I think Andrew Sullivan’s writer is right, and not just about the netroots. So long as Obama supporters give more heart- and mind-space to the Republican ticket, and especially Sarah Palin, the less room there is to make a solid, thoughtful and reasoned case for the Obama-Biden ticket. And we don’t have those resources to give away.
The more space they fill in our consciousness, the more said about the Republican candidates the less they need to defend themselves, or even make their own case. We make our own fear by focusing on the Republican candidates, even if the intent is their deprecation. Jokes about McCain’s shrugging posture or — well — everything non-political about Palin is a missed opportunity to talk about the problems the nation has, and how a Democratic administration can help fix them. And it says less about Democrats in the process. I will not sink to the hooting, chanting, booing depths I saw at the Republican convention.
Or say you’re not keen on Obama or Biden. Let me suggest the “reality television” tack of the post-Convention campaign should make you desire a more dignified campaign. Months ago, when there were several candidates on both sides, a colleague asked me which race I would want to see. Obama v. McCain I said, because I thought it would be more dignified. It hasn’t been dignified. But both left and right, the indignity comes in response to the Republican ticket, leaving McCain and Palin rather above it all. And not answering substantive questions.
Enough.
For one, I’m glad the Obama-Biden campaign is going to toughen its tack. You get no points from me for losing nicely, at least not when the outcome is so crucial. But their supporters need to be tougher, too.
My response: to talk up the Democratic ticket. To respond to the Obama-Biden campaign. To ask tough question of the McCain-Palin ticket, even if the mainstream media is cowed into softball reporting.
I don’t my little blog to sway the hearts and minds of a nation, but
- it will keep me from needless despair and defeatism, and
- if enough of us — millions, I think — refuse to get caught in a warped sense of reality, and stay very cool and cagy, then we can participate in the election of a Democratic ticket in November.