As in a tasty mix of talk

Saturday, November 01, 2008

The New Rainbow Coalition: Just Smoking Hopium?

Today (Saturday) I volunteered at the Obama headquarters in Van Nuys, California. It was raining when I arrived, good symbolism for the rainbow of volunteers who filled the big, rambling HQ rooms wall to wall.

I’ve been volunteering since 1992, and have never seen anything like the professional level of organization at this volunteer center. It is worthy of a shuttle launch! I was greeted the second I walked through the door and asked to sign in… on a keyboard which displayed the data I entered on an oversized monitor. Then I was directed to a phone-bank training class, preparing me in less than 15 minutes to begin making my calls with confidence.

There were so many volunteers that space was limited at the many phone-banking tables, so I joined those who sat on the floor to make their calls rather than wait on a table. There were white volunteers. Black volunteers. Hispanic and Asian volunteers. Some were in their early teens, making calls side-by-side with their parents. Some were young Moms, whose children sat beside them on the floor with their coloring books while they called. Others were old and infirm, making calls from their wheelchairs. And in the coffee and cookie room, where I wandered in search of caffeine after calling for two hours, there was a table where all the volunteers were speaking in Spanish.

We were too busy to chit-chat, but I overheard more than one volunteer express the hope that an Obama victory would result in expanded opportunities to give even more time, enabling a broad participation in the restoration of America’s potential.

I am beyond impressed. I am humbled and grateful. This level of inspired volunteer service makes me hope, after eight years of resigned isolation under the shadow of the Bush administration, that fellow citizens care, and that we are part of an increasingly vocal community in which our better selves can triumph against fear and hate.

I confess I felt so much hope (and pride) at Obama Headquarters today that my chest swelled and my eyes filled with tears. Does this mean, as one of my Lefty friends characterizes Obama supporters, that I am just smoking Hopium?

Well…

Americans are good-natured, so we gave Bush the benefit of the doubt as we watched him send our children off to die in a war with ill-defined objectives. We accepted his national security justification for suspending many of our Constitutional rights under the Patriot Act. We watched in horror as Abu Graib unfolded, suspending our disbelief that his administration did not authorize the torture. We said, “surely not,” when allegations were made that his Justice Department issued wholesale pink slips to judges who refused to slant their decisions in support of his political agenda. And while we hoped for the best from Bush, he betrayed us… again and again and again.

The weight of so many cumulative Bush betrayals has had a crushing effect, leading many Americans to despair. Anger is of limited use in extricating ourselves from despair… it can lift us out, but does not offer a new direction forward. That, I think, is the purpose of hope. Curious to know how others define hope, I went online in search of quotes, and found an ocean of them. Here are some of my favorites:

ELIE WIESEL:
Just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.

ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY:
If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

MOHANDAS K. GANDHI:
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN:
The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.

BARACK OBAMA (Yes, he popped up on my Internet search):
We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

So, fellow members of the newer, wider, brighter rainbow coalition: Let’s refuse to be embarrassed by hope. In the past eight years we surrendered to fear… and It diminished us. We indulged in hate… and it dishonored us. Now hope appears on shining new wings and beckons to us.

Don’t bogart that hope. Pass it over to me.

21 Comments:

Blogger Cafe Observer said...

yp: I was interested in your important comment re the cookies & your search for the perfect cup of caffeine. That would almost tempt me to volunteer too.

12:51 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks YP: I am so sick of having to defend myself for hoping we can be better, hoping we can change, hoping we can have compassion for others, hoping we can rally together and help each other...hoping that my government will care about ME...and Americans...not their crazy war agendas and policies that will put more and more and more money in their own already over-filled pockets.
I had to once again turn off the news yesterday as Cup of Joe was strategizing how McCain can win...part of his strategy (the Republican strategy) is the 'hope' that racism will surface when people vote and they figured that would give McCain two or three points in Middle America...it made me SO SICK...they are hoping for racism...so discouraging:(
So, it was good to hear your words about hope that we can live together, work together, help each other...love each other...and bring about the change we do need....UNITED:)

5:26 AM

 
Blogger Laurie Allee said...

I remember the original Rainbow Coalition. I campaigned for Jesse Jackson in 84 and in 88. I would give anything to see his agenda again: ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, creating another works progress Admninistration, instituting a nuclear freeze and disarmament, reviving New Deal programs for farmers, single payer health care, increaded fed money for education and free community college for all citizens, real support of a Palestinian state, getting rid of Reagan's tax breaks and using taxes to fund social programs, getting rid of the stupid war on drugs. Jesse was my voice of hope througout my youth and I still remember the thrill when he was briefly the frontrunner in the primaries after Michegan, I believe, in 88. I also won't ever forget the Keep Hope Alive speech. When people praise Obama's speeches -- I always think of the speech that changed MY life and it was that one by Jackson.

A lot of us were hoping for Jackson's kind of change -- the real progressive agenda we were fighting for 20 years ago before there was even the term "progressive." I miss those days of the Rainbow Coalition and the heady feeling I got in the campaign office every time I showed up to man the phones. I've been waiting all these years for a Democrat to stand for the things Jackson stood for. Edwards came close this year with his plan to end poverty. HIllary came close with her universal health care. Obama certainly has the soaring rhetorical skills. But nobody, for me anyway, has come close to Jackson as far as real plan for change in America. I was so sad to see all the work we did fall into the centerist land created by Clinton. Don't get me wrong, I love Bill, but I miss the belief I had in my 20s that we were getting back to a Roosevelt era of Democratic rule.

Anyway, I'm not here to be a buzzkill. Keep Hope Alive, everyone.

10:52 AM

 
Blogger Laurie Allee said...

I had to go back and read Jackson's speech from 88. Here it is, if anyone else is interested.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jessejackson1988dnc.htm

I'm also reminded of Ann Richards brilliant speech that year about Bush Sr. being born "with a silver foot in his mouth." And all the great campaign speeches by Lloyd Bentson. I miss those days.

11:09 AM

 
Blogger Cafe Observer said...

The things we can look back at when we were young &...! How could we ever have dunk or thunk such a thing! Is anything scarier or funnier than when we look back into our own youth!

If we only knew then what we know now. Time & experience can count for growth.

Great speech readers 1st cloud up my brain emotionally, kinda like a drug or great, but unhealthy, food. After the emotion has cleared, and I've gotten de old brain to restart the thinking again, 1st it's, "uh wait, what was that again??"

I don't wanna call these "leaders" demagogues becuz nowadays these may have bcome de accepted norm in political society. They certainly have many followers

Talk is cheap. In the mouth of the pols it's often very costly, as we now see.

Still, let's look 4ward, not achingly backwards, not to the last century. The times they have a changed. We need to look for leaders that represent & respect the views of all the people, including their masters the dog, not just a small fringe. Sounds like I have a screenplay for a new sequel of Mission Impossible.

But, say hey, let's at least keep Hope from being misused.

This pol shit gets me starvin! Vote No on Pols!

1:58 PM

 
Blogger San Diego Farmgirl said...

Say, you know who else is really good at organizing?

Communists!

LOL, just bustin' yer pate, Yak. Actually, I'm more interested in this Hopium, and where I might acquire some. Roy, did you know about this? ;o)

2:17 PM

 
Blogger San Diego Farmgirl said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

5:14 PM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

I was moved by your overwhelming sense of hope, YP. Maybe I am seeing things through rose colored glasses, but I have hope too. When such a diverse group of people come together in a single arena (ie: your VanNuys volunteer center) with such optimism, and you multiply that by all of the others throughout our country, that positive energy can't help but spill out into the world in some form or another.

I feel that it can only get better from here.

5:56 PM

 
Blogger Cafe Observer said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

8:47 PM

 
Blogger Cafe Observer said...

"I feel that it can only get better from here": pray you're right. more likely, some things may get better, but others will get worse. our "econ crisis" looks to be only in the infant stage.

ballkisser/assbuster, here's your Hopium:
Are You a Hopium Addict?

But, I wash my paws of what may bcome of you.

8:57 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ballbuster....Im high on the Hopium...I'll save some for you:):):)

5:19 AM

 
Blogger Yakpate said...

Laurie... This a real question, not one just for the sake of argument: why do you think Jackson didn't win, and in fact, had no hope of winning? Do you think it was because his views were too far left to build a winning coalition? Is it possible that, one of the reasons he so courageously espoused his agenda, is that he thought that as a black man he couldn't win anyway, had nothing to lose, and therefore might just as well introduce his progressive views into the arena of discussion?

By the way, did you know that, historically, many DISSENTING Liberal Supreme Court opinions eventually become the law?

The point I'm making is not that Centerville is a good place to live... I would have voted for Angela Davis if she had run in the 60s... the point is that if Obama is elected, we will at least have a greater opportunity to advance a portion of the progressive agenda than if McCain is elected.

I know you fear that Obama will reveal himself as just another corporate conservative creature... however, if that truly were the case, the GOP would not be turning itself inside out to brand him as a Socialist-borderline Communist. Of course, that might just be another Rovian scare-tactic lie to win votes... which is one of the reasons I want Democrats to have a chance.

Center and/or slightly left of center is a lot closer to the Progressive goal post than McCain/Palin, right?

9:34 AM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Cough, Cough....I must put down the bong filled with Hopium and step away from delightful delirium... because now I'm past that. Whatever happens now, is in the hands of the voters, and Karl Rove.

I'm going rogue with optimism at this point...call me high, but all I can think of is the Flaming Groovies song Gimme Some Action...which is what I expect OB to do in his first 100 and when he does I'll know that it was indeed a good thing that I inhaled the Hopium and that I am now experienced (with all due respect to Mr. Hendrix).

10:51 AM

 
Blogger Laurie Allee said...

Yak, I don't believe history bears out that ANY movements gained power or revolutions were won or rights were gained because we quietly backed people who KIND OF stand for the things we want accomplished. I don't see any progress made historically by moving further AWAY from what we believe to somehow bring us closer to goals we want. The Civil Rights movement, the Suffrage movement, the early unions, the very fight to form this country did not happen because we took ten steps backward for a step forward, or because we said we only want SOME of our civil rights, or only SOME women could be allowed to vote, or only a LITTLE American independence... you get my point.

Since Clinton, the Democrats have moved further and further away from the actual populist ideals of the Democratic party to the point now, where if you look at Obama's actual PLANS, they don't differ very much from the moderate Right. If our plan is to just stay a little left of center -- fine. Clinton gave us a fantastic corporate-run economy (that has since crashed) by doing just that. I'm not syaing those years were bad, heavens no -- though I don't know what history will say about his deregulation, his backing Greenspan, and how that sparked our crisis now. (Brought to fruition, no question, by the neocons.) What Clinton didn't get us was national health care -- remember that promise? Or anything resembling equal rights for gay and lesbians. (Don't ask don't tell?) He made baby steps for the environment, but not enough to staunch the global warming disaster that is looming now becasue instead of the Dems fighting for what was right in that arena -- we accepted Cap and Trade as a solution. Please.

My realization in this election is that sure, we can accept the lesser of bad things, and get a few of our good ideas off the ground, but in order to actually make a difference, history has shown that it is never by becoming MORE like what you hate in order to hope that maybe once in power you can become more like what you once were. The only thing that has happened is in the last 20 years the Dems have moved from Jesse's position -- which was, at the time, far more mainstream Democratic platform than anything the Dems offer now -- and moved more toward the traditional conservative platform. (Which, by comparison to the neocons, seems better of course.) But it's not the liberal agenda. And those of us who are actually liberal would kind of like centerists to stop masquarading as liberal, excuse me, progressive, and just acknowledge that they are now the party of the Center. Roosevelt would be considered a communist by our current definitions. He WAS the ideology of the Democratic party and his programs made this country -- with certain safety nets he implemented saving us even now. We don't become more like THAT democratic party by moving center. We do it by demanding what is right for the people, even if it means getting battered a few times. If it stays in the mindset of the people that THIS IS WHAT WE DEMAND, then those people will vote accordingly, there will be a movement. We've given everyone the other option -- accept less, because it's somehow better than the Right. We've lowered expectations so much, and we don't even TALK about the very poor and disenfranchised -- the people the Dems are supposed to represent. We only talk about the middle class. That, to me, is immoral.

If you compare Obama to any liberal politicians around the world, he ranks as a center-right politician. Talk to anyone in Skandanavia about this. Or even Europe.

Back in 88, Jackson and all of his followers thought he MIGHT win. There was no tokenism to his run. I remember those days well. We worried because of his skin color. NOT because of his liberal agenda. NOw, such an agenda is termed fringe. Look at how little Kucinich gained -- and he's about as real a real Democrat as you can get.

At this point in my life, I'm not satisfied to accept "well, it's better than the Republicans," because that line of thinking was supposed to be a stop gap to gain a foothold, not the official party stance. We got COngress -- and did very little with it. If Obama swoops in and implements a bunch of liberal ideas in his first 100 days, I'll happily say I was wrong about him. Hell, I'll be ecstatic. But what I think will happen is another war, health care put on the back burner yet again and more corporate bailouts, all the while the term "progressive" loses all meaning.

That's not to say that Obama will be a bad president. I don't know what he'll do mostly because I"m not sure exactly what his policies are. But I'm openminded. ANd I celebrate the idea of an African American in the white house -- even though I don't particularly like the individual. I FOUGHT for that all those years ago and it gives me joy to think of the symbol for the rest of the world. But it won't be a black liberal president. And I'm still bummed out about that.

I think the whole socialist label is panic by the Right because if you look at Barack's plans -- they're pretty moderate, Center. You knwo it's bad when Bill Kristol goes on Jon Stewart and say Obama will be a good centerist president. If the far right spokesman says that about him, how left can he be? They're afraid of losing ground with social issues, not economic or military ones, so they have to scare the base away from him. Yell "Socialist!" and it accomplishes just that. (Those of us who skew toward socialist find that term about Obama hilarious.)

I'm openminded about his presidency. Skeptical, but very openminded. If he's played the center for chumps and will come out a true liberal -- halleluliah. I'm just not banking on it. I think, though, that it may be time to concede the Democratic Party to the center and look for third party options moving forward. I don't think, however, this would be true -- or that so many people like me on the left would feel this way -- if the Dems hadn't capitulated so much over the years.

1:56 PM

 
Blogger San Diego Farmgirl said...

Joe Biden made a comment recently about how this isn't the Democratic party of the 70s and 80s. It's a party that has adjusted to the realities of a New World Order. This was on a major network affiliate, and the transcript is included on the website. Unfortch, I can't figure out how to paste long links on this ding dang blogger site. Mine never works for some reason. Maybe you can find it from the main page, or those who know me can email for the exact URL.

http://www.wsls.com
"WSLS talks with Biden about Palin's visit"

4:15 PM

 
Blogger San Diego Farmgirl said...

Anyway, thought that New World Order comment was interesting, especially the time frame Biden mentions, since President George H.W. "New World Order" Bush took office in 1988. And while Clinton was considered a successful Democrat president, many people have smelled a rat in the party's gradual move to the right. I thought it was fishy when Dems stopped using the word liberal, opting instead for "progressive", which merely suggests left. Why? Why let that jerk Rove rename your party's core ideology? I suppose if you have "adjusted to the realities of a New World Order", it means somebody else is ultimately calling the shots.

4:29 PM

 
Blogger Yakpate said...

I agree with you, Laurie... the extreme is always the engine that powers the center toward its position. If not for the excoriation endured by the Suffragettes, and later by the bra-burning, "militant feminists," women in the Center and even the Right of today would not enjoy many of the advances we now take for granted... just as the blacks who rioted in Detroit in the 60s ended an era in which racists could proclaim..."I like the colored just fine, as long as they stay in their place."

But to your points I would like to add... Democrats are ALWAYS bashed for being too fractious, and too self-centered, to coalesce into a winning ticket. This time, I did not want to see that happen.

As for Nader... many of the Obama supporters I reached during my phone banking say they would PREFER to vote for Nader, but will vote for Obama this time to facilitate an exit from GOP HELL. (My expression, not theirs.)

So, NOW is a great time for Nader to start organizing like he's serious about winning, because the momentum will be there for him to channel in his direction. By serious... I mean he needs to stop presenting himself as a bitter old man. His ideas are brilliant but his delivery sucks... and like it or not, he CAN'T WIN unless he masters the art of winning the hearts and minds of voters.

4:54 PM

 
Blogger Laurie Allee said...

Funny, but I find Nader's speeches far more inspiring than Obama's -- because they speak to the reality of populist causes, not some Hallmark/Lifetime Movie of the Week happy unicorn version of really pretty nouns like hope or change. I have watched almost everything Nader has said of late on YouTube and I find him to be as eloquent and brilliant as Roosevelt -- and just as serious about turning this country back to We the People. He knows he won't win. But he also knows, like Eugene Debs moved the population to accept women's suffrage and unions, that he must keep running or that platform will disappear.

The Right systematically destroyed much of what Ralph did for this country in the way of muckraking and the laws that were created because of his muckraking. We owe a LOT to Nader -- and he doesn't have to make happyhappy/nicenice to win my approval.

But Matt GOnzalez is the man to watch. Nader's current running mate and a brilliant young liberal from San Francisco. He writes beautifully and he's passionate about everything I believe in and I hope to see him move ahead in the coming years because he's the real deal as far as I can see. (Subject to some unknown scandal! Oy vay!) Google some of his writing to find out what I mean.

I've heard the argument about wanting to vote for Nader but wanting to end GOP hell and my retort to that is -- we'll never end that GOP hell if capitulate so much we just eventually become the GOP. We have a "progressive" candidate who is going to start another war, keep half the troops in Iraq and add more even mercenaries like Blackwater, who believes in the same old Friedman free market crap Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush believe in, who does not believe in single payer health care, who is pro nuke, pro gun, pro offshore drilling, who is open to the Unitary Executive theory, who is extending Bush's faith based initiatives... I could go on. Yeah, we'll get a far better tax plan than McCain's. But that's THIS time. WHat happens when we keep on sliding to the right? OUr party is propping up anti-choice Democratic candidates for Congress who will vote... with the REpublicans on matters of reproductive health. Our party. This is the New party -- fully part of the NEw WOrld Order that ballbuster mentioned. (WIth Mr. New World Order Brizinizki as Obama's right hand.)

It was a far liberal Democratic party that kept us barely center. What's it going to be NOW?

So, since all we have to arm twist the Dems is our votes, I am using mine to say - stop moving center. Stop it right now. Not NEXT time when it, no doubt, will ALSO be too important an election to vote our concience or make waves. If our Dems are compromising about choice, war, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, gun control, gay rights, the poor, populist causes, single payer health care and other basic liberal values... what else will they compromise? We've come so far that you thought Jackson's platform of 20 years ago was far left? It was the platform of the party 20 years ago. That's how far we've moved away... and I don't want to move any more.

8:07 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just voted...YES! I feel such a sense of pride and encouragement:):):):):):) Go Barack/Biden and for me...Lunsford:):):):)

BaROCK the Vote Everybody:):):):)

6:21 AM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

For what's it worth, I still support bra burning and I've got the matches to prove it.

8:56 AM

 
Blogger San Diego Farmgirl said...

Roy, why don't you just drive up to South Pas and literally poke Laurie with a sharp stick? Watch out, those idiots who teased the tigers at the SF Zoo learned that lesson the hard way. :o)

Don't write off people who believe in the New World Order as paranoid, toking college students. I had an off-record NWO discussion with a Wall St. financial advisor just this morning. Plenty of people not only believe it exists, they're making adjustments to multi-billion dollar organizations because of it.

The idea of a global world government isn't entirely sinister. Frankly, I'd love for us to think of ourselves as fellow humans, rather than use national identity, race, religion, etc. as an excuse to kill each other.

But the scary thing is the elite rich think of the planet as a privately owned resort. All they need to do is get those unattractive, pesky poor people out of the way. The undesirables. Anyone who has ever spent time with old money knows how these elitist arseholes think. The sinister NWO plans isn't much of a stretch for the way these people already think & act.

10:47 AM

 

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