Now Age Minute - 7.14.08
A Lighter Shade of Green

Many Progressive voters who helped Obama to become the prospective Democratic nominee for president are now questioning their support of the candidate. According to a story from the NY Times:

In the breathless weeks before the Oregon presidential primary in May, Martha Shade did what thousands of other people here did: she registered as a Democrat so she could vote for Senator Barack Obama.

Now, however, after critics have accused Mr. Obama of shifting positions on issues like the war in Iraq, the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, gun control and the death penalty — all in what some view as a shameless play to a general election audience — Ms. Shade said she planned to switch back to the Green Party.

The other night, after a day out in the sun, my daughter noted that the top of my head was red with sunburn. I reassured her, telling her not to worry, that by morning, my head would return to my natural skin color, beige. That's right. Even though I'm known as a "white man", I'm not shiny white, but boring beige. Barack Obama, on the other hand, is referred to as a "black man". But on closer inspection, he's not black, at all, but brown. But that's not the only color confusion surrounding Obama. While many of his critics complain that he's too green (inexperienced) to run for president, I don't think he's green (Party) enough.

My friend, Roger Paris, posited an interesting question the other day. A one-time Obama supporter, Roger wondered if Barack would have voted against the Iraq War authorization had he actually been a US Senator, being that he apparently caved in to pressure from the White House, the Right, and maybe even lobbyists (no, not Barack!) , on the FISA vote. Or maybe he was just being calculating. In any case, with his vote, Obama flip-flopped from his position against telecom immunity during the primaries. Roger suggested that when Obama made his 2002 speech against the impending war, as a state (not US) senator, he spoke his truth. But with his vote on FISA, and his new view on the Death Penalty, Roger's not so sure what Obama's truths are, and if he's able to stand up for those truths when it really matters. Or, if he is, as Reverend Wright suggested, "a politician". What drew me to Barack was his assertion that he was running against the "old politics", like those practiced by the Clintons. But now, when it matters, he's triangulating like a good centrist.

Unlike Ms. Shade, I did not register as a Democrat so I could vote for Obama in the primary here in New York. I registered as a Green back in the Clinton years, after being duped in 1992, and I have no plans to align again with two party system. It is, along with the Electoral College, largely responsible for the sorry state of America. In '92, after twelve years of mind-bending manipulation on behalf of Corporate America, courtesy of Reagan/Bush, Bill Clinton slickly presented himself as a pendulum swing back to sanity. But fooled I was when Bubba turned out to be a turncoat in revealing himself as a shill for Wall Street, by foisting upon us NAFTA, GATT, and China free trade, once we awarded him with the presidency.

Barack Obama may be doing "what's necessary" to get elected. And, considering the alternative, we really have no choice. But, now that the curtain has been pulled back, and the Kool Aid has worn off, I'll put my efforts into working to get local Green Party candidates elected, and may even vote for our newly chosen presidential candidate, Cynthia McKiney, or even Raph Nader (I've done it before). While that may sound shocking, or even a threat to an Obama victory, remember that our presidential elections are not based on a one person - one vote basis. Rather, the Electoral College process keeps in place a system that cuts out the heart of the democratic process, as we vote by state, for delegates. So, here in New York, where Obama will win the state by double digits, I can write-in Elvis, and it will make no real difference in the final tally. If you live in a purple or red state, however, you have less options. What nonsense! Without election reform, that includes abolishing the Electoral College, we'll forever be trapped in a process where presidential candidates play only to states "in play", no matter what they say about a fifty-state strategy. And we went to war to show the Iraqis how to run a democracy?

To wrap up, there are many things about Obama and his candidacy that I like. I like that he's a black (OK, brown) man with a serious shot at becoming president. I like that he's got the ability to inspire people, most importantly young people, to the political process. But, ultimately, I like that he's committed to ushering in an era of "new politics". I just think it's important that he views his "new politics" through glasses that are shaded earthly green, rather than corporate gray. If he keeps an ear tuned toward the youth, and Democratic Party consultants at bay, he may just have a shot.

Craig Gordon

And although my eyes were open,
They might just as well have been closed.
And so it was later,
As the miller told his tale,
That her face at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale.
- Keith Reid