two feet in.

A Moving Experience

 

These are images of a 111 year old woman who arrived to help out with the local Obama campaign yesterday.  A friend who was present sent them, along with this message:

TODAY WHEN I WENT TO THE OBAMA HEADQUARTERS TO DO DATA ENTRY  I ENCOUNTERED A FAMILY ENTERING THE HEADQUARTERS AT THE SAME TIME AS I DID.  I NOTICED THAT THERE WERE MANY GENERATIONS TOGETHER BUT I WAS UNPREPARED FOR THIS 111 YEAR OLD (NOT A TYPO) WOMAN WHO CAME TO MAKE CALLS FOR OBAMA.  SHE CARRIED WITH HER THE BOOK "THE AUDACITY OF HOPE"...  YOU CAN SEE HER YOUNGEST GREAT GREAT GRANDSON NEXT TO HER WHO HAS JUST TURNED 18 AND WILL BE ABLE TO VOTE FOR OBAMA...  SHE WAS BORN IN  1897 WHEN WILLIAM MCKINLEY WAS PRESIDENT.  IT WAS VERY MOVING AND I JUST HAD TO SHARE WITH YOU ALL.

I certainly have been, and continue to be, critical of Obama's stance on many issues.  However, this reminded me that whatever my political opinions, this election means a great deal in the lives of people for whom I couldn't even begin to speak.  It highlighted facets of experience and meaning about which I can not presume to know, and moved me more than any 30-minute infomercial, well-practiced speech, or scripted debate.  Quite beautiful.

Obama & Occupation

Perhaps you will forgive me if I don’t necessarily tow the line when it comes the Obama-Mania that is currently sweeping my neighborhood.  I’m not saying that Obama wouldn’t be a vast improvement over Bush in significant ways, but just that I’ve yet to see how he is distinguished from main-stream, corporate Democratic line, especially as related to foreign policy. 

And, when it comes to foreign policy, I'm still looking for the difference between that line and the Republican line.  Even, Fred Hiatt, the Washington Post’s conservative editorial page editor points out some of the parallels between Obama and Mitt Romney:

FRED HIATT, WASHINGTON POST - [Barack Obama and Mitt Romney] have laid out their foreign policy visions in parallel articles, released prior to publication in the July/August issue of Foreign Affairs. And after you cut through some of their campaign rhetoric, here's what you find:

(1) The two candidates' programs are strikingly similar to each other.

(2) Both are strikingly similar to Bush administration policy.

(3) And both, far from retreating to isolationism in the face of Iraq and other challenges, set forth their own wildly ambitious calls for American leadership and the promotion of American values. "Boldness" is an operative word for both of them.

You can read more about how the “similarities dwarf the differences” here.

There’s a good interview with Anthony Arnove up on ZNet, “Why Bush Won’t Admit Failure in Iraq,” where, among other things, Arnove speaks to what it will take to end the occupation (no, not electing Barack Obama):

I THINK it will take much more pressure at home and also within the rank and file of the U.S. military in Iraq.

We have to take advantage of the cracks that are opening within the establishment to campaign vocally and publicly against the war, involving greater numbers of the people and communities affected by the war at home--which has gone hand in hand with the war against the Iraqi people.

We need to put pressure on both the Democrats and Republicans, and not simply collapse into a lobbying wing for the Democratic Party.

There will be immense pressure on the antiwar movement to give up its independence and get behind whatever candidate the Democrats put forward in 2008, no matter what their limitations. People will tell us this is how we can be relevant.

I think the antiwar movement would be irrelevant, though, if we did this. We’ll be much more effective if we articulate our own principles and demands--including immediate withdrawal--and fight for them.

And we also need to defend and support those soldiers who in greater numbers are speaking out, refusing service, declaring conscientious objection and, at great personal risk, organizing against the war.

In particular, I think we all need to help build Iraq Veterans Against the War, which is playing a vital role in building a movement of Iraq vets and also active-duty troops who can bring an end to this occupation.

Arnove ends the interview with this thought -- "So there are grounds for optimism, but it will take a lot more than hoping for the best to end the occupation--and also to avert other disasters in Iran and elsewhere."  So, forgive me dear neighborhood, but it's not likely there will be an Obama bumper-sticker on my car in 2008.  When he demonstrates that the differences dwarf the similarities I'll consider it.

Our Two Parties

I went tonight to see Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's Voices of a People's History of the United States -- Dramatic Readings Celebrating the Enduring Spirit of Dissent.  Very powerful, moving, and too many times, the voices of the past seemed to ring out in the voices of the present.  It's late, I'm tired, I don't own the book (though I should/will, and so should you), so I'll just give one example that stuck in my mind:

North Star Editorial "The War with Mexico" (January 21, 1848)

We have no preference for parties, regarding this slaveholding crusade.  The one is as bad as the other. The friends of peace have nothing to hope from either.  The Democrats claim the credit of commencing, and the Whigs monopolize the glory of voting supplies and carrying on the war; branding the war as dishonorably commenced, yet boldly persisting in pressing it on.  If we have any preference of two such parties, that preference inclines to the one whose practice, though wicked, most accords with its professions.

Democracy Now!  (November  10, 2006):

Munther Kadhim, a resident of Baghdad: "Whether the Democrats or the Republicans win, America has one policy. It always has imperialistic plans that take priority. So, there is no difference: Democrats or the Republicans, America has one policy."

For "An Anatomy of the Midterms" along these lines ("Bye bye Coke, hello Pepsi") see Joshua Frank's Brickburner.org.  The Democrats may be in, but the rest of us have much work to do.