Unfortunately we live in a capitalist society where votes are regularly stolen and the interests of corporations are held above the needs of the people…where war is glorified, where boys are discouraged from expressing themselves through tears or art, and women make less than men for the same or better work…where queer people are murdered and denied housing, where immigrants are called “illegal”…
Barrack Obama will not be able to solve those problems. He is not completely anti-war. He is not anti-capitalist. He doesn’t’ have a specific plan to curb queer suicide and violence. He offers hopeful oratories but his policies are not the vision most of us have for the world. And he is only one person.
So why should the left unite behind him? Because the left must, for the first time in decades, defeat the radical right that has taken our country to the brink of destruction.
The movement behind the Obama campaign is an important ingredient in the recipe to defeat the right-wing. The campaign has inspired people from all age groups, races, and backgrounds to unite and get involved. Obama’s campaign, at least rhetorically, has put the needs of the people above the interests of the corporations. To some degree it has awoken people. It is evident in the campaign’s record breaking new voter registration successes and their record turnouts for rallies.
When the race for the Whitehouse began Hillary Clinton had the opportunity to offer the country an uplifting grassroots campaign. Instead she launched ads that capitalized on people’s fears – ads that featured Osama Bin Laden and scary 3AM phone calls. She ran a campaign you would expect from Karl Rove. And so it is now Obama’s campaign that has broken records in taking donations from small individual donors while her campaign broken the record for taking the most money from Pharmaceutical companies.
Hilary voted to authorize the war at a time when many of us queer activists were protesting on the streets urging her to reconsider. Hilary voted to authorize the use of cluster bombs when Obama voted against it. And yesterday Hilary said she would “obliterate” Iran if they attacked Israel. Scary stuff.
The affluent in the gay community have been overwhelmingly supportive of Clinton. But it is Barrack who wishes to repeal ALL of DOMA, not Hilary. It was Barrack who co-sponsored legislation to outlaw discrimination based on gender identity and expression. And it is Barrack who repeatedly mentions the gay community in his stump speeches from black churches in the southto mills in rural Pennsylvania, he enver shies away. In fact, the night Hilary won Pennsylvania Barrack again gave a shout out to the gay community knowing his speech would be heard around the world.
There have been gays who were upset that Obama spoke with a historically anti-gay pastor at a campaign event, but if presidential candidates can’t build bridges between constituencies we have a problem. At that event he expressed his solidarity with the LGBT community. To never speak with your adversary is the politics of division and fear.
If we are to play the game of guilt by association we would have to also mention that it is Hilary who is involved in a secret prayer circle at the White House with Rick Santorum and the other most anti-gay members of our congress.
Regardless of the tone of their campaigns, and even if McCain wins – having a woman and African American get this far is an important step for this country. We must continue to pressure them to remember to put the needs of the people above the needs of the corporations. Even if Obama loses, we must continue to capitalize on the momentum his campaign, and to a lesser degree Clinton’s, has given to issues such as healthcare, war, and fairness.
These are the stepping stones, the beginnings, of a more enlightened public. I wish I didn’t have to lay out all of the aforementioned facts. I wish that today we were discussing the two inspiring candidates who lifted America up…Who have stood united against the radical right-wing…Who made every little girl and every person of color feel excited about their future. A few years ago, I was more than willing to support the Clinton campaign in their effort to defeat the radical right. Today I am repulsed by their efforts to inject race and fear into the debate.
But come November no matter who the democratic nominee is, I will unite behind them not because I have faith in them or the democratic party but because I believe defeating the right-wing is the first step to achieving the kind of America I believe in.
—QueerToday.com just relaunched our site with a social networking platform. Check it out:
http://www.queertoday.com
i think the writing is on the wall, milo200; clinton is staying in the race and her supporters, roughly 50% of voting dems, are sticking with her. to continue the call for clinton supporters to abandon her is a tad bit out of touch, and it is offensive to the very people you want to join you in solidarity.
<
p>by all means do keep supporting obama if you like him, and do keep supporting the commitment to total dem unity after the primaries. but drop the attacks on clinton, because they are by extension attacks on her supporters. i don’t think that the american you believe in would consist of large constituencies insulting each other, but that is what much of your post boils down to.
I just feel so sad and disgusted by her campaign. I liked Hilary when she was herself, but was very dismayed at the campaign ads and tactics.
<
p>I hope Hilary’s supporters do united behind Obama when he is the nominee, contrary to the polls which show an alarming number of them going to McCain.
<
p>Given the math I’m not sure why Hilary is staying in… some are beginning to ask if she is hoping Obama loses so she can win again in 4 years – I sure hope not!
Next prez must clean up Iraq, and will inevitably bear most of the blame for the failure, and for whatever problems we leave in our wake.
<
p>Next prez is going to get a lousy economy, stricken by high fuel prices and sinking asset values, which means that the answer to the “Are you better off then you were 4 years ago?” question, in 2012, will likely be “not by a long shot.”
<
p>The next president has a lot of cleaning up to do, and won’t be appreciated for it at the time, and won’t have much opportunity for major domestic initiateives.
Senator Clinton’s victories IN PA, OH and TX have more then earned her the political capital to continue her campaign. In fact her supporters are urging her to stay in.
<
p>Do I think the Clinton campaign made mistakes early on – absolutely and the price she paid was to fall behind in the delegate and total votes counts. However, Senator Clinton has shown the ability to rebound and that extra time in this primary season has allowed closer looks at Senator Obama.
<
p>Both Clinton and Obama need superdelegates to win the nomination and two states Senator Clinton won have been made a mess by the lack of leadership by Howard Dean and the DNC. The situation in FLA and MI should never have been allowed to get this bad. From a pro-Clinton point of view her continued calls for respecting the FLA voters (and MI but even I have to admit with Senator Obama not on the ballot the argument is far different)makes her far more viable in those 2 states in the general election then Senator Obama.
<
p>Senator Clinton has closed the popular vote gap (I will leave the numbers game to others). She is winning late primaries. Outspent in PA and with 6 weeks to compare the candidates, PA votes gave her the nod over Senator Obama ( I somehow doubt that 1.3 million PA racists voted for Clinton).
<
p>Both candidates ran negative and will continue to do so in IN and NC. Giving Senator Obama a pass on his association with an anti-gay leader as being able to talk with adversaries while saying Clinton’s corporate ties can’t be ignored comes across as self-serving and won’t turn any Clinton supporter away from her.
<
p>Let the process go forward. They have both earned that right from the 30 million Democratic primary voters who have already had there voices heard. Voters in the rest of the states deserve that right to vote.
I found it demonstrative of what kind of leader Clinton would be when I heard her reply to Olberman's question about her endorsement by Scaiffe media's editorial board. Her reply was essentially along the lines of:
See? I can be a uniter.
Wonderful. Uniting the Democratic party with corporate interests like those shilled for by the likes of Scaiffe. The DLC style of corporatism was the very worst aspect of the last Clinton admin.
I love hyperbole, as a general rule. There’s a reason I called someone a Five Start Surrender Monkey.
<
p>But as my taunt didn’t get me the answers I was looking for, I don’t think your hyperbole helps you here.
<
p>The first time in decades the left would defeat the right? If you’re going to ignore the Clinton presidency and the Democratic majorities in Congress that have existed you’re really pulling to the left quite a bit.
<
p>And to make it sound as if an extremely small percentage of citizens have hijacked the country ignores the millions of citizens who register and vote Republican.
<
p>I know you’re trying to solidify the base of lefites (notably not Democrats), but I agree with Laurel. I think by attacking not just the “radical” right, but also Hillary, you’re risking alienating almost half of the active Democrats.
milo “pulls to the left quite a bit” and then quite a bit more for good measure.
Sorry – but I’m not buying this. You’re repulsed by the Clinton campaign and recite it’s many sins…and “see no evil” when it comes to one Barack Obama. Sorry, dude – I am just sick to death of the whole “madonna-whore” complex that so many Obama fans have. You insist that Hillary has to be perfect….but completely brush off any misgivings you may have with Obama.
<
p> “
What? He’s only one person…but Hillary’s supposed to be a platoon all by herself?
<
p>Never shys away? You’ve also conveniently forgotten when Mr. Obama refused to have his picture taken with SFO mayor Gavin Newsome, during a fundraiser held for Mr. Obama at the height of the gay marriage battle. Yeah – I’d call those some serious mice balls in terms of GLBT support. And yeah, nice spin on the anti-gay preacher there. Building bridges. How nice that sounds instead of hypocritical.
<
p>So, you can be repulsed by the Clinton campaign, just as I am repulsed by the buffalo snot (BS) that you post. So, keep it up. It only pisses me off even more…and then I will send her even more money.
…and we’ll unite behind him just as soon as he is, but not a moment before.
and I happen to agree that it would be the best thing for the party and the country if HRC were to face the math and concede. But I’m also bored with the back and forth and the spin from supporters of both candidates. Don’t think many minds are likely to be changed at this late date.
Latest polls show a big switch in allegiance to Clinton, as well as undecideds breaking to her in the end. Even at the last minute people are still making up their minds.
<
p>If one thing can be learned from this race, it’s that anything can happen.
<
p>As far as Obama being the candidate who deserves the LGBT vote, i’d have to disagree. Hence why I voted for Hillary.
Please, I would rather not vote then vote for Obama. He will raise taxes on the middle class and we will pay dearly. He has no grasp of the realities ahead of us in the next few years. He is nothing but rhetoric and the rich white liberals fall for it because they have no clue what reality is like for the rest of us. I have met Hillary Clinton many times and feel that she would be able to keep our economy from tanking. She is more of a realist unlike Obama who is more like a school child idealist who dreams and dreams and dreams but has no idea of reality. He is like the smug college professor who claims to be an expert on everything yet has never actually had a job. Also, as you saw in Pa, a key Swing State, black and white middle class voters will not support him. If Obama is elected McCain will win. Its like McCall/Cuomo all over again. If you weren’t in NY let me tell you what happened. It was the same exact scenario, working class dems vs rich white and out of touch liberals who are trendy. McCall got the nomination and the Cuomo supporters all voted for Pataki.