Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I'm disgusted with being disgusted.

I read mcjoan at DailyKos's front page diary with an all-too-familiar feeling, one in which my disgust at Democratic "Leadership" takes on its own meta-level dynamic, becoming disgust with the emotion of disgusted-ness.

Here we are, roughly three weeks since Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for the Presidency, in an election which I believe to be one of the most important our lifetimes - and in the midst of this historic, barrier-breaking run, Obama rehashes a kibuki dance that we have all seen entirely to many times. Afraid of being painted as soft-on-terror by the world's-biggest-asshole types among the RepubliCons (who will undoubtedly paint him as soft-on-everything anyway); pulling the rug out from under vast swaths of his own ideological base, which has been so enchanted, and so inspired by his candidacy; by capitulating, and refusing to on sign to filibuster the horrific FISA bill being rammed through Congress by the GOoPers and their weak-kneed little-d democratic enablers, he decides that holding ADMITTED lawbreakers responsible for their criminal activities and standing up for the Constitution is less important than making friends with Republicans.

Make no mistake, this is not a compromise. This is a surrender, and by refusing to put principled, capital-L Leadership over the appearance of looking weak on terror, Obama has now lumped himself among the self-serving Blue Dogs and Steny Hoyer types, who are desperately afraid of the GOoPers, and who care far more about the money that Big Telecoms can offer them than about doing right by the American people. And that is disgusting in the extreme.

Look, we all know that this piece of shit legislation was likely to pass anyway. There are enough suspect Democrats in the Senate to make a cloture vote unlikely to extend debate, even without Obama's vote. That being the case, if my Junior Senator wants to Lead the free world, then WHY THE HELL WON'T HE STAND UP AND HELP LEAD THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY? Does he really believe that refusing to filibuster this piece of shit is going to take one attack ad portraying him as soft-on-tehr off the air? Does he really think that he can make us, proud progressives, HIS BASE happy by saying:

"Well I tried to strip telecom amnesty from the bill."

YEAH YOU TRIED SENATOR OBAMA - FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES, WHEN IT DIDN'T MATTER. Then when it mattered, you gave us, proud progressives, YOUR BASE, the same lay-down-and-die act we've been seeing for TWENTY FUCKING YEARS!!!
You know, say what you will about the venal world's-biggest-asshole types comprising the Leadership of the RepubliCon party, when the rubber meets the road, these jerk-offs will go to great lengths to go way out on a limb for what they perceive to be the desires of their constituents. RepubliCon leadership seems to know that, above all, the people who vote Republican want leaders. That means that the Republicans nationwide have politicians who will be the FIRST ONE to go absolutely as far off the charts right wing as they possibly can. They may be leading our country and our planet off a cliff, but at least they're willing to take the reigns, and say: "I'll go first."

Compare to what we've got on our side. A large group of wishy-washy appeal-to-the-middle-first-your-own- electoral-base-be-damned, spineless little Gollum-like milquetoasts; who would rather make friends with a RepubliCon party that DESPISES THEM than attempt to show the slightest hint of a pair gonads, and actually Lead.

I'm just disgusted with these people. What's even worse, is that Obama had a lot of us convinced, myself included, that he was different. For once in my god-damned voting life I would have a Presidential candidate I could vote for without holding my nose! This build-up Candidate Obama has given us makes this capitulation all the more disgusting. I feel like I've been punched in the gut!

I'm not a one-issue guy, but what's next? When's the next lay-down-and-die act coming? Are there other issues on which Obama would prefer to meet the psychopaths half-way? What are we gonna do with these people? How many fucking elections do we have to endure in which we vote Democrat MOSTLY because the alternative is too unthinkable to bear?

4 comments:

John Stoner said...

I feel your pain, Dave. On this issue, and the rejection of public financing, and his vote on the ag bill... Obama's not perfect. He's got my vote, but he's not perfect.

I had an intuitive misgiving about Nader, that applies to Kucinich, and I've only recently found the words too express it: some problems can't be solved by electing the right president. I'd rather live in an America that would elect Kucinich, but that's one of those problems.

I think that the old argument that 'if you don't vote, you don't have a right to complain' doesn't go nearly far enough. If you only ever vote, you get a 'D' as a citizen. If you vote and fully inform yourself, that's a C-. If you're active, that's a B territory. If you lead in some way, that might get you an A. I give myself a C+, maybe a B-. The highest office is the office of citizen.

I like the parliamentary system better than the two-party mess--it's too easy to coopt the whole system, and too inflexible.

One interesting dynamic in this election: the fundies are being disenfranchised, abandoned by the Republicans, courted in a half-hearted way by both sides. Neither candidate will go as far as to say 'I'm one of you.' That's the real source of uncertainty. Both candidates have weak points. That's a bigger weakness for McCain.

Downtown Dave said...

I agree with your statement that McCain is worse, and will still definitely vote for Obama. But Obama's statement last night on this important issue hit me like a punch in the gut, particularly because he'd previously indicated that he would in fact be supporting a filibuster.

I guess they really are all the same. I'm not sure if I can send Obama any more of my hard-earned money at this point.

Anonymous said...

The Nancy "Impeachment is off the table" Pelosi, and John "Reporting for duty" Kerry Democrats have had all the ammunition to act as a real opposition from the moment Bush stole the election in 2000. Taking their cue from Al Gore, they have rather than stand up and fighting for the presidency he won, AND THAT OF HIS CONSTITUENTS, rather rolled over and died. And Nader is blamed for Bush. Anybody thinking Obama is going to be anything but a DLC Democrat and Clinton redux I hope will finally come to their senses and realize the Democrats are every bit the corporate war party as the Republicans. Let's remember it was Kennedy and Johnson who got us into Vietnam, the latter of which had his own WMD canard in the form of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

How about Obama the day after he officially clinched the Democratic nomination crawling to AIPAC and blowharding that Jerusalem will forever remain the undivided capital of Israel? And I thought Hillary's presidential ambitions knew no principle.

Stoner, have you cut and pasted your comment from another venue; because that is exact language I have read from you elsewhere to which I responded with this link to George Carlin, who says he doesn't vote, therefore he's not responsible, and only non-voters have the right to complain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSPb-fmqUyY

Save your money Dave. Obama’s going to end up raising on the order of $300 million.

Downtown Dave said...

The frustration with the Democrat's is no doubt palpable. Of course, your right, there ARE two corporate parties.

I'm torn between my desire to do anything and everything to get the Republicons out of power as soon as I possibly can, and my desire to somehow hold the lay-down-and-die version of the Democrats accountable.

As I said in my original posting, I'm sick and tired of voting Democrat almost ONLY because the alternative is too unthinkable to bear!