Obamathon
In all the media coverage surrounding the Kennedy endorsements of Barack Obama, the LumpenProf's own endorsement of the candidate seems to have been lost in the shuffle. So I'll have to settle for just posting this link instead:
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Well, he is a soft imperialist who vows to expand the military, protect America's "vital interests" in the Middle East, continue to prop up the quasi-apartheid settler-colonial state of Israel, and make American capitalism feel better at home too.. to think folks used to get steamed about Leftists collaborating with social democrats.
ReplyDeleteSo are you supporting Clinton or McCain then?
ReplyDeleteWell, Nader was on Democracy Now! today... but, "lesser of evils", etc, I take the point.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. I hope you'll click on the link then and send $10 to Obama. I think you'll be surprised by just how good it will feel.
ReplyDeleteHeh. Way to work it. I've been wondering how much my own reluctance to have anything to do with Obama is a matter of maintaining my Beautiful (Left) Soul.
ReplyDeleteIt raises the question of whether not voting and/or campaigning for the G.D. Democrats is an ultra-left position in the U.S.
I'm not sure I would claim it is ultra-left. But I can tell you how I justify my own open and enthusiastic support for Obama. It's because he's inspiring new folks to vote in numbers like we've never seen before. Because of him, there will be thousands upon thousands of new black and brown and young voters at the polls. And that has the potential to radically change our political culture. And for just $20, you can click the link and join in. Come on... you know you want to.
ReplyDeleteI agree bringing in more young and minority voters is good. To the extend they are "inspired" by Obama's message, they are of course being "interpellated" in nationalist liberal-capitalist ideology in the process, however. Call me a cynic, but I'm skeptical that drawing young people into the Democratic machine will "radically change our political culture."
ReplyDeleteI think of the difference between a student union and student council. The former offers the potential of "radical" change in university culture because it is founded in the recognition (and leverage) of structural antagonism. The latter, too often, simply co-opts and defuses student frustrations into the administrative process. That said, a healthy student council is arguably better than the absence of either.
I'm also sad to say I think some of the media chatter about Latino opposition to a black candidate has some truth to it. I live in a predominately Chicano working class neighborhood in Chicago, and I have seen a) that people are pissed off about Obama's support of the security fence and b) that anti-black racism is, at least anecdotally, not uncommon.
Ok, if it will make you happy: you're a cynic. Srsly, though, more voters, and more different kinds of voters at the polls is an important step in the right direction. Assimilating these new voters borg-like into the existing political machine is only one possible fate. The other is that these people, who have resisted the machine for so long, will continue to resist and struggle in creative ways. But now they will also influence national elections. I find that an exciting possibility. And surely that possibility is worth $25 bucks...
ReplyDelete