Here's a list of ten thoughts for Obama supporters, from an Edwards partisan.
Don't worry, they aren't snarky. They are actually thoughtful (I hope) and sincere. For real.
I don't speak for all Edwards supporters, just for myself.
These are no particular order.
- Probably the most visceral concern that people have about Obama is the Donnie McClurkin thing. Now, I know you're probably sick of hearing about it, especially given how shitty the Clintons were last weekend, but the racialiciosness of the Clinton campaign does not excuse the McClurkin incident. You should bookmark Obama's apology for McClurkin and have at hand quotes from his recent speech repudiating homophobia at Ebenezer. Firing back with Hillary's position on DOMA will not be convincing. You need to make a positive case for your guy. For a lot of people who'd otherwise support Obama, getting this wrong would be a deal breaker.
- Read this article (Subprime Obama) and this article (‘Irresponsible’ Mortgages Have Opened Doors to Many of the Excluded). The latter article is written by his chief economist. It might take awhile to get it, but inside these articles you'll find the reasons why many Edwards fans are so skeptical of Obama on an ideological level.
- Stop hating on Paul Krugman. If you want to be neutral, fine. (Though you shouldn't be.) I know Krugman seems like he's being tough on your guy. The reality -- hard though it may be to see -- is that in the long run, Krugman is giving him very good advice.
- Never utter the name "David Brooks" in the presence of an Edwards supporter unless you append "is a piece of shit" or some equivalent. If you don't understand why even right now Brooks is undermining your candidate, read this diary.
- Concede that the mandates battle for what it is: Obama chose an inferior policy option because he thinks it is more viable politically. Moreover, the only excuse for him having gone Harry and Louise is that he was responding to some pretty rough attacks by Hillary Clinton. It's actually a fair argument to make -- Hillary started hammering him during the Las Vegas debate in November, and continued with some pretty heavy artillery in Iowa.
- Don't take everything Obama says as gospel. Nobody is perfect. It's okay to disagree with him. He's also a good politician. Sometimes he's lying. That's cool. If I thought he was 100% honest, I'd be concerned.
- Help Obama's campaign get some pickup truck in it. Believe it or not, when Bill Clinton ran in 1992, people thought he was too much of an elitist blowhard. Carville put some pickup truck in him. The line of attack on Obama is going to involve making him out to be an elitist. Don't let him get on the wrong side of a culture war.
- Don't get cocky. If the election were held today, Hillary would win. More Edwards supporters lean to Hillary than to Obama. I'm not one of them. I lean towards Obama. He's got so much more upside. But you'd be surprised at the number of people who are deeply skeptical of Obama.
- You can learn a lot from people on this site, sometimes by just listening. I know I have. I'm one of the younger Edwards supporters -- I'm just 34. I have much more cultural affinity towards Obama than I do Edwards, even though I'm white and was born in Chapel Hill. Still, despite all of Obama's generational chasm bullshit, you can learn a lot from people who have been around the block a time or two.
- The conservative movement -- typified by hacks like David Brooks and even expressed by co-opted organizations like the DLC -- are the enemy. Their aim is to crush every dream and ambition you have, unless you happen to own a huge corporation. I know we here a lot of talk about post-partisanship and such. That's a brilliant way to hoodwink Republican voters into supporting Democrats. But when push comes to shove, the only thing the conservative movement will respect is being defeated. They have no respect for you or me, and when you compromise with them, they have even less. In short the only good member of the conservative movement is the one on his knees, begging for mercy.
Well, there you have it. Ten tips. Some of it's probably good advice. Some of it is probably crap.
I'm wishing you and your guy luck not just because you need it, but also because I sincerely hope he is able to pull this off and win, not just in the primary, but also the general.
Finally, at the risk of sounding cheesy, I'd like to thank John Edwards and his campaign staff and his supporters around the country for having run a phenomenal, graceful, classy campaign.
Edwards put issues that matter front and center, and I hope Barack Obama can pick up that mantle.
Update:
Tip #11, by request: I know how excited many of you are that the race has come down to two candidates, and I know the competition for the 15% of us who support Edwards (and the 40% of us on this site who support Edwards) will be fierce. I can tell you this -- diaries urging us to support Obama won't be effective, and if anything they'll detract from your efforts. Fair or not, that's the reality. So my suggestion would be to try to internalize and learn as much as you can about what the various Edwards supporters on this site think and feel, and synthesize that information, and in the coming days present to us positive information about your candidate. I promise, we'll be receptive -- especially if you truly understand our concerns.
Update 2: I removed an unnecessary semi-snarky reference to Hillary from the introduction, the gist of which was that she probably didn't need to hear any advice from someone as lowly as me.