Barack Obama is my choice for president, for the simple reason that he's doing something I could never do. I don't have his drive, his political savvy, his eloquence. I certainly don't have his keep grasp of the American economic landscape and I don't have the faintest clue how to argue about abortion in a way that doesn't offend my friends and family. Being a military doctor, though, I do have some strong opinions regarding the war, and health care (note: I'm writing this as a private individual and don't purport to speak for the military or its health services) and have some amount of knowledge to back those opinions up.
So as a diligent supporter, I've read up on Barack's positions; I've studied his proposed policies, and I've done my digging on McCain. And I think I can explain the Obama campaign's positions pretty clearly. But even with all that, I realized tonight there's still a lot of work that needs to be done.
I was visiting some of my friends tonight, to celebrate my friend B.'s selection as chief resident for next year. My friends B., H., and J. (names removed to protect the innocent) are all political undecideds. They make up part of that demographic that Barack and McCain are fighting over: politically independent, white males, pro-military, educated. We rarely, if ever, talk politics. I mean, they know where I stand-- as a liberal you tend to stand out in the military environment-- but out of a sense of decorum and politeness I rarely, if ever, bring up politics in a social setting.
That changed a bit tonight. On my way out the door to go home, I mentioned that I was now singing in a choir (at my wife's behest-- apparently I sing a mean baritone) in one of the most conservative Catholic churches in the state. I mentioned that my priest had spent his entire Sunday sermon this last week praising Sarah Palin to the high heavens and excoriating us to make the right choice for the country come election day. I must have said something about how I was nearly dying from an aneurysm trying to hold my opinions to myself and NOT make a scene. That prompted a laugh, then B. asked:
"So, man, do you think you'll vote for Obama in the election this year?"
What a question, right? I answered in the "hell, yes" affirmative. I figured that was that, and turned back towards the door to get my shoes. Then, not able to help myself, I said something about Barack Obama being the clearly better choice for the country, but that if you liked the last eight years under George Bush, then you might as well vote for McCain.
That didn't go over great. "Well," J. said, "you can't really say that. You know McCain's been going against his party his whole life."
I nearly exploded. I kerfuffled. I choked on my spittle. I made it very clear that I thought this was baloney. "You do realize," I said, "that McCain has voted with Bush over 90% over the past few years, right?"
"Yeah," H. said, "but a lot of that stuff didn't get passed anyway, and besides, he did a lot of that just for political reasons."
"It's not like he actually believes in it," B. added, not at all helpfully. "Him picking Palin was just to get the real fundamentalists on board. He's not really going to do any of that stuff if he gets into office."
I was flabbergasted. Here were three highly educated DOCTORS, politically engaged, ostensibly high-information voters, and self-proclaimed independents, who clearly thought that McCain's dalliances into the realm of wing-nuttery were merely a formality of accepting the Republican nomination for president. I mean, maybe it is a formality, but in my opinion it's a pretty telling one, and one that a presidential candidate shouldn't take lightly, particularly if that so-called maverick presidential candidate once referred to the Dobsons and Falwells of the world as "agents of intolerance." I desperately tried to point this out, but it appeared to fall on deaf ears.
"I mean," B. said, "McCain at least has leadership and experience. You can't say that about Obama."
"You can so," I replied, "and besides, you have to look at what McCain picking Palin says about McCain." To my considerable relief, they seemed to accept this point. I decided to press my advantage. "It comes down to good judgment. Barack Obama's had consistently good judgment. McCain's been all over the place on issues, and he's had bad judgment, when it came to the war, when it comes to offshore drilling, you name it." That seemed to click home a bit. They all agreed with my point about offshore drilling offering only a miniscule amount of relief at the pump, and that in only several years, and that it wouldn't do anything to help with climate change. They all agreed that our economic situation sucks and that it's not going to be so simple to fix with just plain old tax cuts. They all agreed that the war in Iraq was a bad idea, from the get-go-- B. and H. had even argued strongly against the notion while they were still in college-- and on every level relevant to our military training the war made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
I felt like I'd made some headway. Three independent voters, probably swaying towards the Obama side of the column. Three future Dems-- they just didn't know it yet. Returning my attention to my shoes, I got ready to go, convinced that I'd made, in my own small and insignificant way, a real difference in the future course of America.
Then B. said something that made me realize how much work we have left to do. He said:
"But you know what-- Obama doesn't really have any ideas. I mean, he says a lot of cool things, but they don't have any specifics. He's kind of a celebrity."
The mind reels. It recalls Obama's brilliant convention speech, in which he clearly hammers home point after ringing, clarified point about how his economic policies, his approach to health care, our civil rights, the war in Iraq. It thinks about the pages and pages of policy positions and proposals available on his campaign website. It even (briefly) thinks about Paul Krugman having spent gallons of ink trying to dissect the nuances of Obama's policy, saying that it's not quite like Hillary Clinton's.
But I could say nothing. I mean, there was literally too much to say. I couldn't spend all night there (I do work for a living, ya know) trying to get these guys to know what I know, to convince them of what I believed to be right. The fact was, these guys already agreed with me-- about the economy, about the war, about healthcare. They already agreed with me on where we need to take things in this country, that the fundamentalists are threatening our way of life, that we need to address climate change in a real and meaningful way. They already agreed with me-- and by extension, the Democratic Party-- that the country was in desperate need for a change.
They agree with me-- they agree with us-- on all these things, and yet they still don't realize how much they agree with Barack Obama.
All these months of campaigning, and there are still high-information voters like these who still don't know Barack Obama. They know Sarah Palin, and John McCain-- they're media darlings, let's face it-- but for all the positive coverage Barack Obama has gotten, these independent voters still don't know the substance of his platform and the details of his policies.
And that's when I realized how much work we have to do.
There's a story in the New York Times today, which (with a certain amount of glee, I might add) mocks the Obama campaign's decision to forego public financing, and not-too-subtly praises the McCain campaign's decision (dare I suggest, "foresight", if we're going to be so sycophantic) to accept federal funds. It says:
Presidential candidates in a general election have typically relied on two main sources of money: public financing, along with additional money their parties raise. In choosing to accept the public money, the McCain campaign now gets an $84 million cash infusion from the United States Treasury. Mr. McCain is barred from raising any more money for his own campaign coffers but can lean on money raised by the Republican National Committee, which has continued to exceed expectations.
Meanwhile, Obama campaign officials had calculated that with its vaunted fund-raising machine, driven by both small contributors over the Internet and a powerful high-dollar donor network, it made more sense to forgo public financing so they could raise and spend unlimited sums.
But the campaign is struggling to meet ambitious fund-raising goals it set for the campaign and the party. It collected in June and July far less from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s donors than originally projected. Moreover, Mr. McCain, unlike Mr. Obama, will have the luxury of concentrating almost entirely on campaigning instead of raising money, as Mr. Obama must do.
Think about that for a second, please. We've come this far, helped to build up this amazing organization, and now we're going to let the Republicans out-raise us? Out-organize us? Out-hustle us?
NO. FUCKING. WAY.
Just think about it. When we're being bombarded with silly polls and frantic, panicky thoughts about convention bounces and Palin baby bumps and God only knows what else, what we're not doing is focusing on the task at hand. What we're not doing is raising money, knocking on doors, changing minds. WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO, AND NOT A LOT OF TIME TO DO IT. It's time to get our hands dirty. It's time to raise some money, and go out there and raise some hell.
It's time to shit or get off the pot.
I've been donating to the Obama campaign now for the past 6 months-- dribs and drabs, wherever I can spare the money (money's tight as a resident). But tonight, I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I'm putting in $100 tonight. $100 to prove the MSM wrong. $100 to beat back Republican slime. $100 to help win over the millions of B.'s, H.'s, and J.'s out there who are already on our side, but just don't know it yet.
$100 to help win my country back.
This has been a long diary-- probably my longest one yet (not that I write that many). But if you've made it this far, awesome. Make a difference tonight. Make a contribution. Take a stand for your country already and put your money where your mouth is. Because now it's crunch time, baby, and it's time to take our country back.