Title: That Thing With Feathers (in case you have to scroll down)
Some "independent-minded" friends of mine have predictably crawled back under the Dem tent in time to vote Obama. I saw this in 2000 with Gore, but it's happening at a much faster pace this time around. Again, why should the Dems change when they know such crawling will always happen? That they are all white progressives is no surprise, especially this year, when voting for Obama is an emblem of anti-racism. If for nothing else, I've been told, I should back Obama to show how much I care about black people. Which black people? I respond. I didn't know that African-Americans shared the same brain. One normally astute friend, who recently accepted Obama as his personal savior, actually told me privately that he cannot hope to sort out an impossibly corrupt system and then explain it to powerless people in a way that they can understand, so he's forced to go along with the Obama vibe as it's officially understood. This friend gave me permission to use his name, in order to "make an example" of him for my "strident" readership, but I wouldn't think of openly linking him to such asinine, condescending statements like the above. He's done too much good work, and I trust he'll return to his senses in due course.
The other night, I had a friendly but intense conversation with a young African-American acquaintance about the racial aspect of the election. Shane's fully behind Obama, sports a large Obama button, and is nervously excited about having a black president. I confessed straight away that I'm not voting for Obama, and find the man to be a smooth, studied hustler. Shane said he appreciated my honesty, given how his white liberal co-workers were stumbling over each other to prove their anti-racist credentials. Still, he asked if I understood the symbolism of an Obama victory. I answered that I did, but from a limited perspective. Being white, I couldn't fully grasp what this means to many African-Americans, nor would I pretend to. White Americans have a long way to go to get past our racist assumptions, no matter how minor or seemingly casual these assumptions may be. Electing Obama does little to advance that -- hell, if anything, it hinders that. As Ted Koppel told Charlie Rose, electing Obama would be a boon to US propaganda overseas, since nothing structurally will change once Obama's in power. That's how white elites see Obama. For them, the symbolism of his presidency lends a fine polish to their criminal operations. Obama understands this, and accepts his institutional role. That millions of powerless people see something else, something positive, in Obama's ascension merely confirms their passive state. Like I said, one of the most cynical displays I've ever seen.
Shane laughed, but conceded some of my points. At the end of our discussion, he asked, "So, who you gonna vote for?" I said that politically, I'm closest to Nader, but his candidacy is a fading echo of an earlier, more vibrant time. Voting for him would only deepen my depression. Later, alone, I came to the conclusion that if all we have are fantasy options, especially in states that Obama has won, then why not get creative? That's when I decided to write-in Eugene Victor Debs for president. Any candidate who would tell his followers this:
"I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition."
Gets my vote. Even though he's long dead, Debs' ideas remain timely, and further exposes Obama for the corporate shill he clearly is. Note, however, that this is a vote for Debs, not against Obama. In an election of phantoms, I choose the better spirit.
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