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I joined DU to post this, both the issue but also my conflicted response to it... Hi Everybody. I've been observing DU for a few weeks now, and really like what a lot of you have to say on all sides of the party (not including fruitless brouhaha, which many of you ID as spammers, or johnny-come-latelies like myself =). I really feel strongly about this election and am sincere in my hope about what it represents and where I hope the country will go from here. I am for Obama (besides below, you can read why in my profile), while also recognizing that not just party unity but also national dialogue and reconciliation will be absolutely, absolutely necessary to actualize his dreams. To me his visions of these are real and noble, not rhetoric but prognosis & acumen,, such that accomplishing them will take more than spirit, but also hard work on the one hand and with this healing wounds on the other, within each of us individually, among those with different ideas ideals or ideologies, and between separate parties &c.
So, I'm really concerned about the ugliness we've been seeing, and worry about whether this will be possible when things like what's below happen. The problem is, we do need to know they're being said and respond, yet it's so easy to be lured into that kind of polemic when we do;; but before getting upset, think about this: some people here have said similar things right back to Hillary or her supporters, and I confess I've thought likewise, and gone farther with the spite in return than I'm proud of. But that will get us nowhere; no, actually it will take us backwards. We can find a positive way to overcome it and move on whatever happens from here, can't we? That's not a rhetorical question or wish fulfillment, but my worst fears and best hopes in conflict with each other.
This, to me, then begins with addressing it -- facing it and asking why and what is the actual work we need to do to come back together first as a party and then as, as Barack says, the United States of America. We've worked together through serious differences at other times in our history before. Still these are different times and require different approaches and different answers, newfangled ones that we have to adapt to our new perplexities and orient to our new anxieties as we move ahead (one of several reasons I support Obama; not just his 'words' but his campaign every step of the way has effected this in my opinion). I don't really know how, but I think and hope it begins with talking about our differences rather than fighting about them. How to do that, in turn, I'm not sure, lol, but am interested to see your replies and ask how will we get past this in a productive, not destructive way.
Don't just say elect Obama. I have tremendous faith in the man, but know from our political past, and that of world history, know that it only begins there.
So my challenge is to throw the worst at you and ask you, urge you, on both sides, not to yell back, and then back and forth: but to address it, or rather deconstruct its paragon and reconfigure its effect on you... How, again, I don't know; I was hoping for your help on this. Barack will need to do the same in more turbulent waters than this (what goes on behind closed doors is always worse than is shown to see), and if this is really going to be bottom up, WE will need to set an example.
I was blown away that I hadn't seen this story or clip on DU yet (I come here to get the newest news, and to hear what engaged, invested people think about it) and my original intention was to bring it to your attention. But as I thought about it really hard in context I don't want to fight anymore. We may very well might not be able to reach a guy like Tom Buffenbarger (below) ... yet . but we can reach each other if we temper the same impulses within us towards conflict and instead try to envision or at least negotiate solutions.
Anyway, I'm tired, but awake,, concerned, but invested,, affected, but excited. Fired up and ready to go. not for Obama but for America =) :
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http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/20/684411.aspx
From NBC's Abby Livingston
Oh snap! Who needs a Rottweiler when you’ve got surrogates?
Tom Buffenbarger president of the machinists' union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) was the the latest in a string of Clinton junkyard dogs unleashed upon Obama. Prior to Hillary Clinton’s speech last night in Youngstown, Ohio, Buffenbarger delivered nothing short of an Obama diatribe.
While campaign introductions typically sing the praises of the upcoming candidate, Buffenbarger's speech barely mentioned Clinton until the conclusion. It was all about Obama, and it was laced with venom and ad hominems.
VIDEO: Clinton supporter Tom Buffenbarger attacks Sen. Barack Obama during a campaign event in Youngstown, Ohio.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKJVHjZVD60
Buffenbarger called Obama a “thespian,” and he sarcastically referred to the junior senator from Illinois as a “wunderkind.” He compared Obama to “Janus, the two-faced Roman god of ancient times.” And he pleaded with the crowd to boo Obama’s labor record.
Early in his speech, Buffenbarger asked, “So now we have a decision to make. Will we rely on the Harvard Law Review editor? The silver-tongued orator from Kansas, Hawaii and Illinois? The man in love with the microphone?”
Taking off the gloves, he said, “Barack Obama is no Muhammad Ali. He took a walk every time there was a tough vote in the Illinois State Senate. He took a walk more than a 130 times. That's what a shadow boxer does. All the right moves. All the right combinations. All the right footwork. But he never steps into the ring.”
But it was Obama supporters for whom Buffenbarger saved his most vitriolic contempt, and he proved that the Democratic Party’s coalition is nothing if not fragile. Channeling Howard Beale from the movie "Network," he yelled into the microphone, “Give me a break! I've got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius- driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won't last a round against the Republican attack machine. He's a poet, not a fighter.”
With all this trash talk, who needs a Thrilla in Manilla? |
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