Tuesday, June 17

WHERE I'M AT

Like some other pro-Hillary bloggers, I've posted very little since Hillary's concession speech as I sort out my thoughts and feelings and determine where I go from here.

As to my vote for POTUS, well, that will never go to John McCain. The only question now is whether I support Obama or sit out the presidential race while voting for down-ticket Dems.

There is one other certainty, however. I will continue to protest the DNC's actions in permitting itself (perhaps even engineering the whole thing) to become a party built around a single individual, for the benefit of a small group of political insiders, and devaluing its traditional base of working-class Americans, minorities (other than AA) and women. The big tent has shrunk to a pup tent, and the progressive agenda, which appeared to have such a promising future at the beginning of this election cycle, seems to be in the hands of those who would dismiss or amend it so as to seem unrecognizable by traditional liberals.

DNC actions since Hillary conceded, including Howard Dean's efforts to keep her off the convention ballot, suggest to me that there is indeed an insiders' desire to diminish or destroy the Clinton legacy and to curtail any influence Bill and Hill might exert in the future.

There is an ugliness here that continues to disturb hardcore Hillary supporters, even those who have already pledged to back Obama. And while polls may indicate that women in general are voicing support for BO, the party and the Blogger Boyz are still "not getting it" -- the women and men who are most vocal in their refusenik status are activists, volunteers, and donors, the kind of people the party has relied on for generations to stuff the envelopes, man the polling places, and turn out the vote. While our numbers may not demonstrate voting power (and I question even that), we are not so expendable as they seem to think. We are informed and we are influencers, people who will continue to talk politics with our friends and coworkers, and our dissatisfaction with the nominee and the party will be heard and have repercussions beyond our single votes.

So to my options:

Do I continue as a Democrat and work to "change" the current direction of the party from the inside? Or do I change my registration to Independent in protest, as I currently favor? And do I fall in line with a candidate I mistrust and dislike as much as I do Obama? I don't give a flip about party unity; I'm not exactly thrilled with the Democratic Party leadership these days OR their idea of "unity" (read: caving in to the opposition Bushies and Rethugs, and including giving comfort to the Clinton-haters). If party leaders had really been all that desirous of unity, we would have seen fairer treatment of HRC and her voters, and she'd now be our nominee. After all, poll after poll during the primaries showed that Obama voters would be satisfied with Hillary, but the reverse? not so much.

I'm still considering.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey motherlode,

I respect greatly your well thought out article about where you stand now. I feel your pain!

Is there really such a thing as "unity" within the democratic party when this kind of horrid behavior occurred at an obama "Unity Rally" in Michicgan?
Take a look at the response given by the obamabots to the Governor of Michigan (who supported Hillary but came to this rally to publicly show her support for obama) when she mentions Hillary's name. (You need to scroll down a bit to the article entitled "Hostility, Angriness and Arrogance Are Anything But Unifying"):

http://noquarterusa.net/blog/

I don't want to be member of a party that gives a platform for such ugliness and divisive behavior and all for a guy who has done literally nothing of any substance for those he supposedly represents. He represents himself and those who helped get him there. Period.

I've shaken the dust from my feet of the democratic party that no longer resembles the party I remembered it to be. I am now an independent and will now only vote for the best "person" and not the "party". Both parties are corrupt and have become a tool for the corporatization of America, at the expense of "we, the people".

Kathleen W.

4:03 PM  

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