Independence Day Passion Meets Morning After Ambivalence
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
My favorite aspect of the Obama campaign--the aspect that did the most to get me interested in Obama, in fact--is its ability to get new, traditionally underrepresented, people involved in politics. In fact, looking back at one of my many posts dissing Obama, I wrote this:
Obama, on the other hand, has quite a bit of flash. He's gotten by on a lot of happy talk and some appropriation of Edwards' policy proposals. His campaign floats around on a wad of cash and good publicity. Some say Obama is poetic, which has its own element of flash. Plus, he's all shiny and new. So, given my extreme bias against flash, all these qualities add up to some serious skepticism that is not easily overcome.Since Obama made mobilizing new voters a foundational element of his general election strategy, it's no wonder that his campaign has some originality and virility to it. However, one element of this voter mobilization strategy I didn't anticipate was the fact that it enabled someone like me--someone who vehemently disagrees with Obama's decision to support the FISA bill--to be involved with his campaign without really being involved with his campaign. That is, on July 4th, MFP and I celebrated Independence Day by enthusiastically joining in Obama's GOTV efforts, and together, we registered or updated the information for about 20+ voters. And happily, I am able to reconcile my conscience to this--in spite of my serious disagreement with Obama's decision--because, like my interest in protecting the Constitution, my interest in registering new voters started before Obama became the Democratic presidential nominee and will continue after Obama leaves the White House. So, in this case, MFP and I just used Obama's campaign to make registering voters easier on ourselves. A relationship of convenience, if you will.
With that said, Obama's impact on voter turnout is one that cannot be ignored. Since a big part of leadership involves inspiring participation, I can't help but wonder if my bias against flash is keeping me from seeing what's truly valuable in Obama...[emphasis added]
(And because I hold a grudge, I chose not to wear any of my Obama shirts, but instead, wore this shirt:
with "no warrant=no wiretap" printed on the back.)Of course, the true ambivalence comes the day after July 4th when the Obama campaign starts calling, and we wonder just how seriously we're going to take this relationship. After some deliberation, I've decided that this relationship is probably going to be just casual. Mostly because, after generously assuming Obama's stance on FISA was for political expediency (why be the last to die in a losing battle?), I read this:
“One of the things you find as you go through this campaign, everyone becomes so cynical about politics,” Mr. Obama said. There is an “assumption that your must be doing everything for political reasons.”Honestly, all this time I thought Obama was stuck between a rock and a hard place on FISA. I figured that he knew it was a mistake but couldn't get out of it in time. But to find out that he thinks it's the right thing to do...that's a real problem for me. Reading that Obama actually agrees with the contents of the FISA bill enough to vote for it is like finding out that someone I've been dating for a while is anti-choice. These are irreconcilable differences we're talking about here. Sure, we can still go out from time-to-time and have a few laughs. That benefits us both. But under no circumstances could it ever get truly serious. I have my self-respect, after all...and my conscience. That is to say that we just can't keep having this fight.
Voters should understand, he said, that they rarely will find themselves in 100 percent agreement with him. “But don’t assume that’s because I’m just doing it for “political reasons, he said.
“That just means we disagree,” he said.
Observations from the GOTV trail:
1. I keep being disappointed at how little people actually know about the world and how little they want to know. It's one thing to be ignorant. It's another to be willfully ignorant. It's probable that the apathetically ignorant ones just stand out in my mind more than the others, but still...a bummer.
2. Europeans, Asians, etc seem to LOVE Obama. They can't vote in the US but they seem to wish they could just to be able to vote for him. Honestly, it would be cool to see some Americans get that excited about the election. Of course, I'm sure the ones who are showing up at a US Independence Day celebration aren't representative of general populations, but nonetheless, I know I can't think of a world leader outside of the US that I'm overly enthusiastic about. Not one.
3. I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it...the way we casually dole out felonies in this country is almost beyond parody. They've become normal parts of some social groups, and I can't believe people don't see this as a tremendous problem. Maybe if we just allow telecom companies to wantonly break the law, that will make up for it. At least the CEOs will retain their rights to vote. Just thinking about this disparity makes me mad about the FISA bill all over again...
Nothing New byslag
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7:37 AM
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8 dispense karmic justice! (or just comment here):
Did you see the special comment my secret boyfriend (Keith) did about FISA?
I have six Obama posts that are half finished, some pissed at him, some happy about something he said, one about how I'd love to be adopted by Michelle... and I need to get my act together soon before you've taken ALL the words out of my mouth!
I did see it.
Post em, please. Pretty please.
It's weird how people like us should be Obama's core constituency, and yet, even we are ambivalent about his actions lately. I guess there aren't enough of us to push him into doing what we want him to do. That's the larger problem.
Great post. But, I gotta call you out on an Orwellian Jargon Violation:
I refuse to use the terms "Pro-Choice" and "Pro-Life" -- because they over-simplify the debate, and are just plain incorrect ("Pro-Life" folks tend to be meat-eating supporters of the death penalty; "Pro-Choice" folks tend to dislike people drilling for oil and flattening forests wherever they want to).
How about "Pro-Abortion" and "Anti-Abortion"? Simple, direct, non-obfuscated.
I also refuse to call "builders" "Developers"... :)
--GG
Gye - I wouldn't call it Pro- Abortion because I am not Pro-Abortion. I don't think abortion is some great thing that everyone should be doing, but I do strongly believe that every woman should be able to legally make whatever CHOICE she needs to make for her body, whether that choice is abortion, adoption, or keeping the child.
I think that's how most Pro-Choice people feel. So if you want to get technical it should be Pro-Choice and Anti-Choice, because folks on the other side don't think women should have any choice in the matter at all.
WNG is right on this one, GG. Not everyone who is pro-choice is pro-abortion. I, for one, am totally abortion-agnostic. If a woman chooses to get one, that's her right. If she chooses not to, that's her right as well. It really doesn't matter to me, and it really shouldn't matter to me. I used the term "anti-choice" because that's exactly what it is. It's someone else telling me that I don't get to choose whether or not I can have an abortion. That's the opposite of Orwellian jargon. That's reality.
WNG 'n' Slag,
I see your point - but you should really specify, in your alliance, what you're "Pro-Choice" for.
There's currently a bit of a debate here in Aussie-land about whether there should be a law against spanking kids as a form of discipline. (Currently, the law is ambiguously worded, such that folks that smack their kids around [i.e. physical abuse] use it to escape prosecution.)
So, folks saying "I'm Pro Choice: I'm personally not against punching my kid in the face as a form of discipline -- but I think all parents should be able to decide for themselves."
People who are "Pro-Choice" for abortion rights probably aren't "pro-choice" in ALL situations (if so, they'd be Libertarians). Paying taxes, obeying the law: generally a good thing.
My (intended) initial point is that ANY political stance seizing upon a "moral value" (e.g. "Pro-Freedom", "Anti-Oppression") as a catchphrase or position-identifier makes me cringe.
And that's why -- to me -- it's Orwellian: (mis-)using a Value, in an over-generalized manner, to represent one's position.
--GG
GG: I hear you. In that respect, you could say "Pro-Abortion-Rights", but that's really long. And, I think, not totally necessary. I consider myself "liberal". Does that mean I'm liberal in all things? Nope. Does it even mean that people in Australia would consider me liberal in their political context? Probably not. But I don't think I'm engaging in Orwell-speak by calling myself that because it gives my intended audience a general idea of what I'm about.
Here, I think the term pro-choice is ingrained enough to have a very specific meaning. So much so, that people don't really break it down anymore into "pro" and "choice". Same with "anti-choice". I'd concede that it's certainly imprecise. But by my using a commonly used term in a common way, I'm not necessarily being Orwellian about it. I'm relying on people's understanding of what that term means. Not being deceptive.
Nonetheless, I would agree that our language surrounding abortion is as stunted as our ability to debate about it. It's partially about branding and partially about accuracy. To some extent, those two things are contradictory.
"I consider myself "liberal". Does that mean I'm liberal in all things? Nope. Does it even mean that people in Australia would consider me liberal in their political context? Probably not."
One of the things I love about the Antepodian land in which I live -- AussieLand -- is some of the reversed things, compared to the U.S. Like, you switch the light switch DOWN to turn the lights ON -- and UP to turn them OFF (yeah, it took me a while to get used to it).
And, of the two major political parties, Labor is the more "liberal", whereas "the Liberals" are actually the conservatives. Go figure.
(I love the fact that the Greens are an actual, viable party here. Also that that dude from Midnight Oil is now the Minister for the Environment.)
--GG
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