First post for me so be gentle. Or not. After reading the crap today have at it. I have a thick skin.
I have been reading ravenously over the last few weeks because this is a great time for the democratic party and for progressive causes. We have seen caucuses in Iowa where white people voted for a black candidate. We have seen turnout of democratic voters that dwarfs the republican response. And as of today we have at least a partial victory on the protection of our rights in the FISA debate. So why am I writing?
Reading the diaries today I see what looks like a feeding frenzy--the supporters (and the opposition) can smell the blood and are moving in for the kill (or going into a defensive frenzy). The problem here is that we are feeding on our own and doing the job for the freepers even before the GE.
First things first. I am an unalloyed supporter of Obama. But not a supporter of supporters. At least not all of them.
Second things: over the years I have tried to teach my daughter (of whom I am inordinately proud: sixteen, straight A's and Opinionated) the difference between argument and manipulation. We have conversations where we discuss why crying, yelling, vituperation and appeals such as "they did it so why shouldn't I," are lousy strategies for persuasion and lousy strategies for getting what you want. She is sixteen. She is smarter than me, so I am at a disadvantage, plus she knows how to push the buttons and which ones work. Nevertheless, we progress through honest discussion and dialogue, even though we don't agree. Because we also respect one another and trust that at the end of all discussion we will still be together because we need to be together to find our way through the labyrinth that the world is presenting to her and through her, to me.
So back to the feeding frenzy thing. Somehow it seems that people here are forgetting that we have three! (3, count 'em 3) excellent candidates--when compared to the current rethug status quo. I am upset at the slings that Obama supporters are slinging at Hillary, I am upset at the slings that Hillary supporters are slinging at Obama, and I am especially upset that the media has completely discounted Edwards through the entire process. Exactly which of you thinks that any republican would be a better choice than our three candidates.
I can already imagine the flames: WJC disses JJ and slams BO, BO slights HRC etc. and Edwards deserves to win because he is the only fighter blah blah blah. To which I say: GET A GRIP. We are working against the true evil empire here and Darth Vader lives in the White House assisted by Chimpy the sidekick. We need to remember exactly what we are up against and keep our eyes on the prize. That is what we did with the FISA vote and it has so far been successful. United we can accomplish so much, divided we are like the sharks at a feeding frenzy--we will gain a temporary satisfaction at savaging the target, savoring the tasty blood, but in this case the rethugs (the biggest sharks, waiting outside the circle) will get to have the meal.
The last three weeks have been, to say the least, dispiriting, even depressing for those of us who hoped that the Democratic Party could have an open exchange of ideas free of the blood and guts of GE campaigns. There has been a meanness of spirit in this period, on this site, that reminds me of rethug campaign tactics. It is time to remember what we are here for: to elect a democratic (small d) president. All of our candidates fit this description so much more than do those of our opponents. Exactly what candidate positions disqualify any of our candidates when compared to the rethugs? As has been said elsewhere (for instance in the beauty shop video on the Maher show posted by Mr. Rodgers) the actual distance between positions is very slim. All of the candidates want to fix the problems we are all worried about. And when your candidate is elected, the real negotiations will start and blow all of the platform plans to hell anyway. So why are we expending the vitriol that I see today on this site?
I would be proud to support Edwards for president should he be the nominee. I would be somewhat less proud, but proud nevertheless to support Hillary because she is a formidable intelligence and once in office I believe she would work for many of the issues we support, and I would be proud to support Barack Obama in changing the way things work in Washington. Yes, I would be proud to support any of the three democratic candidates we have in this election, because they are all so much better than what we have now. You can argue which person will be more effective, or transformational, or who would fight the most for change, but each and every one would dramatically change the direction of our government from the security state envisioned by the right that they are putting into place while we argue among ourselves.
So my simple plea: can we have a dialogue? There is so much I want to know, and so much knowledge in the correspondents here, and in the past DailyKos has helped. Can we discuss without flames? We need this dialogue. If we can form a coherent vision of what any and every democratic candidate should address, it can become part of the party platform for change. A strong blogosphere contribution to the national dialogue has the potential to change politics as we know it. But while we are fighting like children over playground toys our chance for affecting the national discourse slips away.
Rather than trashing, how about some creativity for the future. Screw all the candidates, they don't know as much as the people. They're just guessing. We are the people. Let's make them all a platform that we believe in. nyceve has started: genuinely universal health care. What else? How about some ideas instead of crap about he said she said?
I'll start: We need regulation of banking in several different areas. First, we need to change appraisal practices so that poor neighborhoods don't get redlined, preventing poor homeowners from fixing their houses (a huge problem in inner cities). That comes from my background in trying to help revitalization for poor communities. How about a shift from prison building to affordable housing? The budget in California on those two has reversed since the sixties. Let's start talking about the real stuff that makes peoples lives miserable. In the last week what I have seen is like the meta threads here. Abstract quacking about candidates without substance.
We need dialogue. We need to realize that we are the people we will want to hang out with when the dust settles. We need to trust one another because we are going into a fight that will change the face of the world for the next century. Please, the time for dialogue is now while we still have a moment before the storm that is likely to come.