Tuesday night at at the convention was all about Hillary Clinton. Would she come around and give the speech she needed to in order to unify the base, or would she subliminally lay the groundwork for 2012? Well honestly, I didn’t catch most of her speech. I had a floor pass but the fire marshall shut the floor down and blocked off every exit. The Democrats seem to have given everyone floor passes. There are guests, special guests, celebrities, and a large contingent of foreign nationals (including Indians and Pakistanis) who I guess are here to “observe democracy” (cough cough…hanging chads). All of this is just going to reinforce the image of the Democrats and Obama as the party of vanity. But I wasn’t too bummed about missing parts of her speech because there was lots of interesting stuff happening in the halls of the Pepsi Center. People were clustered around television sets waiting to see if she would stick a knife in him or lift him up. I’m astounded by how politically intelligent EVERY delegate here seems to be.
So did Hillary succeed in getting her devotees to vote for Obama? The best poll out there this morning will be my mom. She is one of the PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass) . She was a Hillary supporter who refused to vote for Obama. Ravi and I have been stalking the forrests of Denver looking for desi PUMAs but with to avail. I explained to my mom that abstaining would be the same as a vote for McCain but she just said “*grumble grumble* Hillary was very qualified *grumble grumble.*” I think she will come around and stick to voting as a Democrat, but I will call her this morning to ask her (She’s currently at Bally’s so I am unable to reach her). In the meantime I am a little worried. All she asked me for was to get Bill or Hillary’s autograph while I was here. Only two days left!
Next week, like him or not, the Republicans will back McBush hook, line, and sinker as a united force. The thing that is vital for democracy is dissent, but if PUMAs reject the Democrat’s candidate for principle – is it at the expense of four more years of McBush? ((runs for the hills))
Sometimes, I wish we had a parliamentary system so we would be forced to make concessions and collaborations with other parties and dissenting voices to form a government of the people rather than this binary split that is not so binary.
48 · Manju said
On what grounds? What I object to are inattention to gender, sexuality, imperialism, immigration, and a host of other matters on which John McCain will be worse than Barack Obama on. So it’s either wounds that are too deep to heal or a real disagreement. If it’s the latter, they, like me, should be looking for other alternatives to support the issues they’re interested in (like working on issues and not personalities 😉 If it’s the former, well, what’s it about really? The “why are you doing this?” line should be echoed.
48 · Manju said
Yes. More importantly, though, will you be compiling your posts into a volume called “Why I Am So Concerned About A Party And Agenda I Oppose?” or just admit that you’re secretly a Democrat? 🙂
(click here)
Do you have any idea what happened to the Indian pharmaceutical industry’s growth after India signed the TRIPPS agreement? Neither do I, though I’ve heard that reverse engineering and moving up the technology ladder actually reversed. These are good reasons to stop all this free trade dogmatic nonsense and have a real discussion about the importance of policy autonomy, practical policies that work in context, and what kind of trade regime will best allow that to India and other developing countries (especially those worse off) rather than ideology (which is the product of U.S.-European backed institutions like World Bank / IMF and their fellow travelers like former IMF economist Manmohan Singh). Good Mushtaq Khan article here if you’re interested in economics. Treasure trove here.
To say nothing of how damaging it is to American politics that neither major party strongly advocates for the economic interests of the American citizen working class–they don’t just become susceptible to blaming teenage immigrant welfare mothers on drugs for no reason – they’re people.
The choice is between Obama and McCain. Since you are so smart, do explain clearly for our benefit why someone who supported Hillary Clinton should reject her ideology now that she is out of the picture? To vote for McCain is to vote against the platform Hillary campaigned on.
MD– rebuttal in that I was showing how foolish it is to hold someone accountable or discriminate on the basis of ancestral grieviances…nobody associates her with imperialism, as they shouldn’t because it is irrelevant, just like Obama’s peripheral link to Islam…ok, you know what? Can I upload some power point presentations on this comment so I can further delineate my point?
Oooh, File too big. Consider this a tag to inform you I was being sarcastic .
The points you made after you berated me were actually quite good, so I’m going to throw in the towel here because we seem to agree with one another on the important issues.
55 · Valmiki said
Or a vote against Obama
21 · Manju said
dude, with your feigned concern, and monomaniacal obsession with clinton calumny, your comments are sounding like that prema character’s rants on indian racism/sexual impotence/general stupidity.
56 · Faiqa said
I don’t think the problem with a person with an Islamic background getting elected is an “ancestral grievance”, while Imperialism is most certainly one…unless it is elections in Africa, where the platforms sometimes are “Anti-Chinese Imperialism” and I’m pretty sure the Welsh never invaded anyone (Raquib?)
While I do believe that things like race and religion should not be factors to electing a representative, the very concept of a “representative” is just that! And anyone who is a real practicing Muslim, adherent to the Sharia, would not really be a representative of anyone but a very minuscule minority.
That being said, Obama isn’t a Muslim, him denying that he is one is not an insult and you guys should really stop nitpicking on that.
53 · Dr AmNonymous said
dr. a,
surely won’t you join noted uber-lefty journo Alexander Cockburn (whom I read regularly in my ‘we must bring down global capitalism to perserve third-worlders in pleasing poverty-amber which thankfully won’t reflect light into my sensitive middle class eyes’ days) in his choice of candidate based on ‘concience’ and ‘issues’? (hint: he’s not a peanut farmer).
Faiqa – fair enough. We were making the same point in different ways, but, I don’t to see how my sarcastic comment in reply to your sarcastic comment was berating? Anyway, if it was, sorry! I didn’t mean to berate, only sarcasticate (okay, I can’t rhyme).
As for some of the rest of you – uh, insulting a person is not a good way to ask for their vote. The PUMAs have genuine reservations. Respect them, respect their opinion, but forcefully make the case for your candidate. Oh, and remind them why they should hate the other guy 🙂 It’s standard politics, and it works. I’ve seen it on my side, although their really isn’t anyone I’m crazy about on the Right these days. Anyway, McCain is unpopular with his base, so making the case against Obama has made it easier to rally the base around Obama. You lot should try doing the same, but, I got to tell you. It’s a mistake this McSame stuff. Don’t say McCain is just like Bush, he’s not, but that effectively the policies will be very similar. You don’t make that distinction, you make a big mistake. Voters are not stupid. They can see they are two very different men.
Oh, I put in Obama instead of McCain in there somewhere…..
Also, don’t freak out easily Obama supporters. You are still most likely going to win – this panicky stuff is hurting your candidate.
Barack Obama’s speech in the football stadium will seem over the top and presumptuous and it will be spun that way too, by the McCain campaign. The whole “rock star” acceptance speech clearly plays into the McCain campaign’s “celebritiy” attacks and I think that choosing the football stadium as a venue is the biggest mis-step of the Obama campaign thus far.
So how does this work? dems shouldn’t critize bush’s “black baby” strategy against McCain b/c its concern trolling? We should look the other way if racism and divisiveness is directed at people with whom we disagree?
58 · the doctor said
i feel your pain, doc. its a hard pill to swallow. especially when you know they are not racists in their heart. and i’m certaily no saint to be so giddy that the clinton’s and their allies have been exposed and some of the VRWC exonerated. i cetanly see how you can be annoyed. I leave you with a quote from James Clyburn, who can’t be accused of feigning (and I never knew about the willie horton tidbit, if anyone could enlighten me, i’d appreciate it.):
Respectfully put this question to a PUMA, I am not one, I am voting for Obama as I know I can do much worse if I vote for McCain.
Keep objecting and and lose this election or borrow some humility, sit with a PUMA and pursuade him/her to vote for Obama. You cannot browbeat a voter into voting for your guy.
First things first – get Obama in the Whitehouse
The way this works is that if I think someone is being disingenusous about politics, I tell them. But honestly, I think you should join the Democrats (not being sarcastic). It seems to fit. If you liked Clinton’s policies and dislike policies that can only be called ineffectual and/or plutocratic from Bush that McCain shows no inclination of moving away from, then you’re probably a Democrat.
I’m not browbeating anyone into voting for anyone. I don’t think people who object to Obama vehemently SHOULD vote for him, though I wish they would in some states because I would like to see him get elected. I don’t have time to argue with 2nd wave feminists and gay rights activitsts – rather hang out with 3rd wave ones.
67 · Dr AmNonymous said
my ulterior motive of proving some of the vrwc right while annoying liberals by putting them between a rock an a hard place doesn’t mean i’m being disinginuous. I just happen to be in the wonderful position of having my low and high motives perfectly aligned.
Its like when I discovered wine lowers your blood pressure. One should enjoy these rare moments.
Serious questions because I’m considering what you’re saying: Does Barr believe the state has any role in assisting the disempowered? What is his stand on gay rights and gender and worker organizing? If he opposes hate crime laws, what are his remedies?
70 · Dr AmNonymous said
and in other news, more PumaPac hilarity! The Darlings! So cute!.
PUMAs are not happy with Obama. He has questionable ties to almost all of his associates. He flip flops on almost all of his topics. When our candidate was not elected, we carefully looked at both candidates and decided to go with someone with character and that we can trust. John McCain became that person. We are happy that he picked a female Vice Presidential Candidate. Something that Obama would never take into consideration. We are not just women and/or feminists we come from all corners of the United States (demographics), society, gender and race.
We do not feel the Democratic party gave us the right candidate. We were force fed this “celebrity” – well he does not represent us – all 18 million of us and come election day – our vote will count!
McCain/Palin – ’08 Hillary ’12