I have been a Kossack and an Obama supporter for a little less than 4 months but have come to admire and appreciate the tenacity and puritanical instincts of My fellow democrats here.
I'll take you down what I have been through in this exhilarating and exhausting yet-to-be-won electoral journey below.
Let me tell you about my journey here. I was basically an indifferent, inconsequential and disinterested Gen-Yer before these elections.I had never voted before. Yeah the Obama campaign brought me to the process. I can unabashedly admit that. I saw and felt the tremendous energy and vibe that was borne out in this campaign primarily because of the absolute clusterfuck that is the Bush admin and the hunger amongst millennials to get past partisan bickering in DC and to take the country in the progressive direction it deserves to be going forward in.
On issues, I disagreed with Obama even before the primaries on his stance on letting the states decide on gay marriage and also disagreed on his version of UHC.
And I heard a message from Obama that called us to action, to involve ourselves in our communities and from the word go his message was that he wanted to get past the partisan bickering in DC and to have compromise and diplomacy in all walks of socio-political landscape as a viable option.
This is essentially the maxim of the passive-aggressive Gandhian doctrine which I firmly believe in, which is mirrored in Obama's work and philosophy as a community activist and organizer and state legislator and then as a senator.
Legislative accomplishments in droogie's diary
I am an immigrant's daughter with a funny name and brown skin and that made it easier to naturally empathize with him.
I read his books and watched his campaign being pooh-poohed by the TM as a demagogue's following. Was I deterred ? No.
Then we overcame a behemoth campaign of an established well-oiled media-savvy machine of the Clintons.
I donated and phonebanked as that was all I could with my Masters degree still in the works.
And then after all the highs and the lows, the smears,the insinuations, the innuendos, Obama won the nomination against all odds and was braving a fractured democratic party.
He had run one of the most successful people-funded bottom-up grassroots run primary campaign in the US history.
A black guy from IL whose family both in its core and extended form looked like Angelina Jolie's brood had spoken to us in nuance and not in sound-bytes and had miraculously won despite a warped nontroversy-loving corporate media
And then the AIPAC speech came. And then we grimaced. But every presidential candidate to date had to have kissed the proverbial AIPAC ring.
And then FISA compromise bill happened, and all hell broke loose. When Hoyer announced the floating of his version, we totally wanted to know and just had to have a response from him.
I don't have to repeat the version of events that unrolled here and everywhere else in the left blogosphere after that and then came the threats. He listened to us and said that he would just disagree as the bill easily passed the House with Hoyer leading the effort without much debate from the dems. And yet we hung our expectations on him. We said he is the democratic nominee and hence the quasi-leader of the party and holds sway over the same leaders who came to support him, the beltway outsider 2 days after his primary win was sealed. And yes we pinned all our blame on him even as Hoyer and Pelosi went unnoticed in the hate-hoopla.
And now after a 1000, 'Why should I donate '(Of course,I am using hyperbole -the much used figure of speech these days over here) diaries, after which I had to donate $10 for every such pronouncement and have also run a high CC bill which I am scared of looking into, I just had to take the time to list all the issues which is most of the progressive issues on which Obama is there with us just as a reminder as to what we are fighting for and who we are fighting this GE for and why we need to support him in his darkest hour.
Kennedy had his bay of pigs disaster and Obama has had his pig-headed FISA voting mistake.
But here's why we keep on keepin' on.
On the looming Iran-US crisis and a possible WW3 scenario.
When Clinton and McSame threatened to obliterate Iran to perpetuate WW 3, he said that the only route to take is strong diplomacy just today.
These missile tests demonstrate once again that we need to change our policy to deal aggressively with the threat posed by the Iranian regime. Through its nuclear program, missile capability, meddling in Iraq, support for terrorism, and threats against Israel, Iran now poses the greatest strategic challenge to the United States in the region in a generation. Now is the time to work with our friends and allies, and to pursue direct and aggressive diplomacy cwith the Iranian regime backed by tougher unilateral and multilateral sanctions. It's time to offer the Iranians a clear choice between increased costs for continuing their troubling behavior, and concrete incentives that would come if they hange course.
"As these tests have reaffirmed, the threat from Iran's nuclear program is real and it is grave. As President, I will do everything in my power to eliminate that threat, and that must begin with direct, aggressive, and sustained diplomacy."
Here is McSame's Reaganesque quixotic Missile shield shit-
"Iran's most recent missile tests demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel. Ballistic missile testing coupled with Iran's continued refusal to cease its nuclear activities should unite the international community in efforts to counter Iran's dangerous ambitions. Iran's missile tests also demonstrate the need for effective missile defense now and in the future, and this includes missile defense in Europe as is planned with the Czech Republic and Poland. Working with our European and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy."
On Immigration
On Immigration yesterday in the LULAC speech-
"Part of what makes America so beautiful is that there is no such thing as someone who looks like an American."
and
"It’s about making sure our government knows that when there’s a Hispanic girl stuck in a crumbling school who graduates without learning to read or doesn’t graduate at all, that isn’t just a Hispanic-American problem, that’s an American problem."
from tapped
http://www.prospect.org/... hits_hard_at_latino_conv
McCain avoided focusing on immigration today,but Obama quickly addressed the issue of the 12 million undocumented workers who are "in hiding in this country," arguing against immigration raids that separate parents from children. "We have to finally bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows," he said, while acknowledging, "Yes, they broke the law...but we have to put them on a path to citizenship." A few more issues Obama addressed that McCain didn't touch: The gender pay gap between Latina women and their male counterparts, bad working conditions for low-wage immigrant workers, and the need for Latino children to benefit from expanded Head Start programs.
What's not progressive about this??
On energy reform
Arctic drilling under an Exxon-Mobil yes-man like McSame is not an option for the health of our planet and our kids' future.
Energy-reform speech from two weeks back in Las Vegas, NV
This ad says it all about the difference between the 2 candidates.
Gore endorsement with emphasis on the importance of this election and how that would affect the future of our planet
And then on women's rights-
On women's right to choose from a former Clinton-supporting NOW member.
Despite all the allegations and misinterpretations of his words, He firmly believes in equal pay for all women and since his state legislature days has always been a strong advocate of women's issues and women's right to choose.
Reporter: You said that mental distress shouldn't be a reason for late-term abortion?
Obama: "My only point is this -- historically I have been a strong believer in a women's right to choose with her doctor, her pastor and her family. And it is ..I have consistently been saying that you have to have a health exception on many significant restrictions or bans on abortions including late-term abortions.
In the past there has been some fear on the part of people who, not only people who are anti-abortion, but people who may be in the middle, that that means that if a woman just doesn't feel good then that is an exception. That's never been the case.
I don't think that is how it has been interpreted. My only point is that in an area like partial-birth abortion having a mental, having a health exception can be defined rigorously. It can be defined through physical health, It can be defined by serious clinical mental-health diseases. It is not just a matter of feeling blue. I don't think that's how pro-choice folks have interpreted it. I don't think that's how the courts have interpreted it and I think that's important to emphasize and understand."
According to Linda Douglass, the Obama campaign's senior spokesperson, the senator from Illinois was making a distinction in the magazine interview between medically diagnosed mental illness and the kind of mental distress that an unwanted pregnancy causes many a pregnant mother.
"Mental distress is not an illness." Douglass said. "He absolutely believes and has always said there has to be a health exception for serious physical and mental illness."
That makes sense and conforms to the senator's co-sponsorship of the Freedom of Choice Act legislation which, among other things, would codify a mental-health exception to late-term abortion prohibitions.
He is and always has been surrounded by strong women and has had his ideals on feminism shaped in the progressive direction as rooted in his upbringing.
Remembering Barack Obama's Mom, Ann Dunham...
And on the Iraq war.
Yesterday in a TH meeting in the reddest part of GA he said the following answering a reformed republican veteran.
I am a progressive. I believe in a progressive tax code, universal healthcare, etc. But those who say I am "shifting my views" haven't been paying attention. This includes my friends on the left and in the media. I have always believed in faith-based charities, I worked with churches since I was young. I have always believed in the 2nd amendment, but we can still have common sense gun laws.
The reason people assume I am shifting is because people are cynical about politics, and instead of thinking that I may just believe it, assume I'm doing it for political reasons. Now, we may not always agree on every point, but we will 90% of the time. But if we disagree, it's not just for political reasons.
Now, on Iraq, I opposed the war from the start. I think we can get out in about 16 months. John McCain talks about "waving the white flag of surrender," I'm talking about common sense! We can't stay there forever!
So don't be confused: I WILL BRING THIS WAR TO AN END WHEN I AM PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!
On GLBT rights from Michelle Obama's wowing meeting with gay democrats last weekend.
Report on Michelle's meeting with gay dems.
And finally and importantly on GLBT civil rights and gay marriage- from GlowNZ's diary
Obama Rejects California Gay Marriage Ban Updated X 3 Hotlist by GlowNZ [Subscribe]
Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 09:19:55 AM PDT
* GlowNZ's diary :: ::
*
He wrote a letter to the e Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club in San Francisco saying:
He supports extending "fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and federal law."
"And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states,"
The McCain camp thinks this stance will lose Obama votes in California. I live in California and that just shows how little the McCain camp knows about California. If people were against Same Sex Marriage those people were unlikely to vote for Obama in the first place.
John MCain last week endorsed Proposition 8, which seeks to admend the Californian Constitution to ban Same Sex Marriage.
I am hoping that this stupid ballot initivatve on the Novemeber ballot fails especially since the Govenor does not support it.
I have no idea what the result is going to be, if it passes I will be very ashamed to live in a state that claims its progressive but yet it approves of discrimination.
Thank you Senator Obama for your stance on this. Lets hope the rest of California agrees.
Update:
According to D-Day, this story has been out in the public sphere for 2 days. It had been posted on a blog http://www.calitics.com/...
and had not been picked up by the MSM until the Sacramento Bee ran it.
D-Day makes a very good point when they said :
I'm very disturbed by the fact that progressive media is not supported to the point of being ignored, but when a dead-tree source goes with the same information it becomes a top story. I expect that out of the traditional media, but not the blogosphere.
Update 2:
Was sent some links by Julia which I am posting below. Thanks again to Julia for sending me these.
Act Blue Donation Page for Equality for All, the official No on Prop. 8 campaign
http://www.equalityforall.com/
Update 3:
Campaign and DNC materials distributed at at least one rally promote Obama’s positions on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, LGBT equality and other issues important to gay voters. Also criticize McCain’s stances.
On Campaign financing, Obama was right on the money about the spending caps that the McSame campaign and RNC will bust to attack Obama and put false insinuations across. He is collecting as much as $71000 through illegal channels as we speak.
He has $150 million 527s like freedomswatch and the NRA and the vetsforfreedom and oil-company lackeys and the heritage foundation and rethug governors association funneling money, putting up offensive dishonest incendiary ads and working for him.
Edwards Endorsement and Obama's poverty alleviation commitment.
LULAC convention speech from yesterday.
Economy speech from Powder Springs, GA from yesterday
On why kids need to learn foreign languages.
A.M.E church general conference speech from St. Louis
On Veterans in Fargo, ND last week
On education in Fargo, ND last week.
Call to service in Colorado Springs, CO
Butte MT July 4th parade
I can cite numerous examples and can honestly say that we have an incredible nominee and we will have a long hard dirty steep fight ahead of us. Obama is getting beaten from the right for being 'weak' on Iran and Afghanistan and he 's being pounded by us on the left.
Many of you have a gripe with him on FISA. And I daresay you are right to have that.
So vent as much as you want to. Please do because it's healthy to be enraged about this. But also remember always that we have a country to take back and responsibility for our precious planet in peril and for our children's future.
All that frustration vented and done with, don't tell me he is not progressive. He will be the most progressive president we will have if elected inspite of all the race baiting, insinuating, smearful , false, dishonest, innuendo-filled, languorously untrue attacking ads which will implicate him and his family and kids and his roots and his lineage and his faith and which all of us will have to overcome together. We have to stand up for him beginning now as it will be a referendum on our strength as his . We have to support him in his darkest hour of doubt and ours.
We should hold him accountable for his flaws and faults but have to support him because the country and our kids' and the planet's future is not ours to squander.
Now I am not preaching and I am not taking you through a guilt trip .
I am merely reminding you as to what is at stake and how all the cards are historically stacked against us.
We have red states to turn into blue.
We have the ceaseless selfless volunteers to feed.
We have the proverbial national political and moral center to be turned progressive and oriented leftward.
We have a once-in-a-lifetime president to elect by getting past the recent cynicism that has rightly engulfed some of you.
So let's keep on keepin' on.
Not to sound grand or anything like that but please help me help you take the country back and get past the disastrous regime in Nov.
P.S-I always say I am a glass 3/4ths full kind of girl. In these dark days of recession when my financial and social future is uncertain, that attitude helps me.
Please donate if you can.
Donate here.
Donate to the DNC. The Obama campaign and the DNC wants your input for its platform building and has made it open-source.
So you can vent, protest, seethe and withdraw and withhold in protest or take two steps forward with me instead of a step backward.
Again this is why we keep on keepin' on.