I like coming to Daily Kos. I have come here for a long time. I see a good deal of energy these days spent on anxiety and anger and a sensibility that the volume in this room has gotten too loud.
Supporters of Barack Obama feel angry at their experience that their candidate is being attacked in a manner that doesn't have integrity. Supporters of Hillary Clinton feel attacked and marginalized by the expression of this anger.
Personally, I see a conversation that is still going pretty well. But I do want to offer some thoughts and resources for bringing the volume down a little bit. I will talk a little bit about anger and what our goals are and ways to communicate to achieve those goals.
First off, I am a supporter of Barack Obama of Illinois. It started when I noticed my wife, whom I have always had to pressure to even vote, became very passionate about Barack Obama. That caught my attention. I realized Barack Obama must be speaking in a way that is new for him to get my wife interested in politics. When I looked myself, I found that he would make the best president.
I have LOVED Bill and Hillary Clinton. They were and are real heroes of mine.
Watching this campaign, there have been times when I have been angry with the way the Clintons have conducted themselves. I see them attacking Barack Obama in ways that don't have much integrity. I am not going to go over that here. People who have taken offense know what they have taken offense at.
Now I have watched a lot of primaries and really this is not out of line with historical norms. Certainly Howard Dean was attacked with less integrity than the Clintons have attacked Barack Obama. I remember in 92 when Bill Clinton cut off Paul Tsongas with attacks about Social Security. Those attacks didn't have much integrity, but at the time I was a Clinton partisan and I thought it was nifty that my candidate would have some sharp elbows. What is going on now is not as bad as that. So, I'm able to put things in perspective and I don't get too angry about it.
It is interesting that my wife, for whom this is the first experience of identifying and working for a campaign is furious at Hillary Clinton. She has a roster of colorful scatalogical epithets. Her language is more immoderate than that of Samantha Power. So, I am familiar with that kind of anger. I expect many people who come here have times when they are angry like that.
There are two things that I think would be helpful for supporters of Barack Obama to keep in mind.
First, Barack Obama has won the nomination for the Democratic Party. It is fully digested conventional wisdom that the super delegates are not going to overturn the results of the pledged delegates. Hillary Clinton cannot make up the deficit in pledged delegates in the remaining calendar. She could win Pennsylvania by twenty points and it still won't get her anywhere. She can campaign brilliantly and Barack can change form and run a mistake filled campaign, and she still cannot overtake Barack Obama. Barack Obama can just keep on doing what he is doing and he will win. Hillary Clinton lost because she didn't figure out she had to run a fifty state campaign until 40 states had already voted.
Second, the campaign of Barack Obama will need the support of Hillary Clinton and her partisans. We will need it in just a few months. And the good news is we will get it. Hillary Clinton will hold up Barack's hand. She will be very, very, very honored. She will give speeches on his behalf and her supporters blood pressure will go down and our blood pressure will go down. She will speak at the convention on his behalf. We will remember all the great things Hillary Clinton has done. She will author important legislation that President Barack Obama will sign.
While the campaign of Barack Obama may not expect to get the support of John McCain supporters, we will need the 48% of the Democratic Party that supports Hillary Clinton. So, as a matter of politics, it does not make sense to deepen the wounds and pick at the scabs.
Barack Obama himself offers resources for this moment. He says that people who want politics to work to make positive change don't have a stake in division. Division is a tool for people who don't want politics to work.
Barack Obama says that "We cannot be defeated by another candidate. We can only be defeated by cynicism." So our aim in his campaign is not to attack another candidate. It is to attack the sources of cynicism. Spreading division and attacking back and forth increases cynicism which is the true opponent of Barack Obama's campaign.
Barack Obama lays out a method for this as the guideline for his campaign: Respect, Empower, Include. That is how we deal with other people. If we see someone saying something we disagree with -- such as an argument for the candidacy of Hillary Clinton -- we acknowledge it, try to listen for the truth of it and ask them to keep an open mind about supporting Barack Obama in November.
As a matter of communication, there are several ways of speaking which don't advance this. Making threats such as "I will never vote for Hillary Clinton in November" is not helpful. Making attacks such as "Hillary Clinton is a ..." is not helpful. There is some measure in which even picking at scabs such as "Did you hear what Hillary Clinton or one of her supporters said that was so outrageous..." is not helpful. If you see an insult on the road it may be best to leave it there.
It is natural that people who identify with Hillary Clinton's candidacy would feel attacked and defensive and manipulated by these kinds of assertions. People do identify with Hillary Clinton and there are a lot of good reasons for that because she has been a champion for a long time. There is a lot of excitment about having a woman president. There is a lot of good will for Bill Clinton because he did a lot of good for people.
Again, we don't need to change anything for Barack Obama to win. We just need to keep doing what we have been doing.
A genuine, peaceful way of speaking is more like: "I feel angry at Hillary Clinton. I see Barack Obama running a campaign with integrity and I see Hillary Clinton and her surrogates making attacks that treat that integrity as a weakness rather than a strength." Or, "I am disapointed because I have a lot of respect for Hillary or Bill Or Wesley or... and now I see them speaking in ways that I experience as deceptive or manipulative." That way of speaking does not obscure genuine feelings and reactions but it doesn't provoke defensiveness in the same way.
Always, the main point of any exchange between supporters of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to not do anything to make it harder to reconcile. We need to reconcile, and we will.
And Barack Obama will kick John McCain's ass whatever Hillary Clinton does. John McCain is running on continuing an unpopular war and he has no answer for the economy. He does not have a campaign that works in 2008.
I am going to invite people to include their own ideas and reflections for peace and if you think this diary and thread supports peace in this community, to recommend it.