I have been taking care of some family things lately, which is why I have not been blogging. This is not something that will end soon.
I am watching events, however. There are a lot of rumors flying about, a great deal of posturing and bloviating going on, but mostly a worried silence.
Fear and resentment dominate this campaign in a way I simply cannot remember happening before. The happy-happy face is a mask over something else entirely. The Stevensonians have received what they believed they wished for.
My political stance remains unchanged; I will not vote for either McCain or Obama in the general, and for much the same reason - they call upon ugly and destructive things in our nation to consolidate their power.
Anglachel
10 comments:
I too am just watching. Needed to stop reacting to every dumb statement that popped up from wherevah!
Feel much better now.
Gonna be on interesting Summer and Fall.
I get the feeling that almost anything can happen.
I agree with you Anglachel. I also, for the first time in my life, will not vote for either candidate for president. I will though vote for the down ticket democrats that I think still believe in the democratic process.
Does anyone else remember how we used to "joke" that Bush would just cancel the next set of elections? (Frankly, I remember more whistling across proverbial graveyard than joking during the "Mission Accomplished" period.)
But is this election any different from not having one? Each time I rest comfortably with voting McCain as punishment for the DNC he turns around and does something stupid. Not enough to send me back to Obama but enough to make grit my teeth in frustration.
Unfortunately the vacuum that Hillary started to fill during this election grows wider. Who's really going to help farmers in Iowa? The rising gas prices are already spiking prices for food production but no politician publicly makes the connection. The sharp rise in unemployment and loss of benefits (something I see everyday in my job) is wiping out large segments of working class but it's a silent epidemic.
These conditions spawn "strong" men and parties who rule by dictatorships. If you remove any hope of fairness and due process in your elections, voters will turn to something else. Offer them rubes and buffoons for your candidates and they will seek a competent alternative (no matter how that alternative goes about seizing power).
An eloquent commentator on the Confluence noted that he/she remembered Bobby's assassination as the day "hope" died. We may look back on Hillary's "loss" as the day the final dirt got shoveled on hope's body.
I only pray that history remembers how hard she fought as opposed to blaming her for not willing to go forward as an independent. I know I will fight that characterization. But many of those closest to me resent it. They don't care about the Party and don't understand her loyalty to it.
Anglachel:
So you won't vote for Obama or McCain.
Assuming that Hillary can't possibly win, what outcome would you like to see?
Also, I would like to encourage folks to register independent. Yes, it's great to stay in the Democratic Party and fight. However, the narrative that "more people identify with Democrats" is pervasive, and will snowball into votes for Obama. In addition, it affects polling, because orgs like Rasmussen change their Dem/Rep/Ind ratios to whatever it estimates as the real world ratio. If the new narrative becomes "more people are moving toward independent status," this will be bad for the Democratic Party. In the long term, I want the Democratic Party to win, but I want the current jokers out of there.
That silence we hear---it's the absence of Hillary. I just plain miss her presence, her thinking, her fighting the good fight. I just feel lonely and lost. It is absolutely weird to feel this way about a politician. I miss her.
Ironically, Obama's savants are demanding that Senator Clinton make her presence known.
They are demanding that she visibly and vigorously campaign for Obama, convince every last one of her supporters to get behind Obama, and address the Hillary support sites (PUMA, Riverdance, et al) by asking them to delete their presence from the internet. As if...
It is funny though, in a pathetic sort of way, that many of them can't understand what our positions are, when all they have to do is read the blogs. Odd lot, that bunch. At least one is estimating that 70% are Republicans masquerading, 20% never were "real" Democrats, and 10% are actually Senator Clinton supporters.
Charmingly fascist.
Teresa, the outcome I want is to see my party condemn and reject the tactics of the Right and stop trying to appease people who want to destroy everything Democrats are supposed to stand for. I want my party to cease with the internal witch hunts and purity campaigns.
I'm tired of watching us lose the White House because we run idiot snobs too busy kissing the ass of the PC police to run effective campaigns. I'm tired of watching Congressional majorities savage their own presidents and discredit themselves with their spineless caving to unpopular assholes like W. I'm disgusted that the "progressive" blogosphere has sold its soul to the same cowards who have allowed W to run roughshod over the country for eight years just so they can pretend they aren't closet racists (and believe me, these fuckers ARE the most racist little shits on the Left, exactly the way they are the most sexist, too.) and get to beat up on a Clinton the way they missed out doing during the 90s when they didn't know the first thing about politics and were just getting drunk and stoned in the dorms.
I doubt Obama can get elected because of the distribution of Electoral College votes, but McCain might blow up and fail to hold his EC majority. If so, I'm going to love watching WKJM have to explain why nobody coulda knowed Obama and the Chicago Combine was going to throw Social Security under the bus in the name of enriching Goldman Sachs, I mean, to ensure bi-partisan unity.
Anglachel
It's interesting you posted this today. I had been thinking the same thing from a different angle. Watching PUMA, the Million Women March site, and various others, it's nice to see the pro-Hillary activism, but I couldn't help thinking that these sites are asking a lot of their members. It seems to me, there are going to be a limited number of pro-Hillary voters who have the time and wherewithall to devote to much more than just kind of paying attention and talking to their friends and family. That was precisely the problem with the caucuses, they demanded too much from people with very busy, stressed out lives.
This doesn't mean the discontent will go away, though. My guess is that having failed to sell well up front, Obama will not look good on second or third read either. Like today, that he'll "bring a gun to a knife fight" comment. Ugh, just ugh. My guess is that these gansta, hip hop references are not selling well in middle America.
McCain, he seems less wearing, and people just sort of feel they know who he is. The debates will be the key, along with whatever the 527s dish out. It will be a long 4 1/2 months, but at the end of it, the voters who Rahm Emmanuel said will tend to their knitting, will leave their yarn behind long enough to go out and cast a vote. IMO, many will choose the war hero over the hipster. And that will be the revenge of the Clinton voters -- not a noisy revolution, but an informed, and adament, dismissal of Obama.
It's more than pro-Hillary blogs turning away toward BO. I've noticed that newer blogs which appear to encourage us to stay together suddenly cease to exist.
One can only hope all her remaining blogs and bloggers will stand fast. WE SHALL!
I hope this is not rude of me, I'm new to blogging, but, I feel compelled to post the following:
I’ve been noticing that some blogs are currently beginning to get active as PUMA groups (wanting to channel their energies to manifest change (pardon the expression)), and they are just beginning to organize, brainstorm, and plan. Many of their ideas are duplications of things PUMApac.org has already done, is in the process of doing, and continues to do.
PUMApac.org already has many resources available to share with individual PUMAs, and PUMA groups. It seems we could save precious time, in terms of sparing them the arduous task of reinventing the wheel, by inviting them to both PUMApac.org and pumapacusa.org sites, to share our resources.
1) We have an Action Center with a ton of resources available (flyers, t-shirts, business card, posters, lists of SDs, lists of media contacts, talking points, etc.);
2) We have daily lists of “Growls”, daily actions that can be accomplished in an hour or two;
3) We have information to share regarding our methods and means of outreach to those who are not computer savvy, are isolated, and unaware of the PUMA movement;
4) All we need are numbers to add to our growing Voice!
Please join us at http://blog.pumapac.org , and www.pumapacusa.org
You won’t have to scan through the blog comments in search of actions and resources, they are listed at our Action Center.
Time is of the essence. We’re looking forward to seeing you! and please... help spread the word.
Thank you for your attention.
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