Nope, this is not a pro-Bernie diary despite the above image. In fact, I want all of you to put on your snark goggles and go with me through the looking glass for a moment. I want to make a point.
[snark on]
I can’t believe people on this so-called progressive blog support that Barack Obama! By supporting him, you obviously embrace all of his policies and actions:
- Barack Obama supports TPP, a horrible trade agreement which be disastrous for American jobs. Those who support Obama MUST be for the destruction of American jobs.
- Obama’s drone policy has killed hundreds if not thousands of innocent civilians. Those who support him must support the bombing of weddings in Afghanistan!
- Obama did not prosecute war criminal George Bush for his war crimes. Obama just let torture “slide” — so those who support Obama are pro-torturers who don’t care about war crimes
- Obama promised to close Gitmo, but he failed. So obviously he is for it and his supporters must be for it.
- Obama was in office during Benghazi. It happened on his watch. So those who support him must not believe in protecting America or showing strength to protect our people.
- Obama took the side of a black man who was allegedly harassed over Boston cops. Obviously Obama supporters are for disrespecting cops!
- Obama believe rightwing lies about reverse racism and had Shirley Sherrod fired. Obviously Obama supporters support people of color being fired as part of partisan witch hunts!
- Obama took the endorsement of Colin Powell, a known criminal, who LIED to the world about weapons of mass destruction and the person responsible for the My Lai Massacre. Obviously, Obama supporters support these heinous policies of bad people.
- Obama put the idea of a sequester on the table thinking the GOP would go for it. Obviously, Obama supporters are for gutting our social safety network!
- Obama put a Republican forward as his choice for Supreme Court justice! Obviously, his supporters are for stacking the courts with right-wingers!
- Obama promised a full exit from Afghanistan but he lied! Obviously, his supporters are for endless war!!
[Snark off]
Think these examples seem a bit extreme? Are they a mixture of some bad things and mistakes by Obama, some highly and sensitive complex issues, some cherry-picking of issues? Can you strongly disagree with some things, wish some things had been done better or not at all?
And yet I see diaries that literally resemble the points above. Hillary supported XYZ! How can you all call yourself progressives if you are for that! This used to be a progressive blog! By supporting Hillary, you must be for ABC. Um, actually no. We can disagree about political points but I really resent people telling me that I am less politically aware than they are. Or that I automatically support policy DEF because Hillary said this or voted for that. Yes, there are real people out there who know what deficits Hillary has but also believe some of this stuff is blown ridiculously out of proportion, like the points above. There are indeed people who feel that, taking all into account, Hillary is the better prepared, has the better temperament. There are even some of us who are concerned Bernie would be 5-6 years older than Reagan, our oldest president, before he even got in the door.
And yet the memes go on fast and furious. How could we support Hillary because of XYZ. Take Henry Kissinger. I think he is a vile, miserable rat bastard who should have been in prison decades ago. Am I thrilled Hillary has spoken favorably of him? No. But let’s look at some facts: They are both Secretaries of State. He supported her early for her to become SoS. And the real kicker: Tell me how Kissinger is more than just a few shades worse than Powell or Condi, yet I don’t see diaries condemning Obama for praising them or seeking their advice or endorsements.
And we could go forward with so many other memes. Hillary was not pro-marriage equality! Um, what figure on a NATIONAL level could be pro-marriage equality even in 2000? Gore wasn’t? Kerry and Edwards weren’t. Obama and Biden said in 2008 that they thought a marriage was between a man and a woman. Even Bernie himself did not embrace same-sex marriage immediately.
So how about we stop with the generalizations? Stop telling me what kind of progressive I am or inferring I MUST be for ABCDEFG because I support Hillary. I have weighed a lot of factors in making my decision, just as I did ultimately picking Obama over Hillary, when I started as an Edwards supporter.
And by the way: I’m curious. Why is it I’m on this site usually 10 times a day but I can’t remember many diaries pre-Bernie saying Hillary should NEVER EVER run, that she is basically Stalin. Because all of these people who are the superior progressives would have a moral obligation even years ago to warn us all about this horrible menace. Yet I fail to see many such diaries at all.
And also: What is the great anger at Kos? Yes, he can be abrupt and in-your-face sometimes. But I have never seen a diary where he endorsed Hillary Clinton. It was presumed long ago Hillary would be the nominee. Bernie proved to be quite a phenomenon, to his credit. He made Hillary run more to the left, to his credit. He possibly changed politics as we know it for progressives. To his immense credit. But the fact remains: the math is there less and less. Now, I can’t speak about the bannings and timeouts and who got what but, if I were Kos, I would do something similar. If the hill to victory for Bernie is much greater than Hillary had against Obama, and the odds are not great, I too would focus on other things — like preventing fascism or a theocracy or electing great Democrats like Donna Edwards. It seems to me, except for the occasional Kos editorial or “math” diaries, the front page has pretty studiously avoided the H/S issue, now seemingly more volatile than an I/P diary. But that’s just me.
But I think we could all do without the hyperbole and the hysteria. Tell each other what we must believe for supporting however. Questioning each others credentials as progressives. Because, in a vacuum, we could write slanted diaries about all of the above bullet points on Obama too. Hillary is not perfect, she has flaws, she’s made mistakes. But many of us, lifelong progressives, have made her our choice. Live with it.