Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Is it over yet?

What PSA said. *applause*

but also what my friend Chris answered in the comments there :

Okay look, this guy is running for PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
It's not a job that outsiders ever win. It's not a job he will be allowed to do as a radical left wing organizer. America is inherently conservative, and the political establishment is just that: established. Pretty firmly.

Having said all that, Obama's surge is doing three things worth noting.
One, he is energizing non-white voters who are blinking their eyes in disbelief that a black man will become President on January 20th.
Two, he is galvanizing world opinion positively towards the United States which helps a great deal to make for a more peaceful world.
And three, and perhaps most important, take a look at the progressive political action going on in the US. The Presidential race is just one thing. At the local level there are scores of incredibly radical people about to be elected, and lots of ultra right wing agendas are suffering in the referendum campaigns. Gay marriage will be legalized in Conneticut and Proposition 8 in Calaifornia seems to be going down.

Radical politics will never have a place at the top of the American political food chain, but it lives at the local level and this year it is coming on. In that sense the President doesn't matter, but this year THIS President matters at that level.


With thanks to both of you.

3 comments:

Lindsay Stewart said...

thanks alison!

and chris too.

Anonymous said...

Ye gods, the popular vote is 51% to 48%, a country split right down the middle after all.



Ed

Anonymous said...

"Gay marriage will be legalized in Conneticut and Proposition 8 in Calaifornia seems to be going down."
But then it didn't so now there will be outrage and lawsuits.

Obama, by the way, does not support gay marriage, believing marriage to be "between a man and a woman".
Is it possible to be progressive and not support gay marriage I ask you?

m@ry

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