Remember way back when Bill Clinton said upper-income voters "don't really need a president?" I was damn near apoplectic at the time, --but after much of the debate on sites like Kos and DU lately, I'm beginning to wonder.
Not that I think Bill was right--but I'm starting to understand why he said it. After all, if some of you are willing to sacrifice to the slaughter the best candidate we've had in generations because of one issue, be it faith-based services or FISA, then not only were you drinking the Kool-Aid to begin with, thinking that Obama was a second Kucinich--but you sure are acting like you don't need a president.(And let me be clear here--I'm not talking about those whose enthusiasm has waned, who've expressed doubts, or who are withholding money. I'm talking about those of you who are making noise about not voting Democrat or not voting at all.)
I'm sure that some of you have convinced yourselves that your righteous stand is for the good of the Democratic Party, and that your online anger will singlehandedly move us to the left. Mmmm hmmm. But before you withhold your vote in magnificent protest, please consider the people that I work for.
You see, I work for a labor union. Much of what I do involves traveling the country and speaking with working people about politics and what they're looking for in a president. I talk to ordinary people who don't have the time and luxury to sit all day at a computer and type away on blogs such as this one.
And, by the way, I know some of you ARE working people--I'm not saying everyone on here is some kind of "elite." And I've always liked that about Kos. But it is a fact that not a single member I've asked, out of the many grocery workers, meatpackers, food processing workers, department store employees, etc. had ever even heard of Daily Kos--and many (gasp) couldn't even name a single blog. Many don't own computers--they go online to check their email at the local library. Just so you know.
Anyhow, while I've heard a lot of people express support for Hillary, and a lot express support for Obama, and a very few for McCain, not one worker has ever mentioned FISA. Or faith-based social services. Or Obama's supposed "flip-flop" on Iraq, which as Elise eloquently points out better than I can in her diary here, is NOT a flip-flop.
No, the people I talk to don't mention any of that stuff. And again, just to be clear, I'm not saying FISA or where politicians stand on faith-based services and government support for them are not important issues. I mean, as an atheist, I always cringe when I hear the word "faith-based" anything. But then again, I knew Obama was a religious man when I went into this. And whenever the bug of indignance bites me, and I get the urge to pick up my vote and walk out, I just think about the people I work for, and what they tell me when they tell me why they need a president.
By far the most pressing concern is health care. And these are, by the way, largely members of ours who actually have good health care in their contracts. They're the lucky ones. But they know, because they see it every day--family members, friends, loved ones without health care or with deductibles so high they may as well not have any health care at all. I hear the horror stories everyday--a woman whose brother died of a curable cancer because he couldn't afford treatment. Another woman whose 50 year old father just pulls his teeth when they rot because he can't afford dental. A man who, before he had a union job, couldn't get health care because he'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and so health care became too expensive for him--as did the medicine that helped him live a productive life.
No need to go on and on here. You've all heard the stories. But just know that health care is the number one issue that I hear when people talk about the coming election. And as many of you have pointed out on this site, it's literally a life or death issue for many.
What's number two? The economy in general. Again, these are people with jobs--but they're still worried. Many people they know have lost jobs. A man I spoke with recently told me his brother-in-law was just laid off at a major airline after thirty years of service. He didn't know what he was going to do. Many people have mortgage trouble, or know others who've had mortgage trouble. People who thought they were buying a house to fulfill the American Dream, and instead woke up in a nightmare of debt.
They drive long distances to work, and barely break even anymore because of the high cost of gas. And they can't buy a Prius or take public transportation or make any of the other choices that some of us have made, and feel smug about it. For them, the only way to get to work is with a car, and they can hardly afford to buy a new, more efficient one in today's economy. So they have to keep filling up, even as the press tells them they should be learning a valuable lesson and pundits suggest keeping the price of gas this high to discourage dependence. (Fine with me, but you better be handing out some serious tax credits to those who must drive for their jobs or to their jobs and fall below a certain economic line.)These people are ridiculed for living out in the suburbs and driving to work--as if they could afford to buy a home in most cities today.
Most people in this country needs a president who will fix the economy--and they need someone to fix it right now. Because they can't afford a protest vote and four more years of a Republican in office. They can't afford to wait, unlike some of us here, just to make a point to the Democratic Party. These are people who were told, "Work hard and you'll be able to buy a home, raise a family, get your children a good education, and retire with dignity." Instead, they're finding that after years of working hard, they can't afford to send their kids to college. They can't afford to retire at all, much less with any sort of dignity. The home they bought is being foreclosed on, and they're rapidly losing ground, sinking under, forced to choose between going to the doctor or paying the electricity bill. (Our members, thankfully, at least have health care and a pension--but they still struggle economically everyday, with the rising cost of living and the growing disparity between wealthy and the rest of the country.)
The Iraq War is another major concern I hear about. Many of the workers I speak to have friends, family members, loved ones serving in Iraq. Many have served themselves. Some have served two or three tours, and a lot of them are very angry at President Bush. The ones who've served mostly speak well of the war--and indeed, as one boy's mother said to me, "You have to believe that what you're doing over there is right. Otherwise, you'd never be able to do your job and keep your sanity."
I don't question that. But what I do know is that many of the mothers, fathers, children, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, friends, wives, husbands, etc of people serving in Iraq ARE angry, and disagree with this war, and are angry that this administration has abandoned its vets and abused its soldiers by extending tours of duty, has put soliders and our mission in Afghanistan in danger by putting troops in Iraq rather than there...and again, I don't have to go into all of this--others have done so more eloquently than me. But this is an issue that is very much on the mind of the members I speak to. Even those who don't know anyone serving or who has served are worried. Many have teenage boys, and they worry that they'll be fighting in this misbegotten war five years from now, or ten years from now. And almost all want out now--and want a president who'll get us out, safely, and in far less than a hundred years.
Health care, the economy, and the war in Iraq. I hear other concerns of our members, too: they want a president who will support unions and workers again, they care about green jobs, they want immigration reform, and they want a president who will quit bailing out corporations and quit encouraging robber baron capitalism, where CEOS get golden parachutes while their mismanaged companies (and the workers there) go down in flames. But over and over again, the three I hear are health care, the economy, and the war in Iraq.
Often these are spoken of with a great sense of urgency. Often the worker I'm speaking to will grab my arm to emphasize the urgency, or tell me to "write this down." They want it known that they are not sure how much longer they can withstand this storm. They want it known that they have worked tirelessly to climb to the middle class, have done all the things they were supposed to do, and that they are sad and angry that the government has made it impossible for them to be rewarded. Or if they've succeeded, they are angry that the people they love are being denied the same opportunity for success. They are angry that their children stand less of a chance of succeeding than they did. And they are angry that politicians have come to them and made promises during every election, pandering to them, only to have those promises broken again and again. They can't wait another year, another minute, another hour. They need a Democratic president and they need one now.
Just to clarify, I am not dismissing anyone's concerns about FISA or any other issue this election. All concerns are valid. And our candidate is not perfect, and we should be criticizing and questioning him, as we should do with all candidates.
But for those of you who spend most of your time on this site posturing and quoting Thomas Jefferson out of context, and glowing with the pride of your own sacrifice in not voting for Obama because of [insert issue here]please let me remind you that you are not just sacrificing yourself. You are sacrificing others who would not choose your noble stance, and who frankly do not care for your purity, because they would like to send their children to the doctor and put food on the table for their family, and have good jobs and not watch their children die in useless wars. You are sacrificing the very people, and the children of those people, that the Democratic Party should care most about.
Just thought you should know.