Like millions, I’m sure, I’m really angry over the Democrats cave on FISA and telecom immunity. The other day I was so angry about the impending debacle that I did a rash thing, when Barack Obama’s robot e-mailed me to ask for another contribution, I wrote back that, because the candidate wasn’t leading on this issue, I was giving money instead to ActBlue’s fund for punishing the architects of the "compromise." And then I did exactly that. I still desperately want Barack to win, and plan to help, but I think it’s healthy to express support and displeasure as concretely as possible.
Yesterday I saw what I (among thousands of others) had wrought when Hullabaloo previewed an ad slated for a full page of Thursdays’ Washington Post. There it is intended to bother the great compromiser and Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer. I quickly wrote to Act Blue to ask, "Can I get my money back?"
Hullabaloo
The proposed ad I saw is possibly the ugliest, stupidest, most counter-productive expression in the history of the known universe. It caused me to wonder, does Karl Rove have a mole in the organization and does this bespeak his legendary evil genius? Has he managed to divert money from Obama and use it to further muddy the Democrat brand?
The ad, on an all black background, is headlined "Wiretapped by the U.S. Gov’t." Underneath this is a photoshopped montage of Martin Luther King, desegregation marchers, and Malcolm X, and a quote from Barabara Lee, (D-CA) about how Dr. King and family were "victims of shameless wiretapping." One might wonder why the racial injustices of the Sixties are being invoked here. However wrong it was, wiretapping wasn’t foremost among the trials of these people; in fact I wasn’t even aware than Malcolm X had been wiretapped – though I’m hardly surprised. More to the point, to the people the ad should be trying to reach, Malcom X is a scary black man, and a militant Muslim; in short: a terrorist. Many (perhaps most) Americans think he’s precisely the type of person we want wiretapped. And these same people are not exactly outraged by the idea of MLK being bugged while boffing his road-wives. So it hardly serves to make these men the face of the issue.
The issue here is: the same people who turned the Justice Department into a dirty tricks squad for stealing elections were also running countless illegal wiretaps on American citizens -- and Steny Hoyer is trying to close down investigation of this. It only muddies the issue to invoke the memories Martin and Malcolm just because they too were illegally wiretapped. I mean really, why stop there? Surely Hitler wiretapped people too, so why not bring in the Holocaust?
But beyond the irrelevance of the reference in this ad, foregrounding blacks-as-victims is exactly the wrong note to be sounding at this time. Racial injustice persists, but its redress must not be the whole brand of the Democrats; that is what Rush Limbaugh wants. The Democrats have in Barack Obama by far the ablest candidate in the field, not the ablest affirmative action candidate, the best period. He transcends racial issues in part because there isn’t even a hint of victimhood about him. Nobody has to feel sorry for him or guilty over his plight. His gifts are obvious and enviable, even to his enemies and skeptics. An illustration: a few months ago I was having drinks on the porch of a fine ante-bellum house in rural Dixie with its owner, a man, not surprisingly, of genuinely conservative principles. When it came to the candidates he surprised me, saying, "Hey, the blonde and I went to an Obama rally – had to see what it’s all about." Then he laughed incredulously and reverted to the language of our segregated youths, averring, "I’m votin’ for the nig. Absolutely."
This is the sort of person ActBlue, the Democrats and Barrack need to reach if America is to survive and undo the damage of recent decades. Barrack is doing his part, but why now, of all times, does ActBlue make a Black Muslim an iconic martyr to Bush era abuses? Is someone trying to make Malcolm the mascot of the reform movement or Martin the Presidential running mate? It’s either colossally stupid, or it’s a really genius little piece of ratfucking.