We are a little more than three months away from an important election that is incredibly base dependent and may impact the makeup of the Supreme Court. Yet three (unnecessary) things happened this weekend that might hinder base turnout and I am completely perplexed. It is not that these issues aren’t important, but why all now. The three issues are Markos and DailyKos pulling out of NN15 because it will be held in Arizona, fierce attacks by a new diarist on Glenn Greenwald, and the Thomas Franks article in Salon on why Obama is a failure. First let me say I have nothing against people on the other sides of these arguments but I am dumbfounded as to why this is happening now. Let me discuss these in descending order of importance, at least as I see them.
First Arizona. My best friend adopted two Latino children. After Arizona passed SB1070 he vowed not to go to Arizona. He asked me to do the same. It was not a political position for him. He was afraid his children could not safely walk the streets of his and their own country (what is going on at the Border has only made this a more potent issue). I understand that the law has been gutted, but it hits people I hold very dear personally. It is painful for them to go to Arizona. My best friend’s brother lives in Arizona and they have not visited him since the law was passed and he understands. Thanksgiving is now always held in Illinois. The boycotts were called off but that is because many times boycotts hurt the people you are trying to protect. But NN15 is something different – it is not an electrician’s convention. It is a political statement and symbol. What I don’t understand is why push Arizona if it will hurt people (I hope) we hold dear. Is there some principle at stake here beyond, “We decided to go to Arizona and we’re not backing down?” Why allow this to become a confrontation, why now? There are other places with large Latina/Latino populations and Native American populations where NN could have a bigger short term impact. Why not New Mexico? Why not Colorado? Same issues but you wouldn’t be hurting people who are important to the movement and important to you. It seems silly, I hate to use that word but really, to say it must be Arizona – because. Especially when the decision is so painful to so many. Why?
The second issue is Glenn Greenwald (and Jane Hamsher) diaries. I understand Greenwald is a very divisive figure. I figure maybe half the people on DailyKos hate him. But the other half kind of think of him as a hero. The diarist – who I won’t call out by name – joined DailyKos about a month ago and almost every diary has been an attack on Greenwald (or Greenwald allies) in one way or another. Listen, I’m not saying that Greenwald can’t be an asshole, I think he admits that himself. But he has also done a lot of good. The diaries get recommended up quick because there are a lot of people who hate Greenwald. I can understand one diary, or even multiple diaries if they are in larger themes of the diarist’s oeuvre. But this constant stream of attacks, it seems like it is only going to set people against each other, base people who really care about the same issues. I have the same question, why and why now?
The third is Thomas Franks' story at Salon on Obama's as failure. This is the hardest for me because I really like Franks and thinks he has great things to say. But we need to get the base out and this type of meme will almost certainly depress that. We can have this discussion, but much of it is important, but why now? Obama is not running for anything. Wouldn’t it be a better, more productive discussion to have after the mid-terms? It’s not like there is some type of time limit on this.
I don’t know why this is all happening, perhaps a converging of stars, perhaps something else. But it is not a healthy development for the Democratic party or for my children. We need to pull together not fall apart.