On having voted for Obama [View All]

[MadHound]

There are many people on this board who think that since I (and others on the left) voted for Obama, we have no room to complain. That we know full well what Obama was going to do coming into his administration, and that we should expect nothing more, or nothing less from him.

Frankly I find this position to be a fascist load of bullshit.

Yes, I voted for (and supported, with my time and money) Obama. This wasn't because I agreed with everything he said, far from it (for those of you who wish, go drag up some of my campaign season posts, you'll find that I strongly disagreed with Obama and Hillary). The only reason that I didn't vote Green was simple: Sarah Palin. Up until her announcement as VP, I was fully convinced that I would vote Green, but her first impression made it clear that I had to do whatever I could to keep her far from power.

Thus, I supported, and voted for Obama. I was not voting FOR Obama, but rather I was voting AGAINST Palin. Key difference there.

Which brings us back to the contention that if we voted for Obama, we shouldn't complain about his doing what he promised to do. I did not support his positions on many issues, including his promise to escalate the Afghanistan war, and I still don't. Yes, I realize that he is doing what he promised to do, but he also said something else, early in his administration.

"Go out and make me do it."

This is an inherently democratic statement that Obama made. He has basically stated that if you don't like his policies, if you don't like his stance on various issues, then go out and give him a reason for following your lead. If you want him to bring the troops home, make him do it. If you want single payer UHC, make him do it. This is an open invitation to both criticism and to action, a democratic tradition as old as this country. Make him do it. OK Mr. President, we're going to take you up on your offer.

Yet certain people around here want to kill that democratic spirit. They're trying to bully people into line behind Obama whether we think what he is doing is right or not. They want to take away our democratic right to criticize, our right to make him do it. Nope, according to these people, once you voted for Obama, for whatever reason, you've check your right to agitate for change at the door, and you must now fall in line or be damned.

It doesn't work like that in this country, and Obama recognizes that. In fact, as I pointed out, he welcomes criticism, he wants people to convince him to do something, even if it is something that he didn't promise to do in his campaign. Because Obama recognizes something that many of his supporters around here don't seem to get. This is a democratic country, and even if we voted for the man, even if we supported him, in a democratic society we the people have the right to agitate and organize for the change that we want to see. That what we're engaged in isn't the totalitarian notion that you've got to fall in line, but the uniquely democratic tradition of pushing for the change we want to see, a sentiment that is embedded in the foundation of this country.

As Obama said, "Go out and make me do it"

That's what I and millions of others intend to do. If you don't like that, oh well.