us is going to be tempted to gloat and to lash out in anger and frustration. Let us be better than that.

So, to my fellow hotheads and progressive, I extend and hope my fellow Obama supporters extend, an olive branch to you.

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