I can't pretend to know how the people who got involved in, or only got more deeply involved in politics because of Obama think, so I wont try.
All I can really honestly tell you about is me and the people like me. The people who have been involved or at least have closely observed American politics for decades now.
But I can tell you this, anyone who thinks that Obama is going to charm the Powers That Be in DC the way they themselves have been (legitimately I might add) charmed enough to put all of their hope in him to "change the way Washington works"...is naive.
The stakes are just too high for the folks (and their nepotistic descendants) who have been running DC since the Cold War days to allow themselves to be charmed. This is not about anything ....ANYTHING.... besides money and power to them. And as they have proved again and again, the will NOT let anyone between them and their money and power. Obama has incredible assets, the best set to come along in a politician in a long time. I like him, you like him, just about everybody likes him.
But. Charm, intelligence, calm, rational thinking, pragmatism and a willingness to compromise, good ideas...and good intentions....mean absolutely nothing to them.
As long as he stands between them and their money, they will work to destroy him. As long as he stands between them and their money, they have to. It is not personal, it is politics. They will use everything in their extensive, 60 year old bag of tricks to do so....and it will "work." They WILL "corrupt" him. Just as they "corrupted" Clinton.
Now of course the people who see things in two dimensions are going to consider this an attack on Obama by a "known Obama Hater." It is not. But nothing I say will convince them so, shrug. This is about American politics. Not Obama the Man, that so many seem to think needs defending after he chose to play in this arena.
Though I cannot truly know how they think, I can tell you one thing for sure. They think pressuring Obama from the Left is about his personality, about the Man, about Barack and Michelle, about the guy that they have every right to be in love with, because he IS truly an exceptional guy.
They think, or I should say they feel, that every criticism is an attack, that every bit of political pressure is hate, that everyone who say anything bad about Obama is out to destroy him. (And as I have increasingly seen lately, in some of their minds, this is still about the primary! "You supported X in the primary, so of course you hate Obama and want him to fail!!!) This is simply NOT true. And it is, I regret to say, politically naive to the point of destructiveness.
Because ...literally, nothing that is going on in DC has anything to do with Obama, the Man.
It has to do with someone standing between the Powers That Be in DC, and their money.
Period.
Of course things are different 'out in the sticks, where it is all about Culture Wars and racism and ignorance.
But in DC, that carries VERY little weight. In DC, one thing and one thing only carries weight. Money.
And of course the systems used to MAKE money. The Status Quo, The Establishment, the series of gentleman's agreements about how things are done....done to make those gentleman ....money.
Barack Obama's support for the Public Option threatens all of that to. the. bone.
The Public Option changes everything.
It changes the status quo, it challenges the hegemony of the establishment, it is a direct threat to the Powers That Be. In THEIR minds, (and they will tell you this straight up under the right circumstances) the American Government exist for one purpose and one purpose only....to make it easier for them to make money.
Period.
The Public Option is....rightly...seen as the first radical change to their version of what the American Government is for since the Great Society.
They will do everything they can, no matter how slimy (remember these are the murder by spreadsheet guys, they are in the business to a certain extent, of "killing" people for money already) to keep the Public Option from being implemented.
But their IS a fly in the ointment for them, for their version of America.
The same fly that has been semi-ineffectively buzzing around for all this time, annoying them to no end. The ONLY force that opposes them, since America in the 50's bought into the notion/lie that "What is good for GM (Big Business) is Good For America.
The Left.
The Extreme Left, the Loony Left, the Fringe Left...the UnAmerican Left, the PURITY Left.
The people who brought you environmental protection, consumer protection, workplace protections, financial and banking regulations, anti-trust legislation, the Glass Steagal, collective bargaining and every other protection that YOU have against the ravages that an unfettered "Free Market" (HA!) would impose on YOU if they were left unchecked....by the Left.
And the Left did NOT accomplish these things by trusting ANY politician, EVER.
They did it by constantly pressuring the politicians both on the Left and on the Right.
To do the right thing.
Because anyone who HAS closely observed and participated in politics for decades HAS SEEN the corrupting influence, the pervasive pressure, the wearing down of good intentions and integrity like water wears down a rock. We have watched it time and time again, this inexorable force of people who will literally do ANYTHING to get their money.
The entire DC system has been set up for generations to wear down and gradually corrupt ANYBODY who stands between them and their money. And it works.
Which is exactly why we are where we are today, having to fight for what should be a basic human right, Health Care. Basic Human Rights (as we see with torture) mean NOTHING to these people. If they stand between their money and power.
And neither do charm, intelligence, calm, rational thinking, pragmatism and a willingness to compromise, good ideas...and good intentions. None of that matters to them.
There IS only one thing that can keep even the best man in the world (and to me, Obama is up there in the current crop of humans) from being worn down by this relentless and completely ruthless power.
There is only one way, one thing, that can counter the unimaginably tremendous corrupting influence of the pressure from the money men.
Counter pressure.
Pressure from the Left.
Pressure that both forces....and allows... Obama to resist that pressure. their pressure.
The only way to help Obama live up to his very great potential and transform the nation, the world, and heh, DC....
is to pressure him.
Really.
And of course, he has said, again and again, the very same thing.
So, if you think that defending Obama against big meanies on a blog (Or Greenwald or Krugman, lol) who are "trying to destroy him" or "want him to fail" or "supported X in the primaries" is somehow helping him....
You are politically naive.
The way to help him resist the corrupting influences....that are currently wearing away the Public Option like water wears away rock....the best way to help him, the best way to save him and his presidency and the agenda we ALL want to see him pass....
....is to Pressure Him From The Left.
Really.
Don't stop loving him, just stop protecting him as if he were a child. He is not, and he doesn't need your love, he needs your support, support in the form of...."Making Him Do It."