People let you down – why I’m an “obamabot”

UPDATE: Here’s another interesting take on the “Obamabot” phenomenon. Please read it.

Earlier this afternoon, i read Budhydharma’s diary at Daily Kos entitled “What Happens if Obama Loses the Left?”

There are over 1,000 comments on that diary as I write this here.

As a new member of the community, I have to qualify my statements in this, my first diary, and one that is – gently – disagreeing with the owner of the site. So here goes:

I’m a former Christian fundamentalist.

I’m a former neo-conservative “warblogger.”

I’m a former “pro-life” advocate.

I’m a cynic.

With those qualifiers, I voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. I did so because I saw all that my previously-held beliefs had wrought both within our nation, and in the greater world community.

That said, I disagree with Budhydharma about this statement:

We all have seen the tensions on the blogs between the members of the Center-Left and the Issue-Left. The CL are the people who portray activists pushing for their issues as “wanting a Pony” or insist that Obama has only been in office for __ number of months…..you know, the people who confuse political activism with impatience.

Okay, I’ve actually argued that “it’s too early” to gauge how Obama is doing related to a number of issues, including torture prosecutions, LBGT rights, etc.

Having said that, I don’t like being lumped into a group called the “center-left.” I’m NOT center-left. In fact, on issue after issue, I consider myself to be farther to the left than Obama would find comfortable.

I support full marriage rights for homosexuals.

I support a single-payer health care system for the United States.

I support federally-financed political campaigns that would wring out the lobbyist and corporate money from influencing public policy.

I support higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans, up to 70 percent of their income. And, I should note, if anyone would be willing to pay me more than $1 million per year to do something, I will gladly pay my fair share of taxes.

I support prosecuting members of the Bush administration for crimes against humanity, including Dick Cheney.

I support the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

I support a repeal of any and all “free trade” treaties that ship American jobs to countries where people are paid pennies on the dollar to do the same work.

I support a repeal of the Patriot Act and tighter restrictions on government-authorized snooping on phone and Internet activities by American citizens.

So you can call me what you want, I am far from “center-left” in my political views.

I said above that I was a cynic. That’s only somewhat true. I’m actually a cynic and a realist. I realize that 6 months is a helluva short time to judge a presidency, especially given the amount of crap that this president is having to straighten out.

So I’m willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt for the time being. I’m not an “obamabot” or a “center-left” pragmatist. If, at the end of his first term, DADT and DOMA are still in place, and we are still fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, then I will certainly be among those pressing for something more.

I’d even be willing to vote for a third party in congressional elections, if such a party seemed to be making an impact.

And I can empathize with those who want action NOW regarding civil rights issues. I don’t disagree with their views. I understand their wailing and gnashing of teeth, in some ways.

But I also wonder what the conservatives think about all this? Are they laughing at progressives just as progressives have laughed at them for these past couple of years? Do they watch the cat-wrangling that is occurring these days on sites like DKos and thinking about their opportunities?

Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I fear for this country, and I hope our president is doing the right thing, that he will continue to do the right thing, and that our efforts to push him and prod him to be more progressive will show fruit.

I hope, because that’s all I can do right now. I can write letters, send e-mails, and encourage my representatives to do more. But I realize there are forces far more powerful than me who are often pushing in the opposite direction. So I give Obama some “slack.”

You can spit at me. You can accuse me of acquiescing to the prevailing view. That’s fine.

I learned a lesson a long time ago – “People will let you down.” It’s a lesson about love, but it applies in politics as well (c.f., Bill Clinton).

Whether you believe in the story of Jesus Christ, or not, here’s the gist of the story:

The Christian bible says that Jesus Christ was executed knowing that he would be put to death. He knew that Peter would betray him three times. He knew that humanity would reject his pleas. Yet he went to his death for humanity, knowing that they would let him down. Knowing that people let you down, he chose to love them anyway.

Again, this is not to engage in a theological argument, but in politics – as in love – people will let you down. Look at the great political leaders – even FDR, Lincoln, JFK, RFK – they had flaws. They let us down. (and please don’t think I’m equating Obama with JC! – hah!)

I’m sure Obama will let us down in the future. I’m sure he’s letting some people down right now. But I’m also confident (for what reason, I don’t really know) that he is striving in the right direction, unlike his predecessor.

And that’s what we can hope for right now.