A shameless plug for Obama
Feb. 5th, 2008 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
libertangoI'm not voting today. That'll be on Saturday, at the Washington State Caucuses (non-invasive precinct/caucus site finder for King County Democrats here).
But many in my tribe are endorsing Obama today, and voting for him. Scalzi. pnh. Terry Karney.
Here's what Patrick says -- and I agree with Scalzi that it hints at why:
To me, our biggest single problem isn't race, isn't class, isn't the increasing segregation by age -- important though they all are.
No, our biggest problem is the monotonous drumbeat from all our news media, and the overwhelming majority of those active in the political process, that the thoughts, hopes, and ideals of the common, everyday voter don't matter.
And when people hear that message constantly, they eventually come to believe it, even if only a little bit. And when that happens, they stop feeling ownership -- of their lives, of their country, of their destiny.
More than that, people who don't feel they're invested in ownership, that they have no stakes, will cease to care.
And if a country isn't worth caring for, it isn't worth fighting for, in any sense, should push come to shove.
On the Republican side, I have reluctantly been persuaded they believe this to be a feature, not a bug.
But on the Democratic side... Yes, Edwards may have felt it more deeply in his gut.
But Obama gets on the stump, and gives people sincere, sustained, justified hope.
He helps "fearful people (become) brave."
Exactly.
Right now, more than anything, America needs a people, a citizenry, that remembers how to walk in courage, and not in fear.
Barack Obama evokes that memory, and lets people taste and breathe it, better than anyone else in this race.
Because you, dear reader, are among the most potent political force ever known -- the common, everyday, American voter -- you have a chance today to help everyone remember.
Vote.
But many in my tribe are endorsing Obama today, and voting for him. Scalzi. pnh. Terry Karney.
Here's what Patrick says -- and I agree with Scalzi that it hints at why:
I’m for Obama knowing perfectly well that, as Bill Clinton suggested, it’s a “roll of the dice”. A roll of the dice for Democrats, for progressives, for those of us who’ve fought so hard against the right-wing frames that Obama sometimes (sometimes craftily, sometimes naively) deploys. Because I think a Hillary Clinton candidacy will be another game of inches, yielding—at best—another four or eight years of knifework in the dark. Because I think an Obama candidacy might actually shake up the whole gameboard, energize good people, create room and space for real change.
Because he seems to know something extraordinarily important, something so frequently missing from progressive politics in this country, in this time: how to hearten people. Because when I watch him speak, I see fearful people becoming brave.
To me, our biggest single problem isn't race, isn't class, isn't the increasing segregation by age -- important though they all are.
No, our biggest problem is the monotonous drumbeat from all our news media, and the overwhelming majority of those active in the political process, that the thoughts, hopes, and ideals of the common, everyday voter don't matter.
And when people hear that message constantly, they eventually come to believe it, even if only a little bit. And when that happens, they stop feeling ownership -- of their lives, of their country, of their destiny.
More than that, people who don't feel they're invested in ownership, that they have no stakes, will cease to care.
And if a country isn't worth caring for, it isn't worth fighting for, in any sense, should push come to shove.
On the Republican side, I have reluctantly been persuaded they believe this to be a feature, not a bug.
But on the Democratic side... Yes, Edwards may have felt it more deeply in his gut.
But Obama gets on the stump, and gives people sincere, sustained, justified hope.
He helps "fearful people (become) brave."
Exactly.
Right now, more than anything, America needs a people, a citizenry, that remembers how to walk in courage, and not in fear.
Barack Obama evokes that memory, and lets people taste and breathe it, better than anyone else in this race.
Because you, dear reader, are among the most potent political force ever known -- the common, everyday, American voter -- you have a chance today to help everyone remember.
Vote.
