I am sorry to be writing what will likely be classified as a flame diary, especially after laying low for such a while. I want to start by saying that I understand completely that it imperative that we elect a Democrat – the best Democrat as President next year. At this point I believe this person to be Obama, and I’ll be voting for him tomorrow.
That said – I ask you – is he what the grassroots have been working for? Please don’t ask me to get over it and campaign for a corporate Democrat in the primaries. I promise to write letters until I drop come summer and fall, but please don’t tell me that it’s my responsibility to do it now.
Obama is good, and hopefully if he is elected, tragedies of neglect like NOLA will e a thing of the past. But my beef is that for fundamental change we need someone to stand up to the powers that be, not become part of them.
Has anyone noticed that most of nyceve’s diaries about healthcare discuss the denial of coverage to people that are already insured? Has anyone heard of the abuses committed by Blue Cross of California and the usual suspects? From Obama, I can’t find anything more than a vague statement about limiting "stop losses" to address this huge issue. And this is primary season – if it isn’t addressed now, it never will be. Is this what we’ve been working for?
I realize that we here support many politicians that have not taken the lead on impeachment, and have taken it off the table, and have asked us to just wait until 2008. I have to ask – is this leadership? Is anyone blind to the crimes of the Bush administration worth being labeled as our savior? I cannot become too enthusiastic about a leader who has opposed impeachment http://www.iht.com/...
After Bill Clinton, our country was primed to tolerate the abuses of Bush. Why? Because corporations have taken the place of citizens in determining who our leaders are and what they do. It has been this way for ages, and without fundamental change it will continue to become worse. They tell us what to think, eat and do through our omnipotent media, which has thoughtfully narrowed the pool of Democratic contenders (through selective horserace coverage) to the two most pro-business, so we don’t have to worry our pretty heads about it. Thank you for your help with this, fellow diarists!
Please forgive me for the absence of hope, but with the backlash against Bush there was a great opportunity to prop up a populist, and we have blown it because we want to back to some warm fuzzy place where we can put our trust in a leader. I think Obama will do good things, but it is difficult to see how he will change anything without taking on corporate America, and that leaves us open to continued abuses. And despite his detailed energy policy, he is a proponent of clean coal, which is an industry-sponsored boondoggle, and biofuel – which is not sustainable.
And then there is the war. Obama opposed it from day one and spoke out against it, and this is the main reason I support him over Clinton. But did he put his money where is mouth was? No – he consistently voted to continue funding the war, even though defunding was the only way other than impeachment that the war could have been stopped. His explanation that he didn’t want to see our troops stranded was the same talking point used by Republicans that has holes punched through it by so many veteran's groups.
I will vote for him, but don’t tell me that he is my dream candidate/savior. I will fill out my form and hope for the best, but this is not the kind of hope I was hoping for. There will still be the letters to write, the protests to attend, and the TV to keep hidden away in the basement lest my child's mind be polluted (yes, McDonald's advertises on PBS). There will still be the struggle for protection of the weak and against polluters, patent-holders, and bombs for kids. It will never end, and we may get appeasement rather than the oppression that our red friends prefer, but the balance of power remains, and it is still far from the people, where it should be.