|
*that imposing an "oil law" on Iraq for the purposes of outright theft is a good idea *that we should maintain an ongoing presence in Iraq to defend a Vatican-sized embassy built with slave labor *that we can afford to continue funding an American military empire *that we should be spending even more on the military and increasing its size *that US military intervention in the rest of the world is just social work done with M-16s, JDAMs and cluster bombs *that media consolidation should continue *that the criminal Bush administration should never be held to account for anything *that the assault on our Constitution is not a real campaign issue *that the health care risk pool of all Americans should continue to be fragmented, and therefore much more expensive than a single risk pool *that private insurers should dictate the course of health care reform *that suppression of Democratic votes is not really a campaign issue *that the prison-industrial complex is a critical part of our economy that should be expanded *that AIPAC actually represents the opinions of American Jews *that Palestinians are disposable human garbage *that "terrorism" is an actual problem instead of being the symptom of a problem *that we should continue to attempt to control the diminishing resource of oil by force, even if the spending on that goal undercuts the opposing goal of inventing the next energy economy
They used to agree that "free" trade and outsourcing was a good idea, until the campaigns of Kucinich and Edwards (and probably feedback from their own supporters) convinced them that alienating the Dem voting base on this issue was a bad idea.
That said, the only way that we will get any change on the really important issues I listed above is by pressure from below, and either will be much more susceptible to such pressure than the psychotic McCain. Either is capable, if faced with a serious economic/ecological shitstorm of saying "Thanks for the wads of cash, haves and have mores, but I have to act for the good of the whole country right now."
Wearing my policy wonk hat, there are no significant differences between them (even though I'd like to be an Uncommitted delegate and go to Denver to ask both some hard questions), I've noticed that Uncommitted will not make the 15% threshold in our LD caucuses, so I'll have to make a choice. I took off the policy wonk hat and put on my party organizer hat and have to go with Obama because of the campaign he is running. It is a real 50 state campaign, he had a plan on what to do if Super Tuesday was not decisive, and he is bringing many more new people into political activism.
So, fellow policy wonks, I urge you to be ready for the inevitable disillusionment of Obama supporters, and have in place effective and practical ways for them to do real work on issues that matter to them, and to participate in the rejuvenation of the Dem party structure.
|