OK, this last email pushed me to my limit. The subject line heading read: “Barack needs you, right now.” You’ve got to me kidding me. Barack needs ME? For what? Well Michelle (the email was sent from Michelle Obama), before I am willing to help Barack, I’d like to see Barack help the people of this country – the people who voted for him, who went doorbelling for him, who stood up for him because they believed in his message of “Yes We Can.” President Obama, your policies, practices and actions since taking office in 2009 are completely opposite of what you said you would do and I will not support you, so stop asking. In case you are wondering why, here is a list of a few of the things you have done that I do not condone and hence why I won’t give you any money or support.
Credit: Flickrcc/Storm Crypt
- Instead of helping the working class and poor people, you have aligned yourself with Wall Street and the corporate giants of the world.
- Instead of ensuring protection of our food supply, you have appointed Monsanto executives to your government.
- Instead of thanking whistle-blowers for uncovering the corruption and violence in our government and private agencies (as you said you would), you are hunting them down and prosecuting them.
- Instead of ensuring the protection of constitutional rights, you have signed into law the NDAA – allowing for unlimited detention without charges or a trial.
- Instead of upholding the law and following a path of peace and nonviolence, you have dropped drones and killed innocent children, women, men and community leaders.
- Instead of protecting the environment, you appoint people in your government who are hell bent on destroying our environment.
- Instead of confronting issues of race and racism, you talk platitudes while considering appointing the NY police commissioner, Kelly, the one in charge of the controversial stop and frisk policy in NYC that has led to the harassment of black and brown men at alarming rates, as the head of Homeland Security. All the while claiming that Trayvon Martin could have been you or your son.
Give me a break President Obama. Before you have any chance of getting my support, stand up for the values you spoke about – empathy, caring for the well-being of ALL, understanding the plight of the working class and poor. The policies and practices I mention above are truly a disgrace. The audacity you have to ask for my support and money. You have taken the liberal and progressive constituency for granted for far too long. You have assumed that we would support you because you are the lesser of two evils, because you support typical liberal issues such as women’s rights and gay rights. Good for you but so does the vast majority of the public, so where exactly is the risk or “audacity” (you promised us in your book – The Audacity of Hope) in that?
Stop sending me emails asking for my support. It is not forthcoming, at least not until you have a sea change in your policies and practices.
I wrote this a couple days ago and have waited to post it, as I usually do, to make sure it truly captures what I want to share. Upon reflection, while it does capture the truth of my indignation, it doesn’t simultaneously capture the part of me that has disappointment and sadness with many of my friends and people I respect who vote into office politicians who capitulate to the interests of the 1% and fail to support the poor, the powerless and the environmental needs of our planet. Nor does what I wrote above capture the part of me that yearns to have compassion for all, including President Obama.
As I reflect on the latter, I understand that Obama has psychological wounds that make it hard for him to speak truth to power and to engage in conflict. At the same time, I am so enraged by his choices that it is hard for me to hold that space in my heart right now. If he wanted to be President and professed that he wanted to turn this country around, and yet is unwilling to make the difficult choices that are needed, including standing up for principles that may be ahead of the consciousness of some Americans (but isn’t that exactly what we need in a leader?) then he shouldn’t have run for President.
And, this is where I get upset with the rest of us – the liberals and progressives who knew, especially after his first term, that he would not be the President we had hoped for – who voted for him rather than insisting on a viable progressive alternative in the primary. I believe many of us made that choice out of fear of the alternative (a Republican President), but nonetheless, we bear responsibility for our complicity.
I know that my unwillingness to support Obama will not impact Obama. So instead, I want to make a call to all of us who want a government that prioritizes kindness, love, caring, generosity, environmental sustainability, social justice and the like to commit to not settle for a spineless liberal candidate ever again out of fear. But instead to push, as Rabbi Lerner did in an article in the Washington Post on December 4, 2010, for a progressive alternative candidate. To read the article, click here.
It’s not too late now for us to form a movement that would run principled progressives in the Democratic primaries in 2014 and particularly 2016 – candidates who are willing to challenge corporate power and the privileges of the 1% and who are willing to stand unequivocally for social justice for the poor, environmental sanity, end to militarism and drone warfare, end to NSA or other governmental spying on American citizens, end to prosecution of whistle-blowers, and support for the Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the Constitution and the Global Marshall Plan.
Cat J. Zavis is a member of the Inner Board of Tikkun Magazine and practices as a Collaborative Divorce Attorney, Mediator and coach and trainer in Communication and Conflict Resolution in Bellingham, WA.
Dear Carl: I think your comments are right on the mark!
I want to make just one small point. In one paragraph near the end of your letter, you wrote: “And, this is where I get upset with the rest of us – the liberals and progressives who knew, especially after his first term, that he would not be the President we had hoped for – who voted for him rather than insisting on a viable progressive alternative in the primary. I believe many of us made that choice out of fear of the alternative (a Republican President), but nonetheless, we bear responsibility for our complicity.”
I want to suggest that maybe a Republican president (ugh!) might not have been worse. Of course, we can’t know what might have been, but it is hard for me to conceive how much worse things could be now than they actually are. You laid them out beautifully yourself.
In addition, if there were now a Republican president (ugh!), the opposition to Pres. Obama’s policies that has now muzzled itself, in order to spare the Democrat from criticism, would have had no need to do so. Thus, the opposition might now be stronger and better organized and therefore able to resist more effectively. (Though I will grant you that the Republicans would be no more likely to heed criticism than the Democrats have been.)
As it stands now, we’re probably going to confront the same dilemma in 2016: to vote for Hillary Clinton, or Mario Cuomo, or whomever, rather than the Republican choice (ugh!). Then, assuming the Democrat wins, we’ll have four or eight years to repent once again.
Dear Cat:
I apologize for getting your name wrong.
gg
Dear Gene ~
Thanks for your thoughtful response. I actually agree with your comment that having a Republican in office might not have been worse, in some respects at least, and definitely in regards to mobilizing the Left to oppose the policies of a Republican. Of course, as many pointed out before the election, it would have made a difference regarding who was appointed to the US Supreme Court and DOMA might not have been overturned.
Either way, what I am hoping is that progressives will understand that we cannot count on mainstream liberals to push a progressive agenda and that we need to mobilize to challenge those in the Democratic party who capitulate to the interests of the 1% and who believe that militarization and economic domination is the path to homeland security rather than generosity, kindness and the like.
Thank you Cat for this article.
In both elections of Obama, I thought I was voting for ‘the lesser of two evils’. I also believed that I was helping make history in our nation by electing a president of a different race. I thought, “wow, look how far we have come as a country.” I think I let the less important factors of a great leader be my guide in this endeavor.
A good point is made by Mr Glickman about how the democratic side would have been more galvanized if a Republican president would have been elected. My fault is in the fact that I thought my job was done when the Democrats held the presidency, I was wrong. Once Obama claimed the throne, I relaxed in thinking that we were in good hands and didn’t pay much attention.
Complacency is everyone’s most dangerous enemy. While I take responsibility for my own actions in this regard, I still struggle with knowing what is the right thing to do. Clearly it is not just a vote for my own personal security when I vote for officials, it is a vote that encompasses what I think will be best for myself, the people, my children, and the environment.
What are the opinions of others that have faced my dilemma in voting? How does a person choose a bubble on a voting card when they know NOTHING about the individual except what they hear on the internet or television? How do we trust that the person we are voting for will follow through with their claims?
Food for thought.
Mark
I thing comparing Democrat versus Republican policis is now only a waste of time. If obama presidency demostrated something, up to now, this is not only the complete indipendence of governement choices from electoral promises, but specially the total allignement to non democratically predeterminated choices of corporations powers.
This is the hard true sincere Democrats ha to face and take as a bottom line fto which to start to understand actualls political situations and project political actions.
I think there is far more going on behind the scenes in government than the public has any understanding of. I think Obama seems ineffective because his hands are tied by the powers that really control government and our country. He has told us many times, “make” me do what you want me to. He needs enough people behind him, behind his decisions, to give them and him the power to do what is needed. The Republicans know this, they had their own puppet for eight years, so they fight Obama with everything they can, and too many people listen to them. So, the country is too divided for Obama to be able to be as effective as he could be. It isn’t the teaparty we need to fear, they are just a name used to incite people. They are just as vulnerable as the rest of us. Substitute John Birch society for Teaparty, and you will understand what I mean. The Republicans today, and many Democrats, are bought and paid for by the men behind the curtain. The lobbiests are their messengers. The wars will continue as long as there is money to be made from them. Don’t fool yourselves that we have to fear Iran, we are fearing the wrong terrorists. Propoganda if fed to us daily, and too many Americans buy into it.