My friend Jan of janinsanfran is a much more sophisticated political observer and activist than I. She does it for a living, but also, she is just plain better at it than I am. She has a good post up on feminism, the Democrats, H. Clinton, Obama, and related matters which I commend to you and am going to re-read.
You can get your McCain comments there too -- and not just comments, but facts. Jan is a reality-based blogger, and not reality as in reality show, but reality as in facts and good reporting.
Here endeth (for now) the political update. Go in peace and remember the standard: What is the impact of my political and civic decisions on the most poor and marginalized members of society? That is all.*
*As PJ would say.
4 comments:
Hey -- thanks for the shout out. I try to make sense of this stuff.
This makes for horrible reading. Okay, for me it's confirmatory: some people want a job TOO much, which is precisely why they don't deserve it, i.e., it's all about power. Who can't figure out that Hillary has been after this job since at least Bill's second term? This is beyond wish, it is obsession. As for Obama, I'm sorry, but who in the world is he? I don't know anything about him. What am I voting for if I vote for him? I don't care of he's Christian, Muslim, atheist. His move of leaving Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church is so blatantly crowd-pleasing that it may hurt him more than do him good. I gather he's suddenly wearing a flag pin. First, what the hell is so important about some flag lapel pin? Who cares? I would respect him more if he told his critics to stuff the pin someplace dark. But no. Now he chooses to play to the gallery. If it costs him he deserves it.
Except that leaves us with McCain. He is a horror show. He is stupid, belligerent, contradictory (i.e., he's a liar), and a Bush butt-boy. And I will almost bet money he's going to win. And yes, I'm scared.
So it's down to voting for Obama simply to block McCain from winning and taking the whole country into a century of Hell? God help us.
I thought of not voting at all. That seems irresponsible. But it seems equally irresponsible to vote for people who don't appear to offer much except as alternatives to each other.
I just wrote a long answer and Maya Pavlova deleted it. I'm serious. That cat does not like politics. Me, I am a pragmatist. She won't stay fed if I don't get a decent government in to protect the quality of her cat food and the occupational health and safety of those who make it. You think I'm kidding?
I'll reconstruct my answer tomorrow. I need to go watch Jon Stewart now :-).
Dang, I just realized I never reconstructed the post.
Basically, I said 1) that we do know who Obama is: his community organizing* and other work history, his votes in the Senate, his positions on various issues. That info has been out there and is still readily available.
Early in the campaign I thought he'd make a good candidate -- in 2012. Good, and a little young. But that was then, this is now, and he's going to be the nominee. So I'm pragmatic, because this is politics.
* Important stuff: he knows how to organize and he did not win this nomination on charm alone. Strategy, strategy, strategy. Even with all the unexpected events in the campaign, strategy mattered. Plenty of articles out there about that; I think one of the most accessible was in Newsweek, but I may be misremembering.
2) Also, once we have worked and worked to get the Democratic nominee elected, we will still have to remember Howard Zinn's words which I posted a few months ago. I'll dig them up for you if you can't find them. A president is no savior. (Only the Savior is the savior.) We have to keep the president's feet to the fire.
This is a poor reconstruction of what I first wrote (oh that naughty cat!) but it'll do, and I have posted more above, in both posts and comments. Have a look. Thanks!
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