wooops! Ok, it was close!
As we fight the Battle of the Memos, the outcome of which will be the latest sign post of Obama’s intentions re the Bush Torture Program….
And thus affect how the new petition as well as the Pressure the Press segment of our two pronged program is waged…
I wish to offer a few thoughts on the zeitgeist, the chaos, and the general rancor of this particular period.
We are in…..transition.
Transition form a hated President to, despite whatever specific differences you may have with him, a much more benign, beloved….and certainly wildly popular President.
For those of us who have been hard core Lefties all of our life, it is habit, quest, and lifelong campaign to attack the American government for its many excesses and egregious acts and policies. The American government has done some truly nasty things in our lifetimes and before. Ever since I, for instance, as a young lad, learned of the My Lai Masscre (thanks to Sy Hersh and in spite of Colin Powell) I have been DEEPLY distrustful and full of animosity towards the American government. Watergate of course, merely gave evidence to my belief that our government is deeply corrupt, and subsequent decades have done little to dispel that feeling.
And then came Bush. (nuff said?)
Now Obama has come.
Obama is now the face of that same government. I share the deep hopes of millions if not billions around the world that he will be the one to turn American government around. But he is one man against the huge machinery of that government. One man with a few allies in government and billions rooting for him and wanting to help. Including me.
So on one hand, there is Hope.
On the other is a lifetime of distrust in the Machine he now heads.
How do we resolve that fundamental conflict?
How do we approach and deal with and comment on this unique situation?
How do we oppose the actions of the government, while supporting Obama’s efforts to lead that government in a new direction?
This is a very tough transition for all of us, both those who need to criticize the government, and those whose support Obama to the extent that it feels to them that that criticism is a personal criticism of Obama or somehow undermines his efforts to turn the US around.
Critics of the government frame every criticism as a criticism of Obama, not the government or his policies. This exasperates and incenses those who correctly realize that he will need all of the support we can give him to do what he…and we….want him to do.
Separation between criticizing the US, the policies of the US that Obama is to some extent duty bound, as the face of and as chief officer of that government, to defend….. and criticizing Obama personally has become very thin.
Criticism and activism is being, as is the wont in the blogosphere, reduced to the lowest common denominator….Black and White, defend or attack, for or against.
I urge folks on both sides of this semi-manufactured divide, this echo of the partisanship of the last decade, to step back for a moment and reconsider their rhetoric, framing, and above all….their instincts to either attack or defend…. on such a ridiculously simplistic level.
Simplification makes argument easier, not better. The subtlety and nuance required to actually address the real, existential complexities of our world are lost.
We live in an incredibly complex world, and are dealing with incredibly complex problems. The urge to simplify that complexity into a for or against Obama referendum and argument is destructive to ALL of us, to the world, and to rationality and critical thought in general. I urge us ALL not to fall into that trap.
All those who attack the policies of the United States Government are not personally attacking Obama.
All those who defend Obama are not defending the United States Government.
It is NOT simple. Please resist the urge to laziness that makes it seem as if it is.
59 comments
Skip to comment form
Author
On the personal side, I still need a bit more rest, since I am doing such a crappy job of resting….before leaping into the new petition and Pressure the Press campaigns.
Until the critical Battle of the Memos is resolved, it seems like this is a good time to take that rest.
I do however urge y’all to keep ruminating and working on it! We will get ‘er done!
Obviously I don’t know him personally, he’s mostly someone on the TV machine, I have gone to a campaign event where he spoke. So he apparently is a well rounded likeable man.
He is also a politician and with practically all politicians his words at times are at odds with his actions. On issues that I care about I will give him credit when he takes positive action.
When he says one thing during the campaign, how he will try and roll back telecom immunity regarding FISA then does absolutely nothing he deserves criticism and rebuke.
Obama is a ground breaking president, he also a politician and should be held accountable.
is how lots of us who supported Obama’s campaign (and I did: hard, hard, hard – time, sweat, and money) are now just exasperated by the direction things are going. For me its both the economic direction we’re headed and what is starting to look like a total glossing over of the crimes of the last 8 years.
Is the jury still out on those? Sure. I hope I’m wrong about both – but my hope has quickly withered and atrophied because I don’t think I am.
there is a big letdown, and there’s sort of a grieving process going on. I was really enjoying that feeling there for a while, the wind at our backs and all.
{sigh}
TBH if Obama would just get on with it and ya know, get ‘er done without me, Id be much happier, I am lazy! But the bottom line is, it is on us. Always has been.
And we have a choice, we choose our tone, our words… Pick up a pitchfork or a pen…? or call for a thousand pens, or a million. Okay maybe not a pen… lol… megaphone. I dunno. No pitchforks for me though.
It is important that we do think like that and not alienate those that can help us just because we are super unhappy about a particular issue.
And I’m really interested in more conversation about effective ways to do the “feet to the fire” thing with Obama.
If we want to change Obama’s mind about something, what is a good approach? When I work on that kind of thing in RL, I usually look at how the person I’m trying to influence does that themselves. It probably is a “tell” on what would be effective with them. So, how does Obama try to influence people or change their minds about something? Answer that question and it might help us develop more effective strategies.
I know, I know…there I go being the pragmatist again. But doesn’t every good progressive blog need at least ONE of those?
you can believe in? It’s anti inspiring.
I’m don’t believe it’s a bad thing to call Obama out on hypocrisy. This is HIS administration now. He is responsible for his actions and inaction. Every day there isn’t a special prosecutor is a day the Obama administration is obstructing justice. He is being complicit.
So I’m a bad Democrat for saying that? I’m not a team player? By calling Obama out on hypocrisy I’m giving aid and comfort to the Repugs? I don’t think so.
#1 The Repugs are so fractured between the corporatist, religious fanatics and bigots, every time one of the party bigs opens their mouths the party gets smaller.
And #2 At least when Obama is called out on hypocrisy, he’s smart enough to get it. He’s not delusional like Bush.
#3 Exposed hypocrisy sometimes gets action. If you’re a Bank exec now you’ve got to believe Obama is dying to fire someone. Just so he doesn’t look like he’s only busting the Auto industries stones.
but I broke a heal on my VERY expensive shoes! That ain’t workin’ for me.
I’m gonna have to disagree with you there about makin’ things personal versus talkin’ about the institution that divides us. For instance, it’s no fun talkin’ about abstinence-only to teenagers when I can destroy an actual teenager instead.
don’t look at their pictures, photo-ops, flowery speeches, past accomplishments, etc. I look at what is happening on specific issues and decide for myself. The Iraq war, I disagree with Obama. Afghanistan, disagree. Obama is in charge just like Bush was. Criticism of those behind the throne won’t work.