DEPARTMENTS
ANTI-WAR
DEATH PENALTY
ELECTIONS
ENVIRONMENT
GLBT ISSUES
HEMP
INTERNATIONAL
NATIONAL
REVIEWS
|
Departments Election Issues The time has come I’m daring my own heart to write these words, to let hope’s preview ignite me for an instant. Despite all my reservations (Afghanistan) and all my fears (how will they try to undermine his presidency, or prevent it by theft?), I can’t help but feel history pushing at me and all of us as we vote, or try to vote, on Tuesday. Yes, the significance of this election rises out of the nation’s past: Barack Obama’s articulate, courageous campaign represents the farthest reach of the civil rights movement, and a beginning of the psychological healing of our national legacy of racism. But even more significantly, this election speaks to the future: It’s about the creation of a new constituency and the careening, dying sputter of an old one. And the Democrats finally have a candidate who unabashedly addresses this new constituency, rather than one who panders, ineptly, to the Republican core. The brimming international excitement about Obama — who drew a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin, a crowd of 100,000-plus in Denver (two days after McCain drew 3,000 in that city) — which I feel myself with a ferocity that overwhelms my reservations, is the global whisper that the time has come . . . The time has come not just to reclaim the world from the disaster of the Bush administration, not just to end the multi-trillion-dollar war in Iraq, not just to stave off further shredding of the Constitution, not just to restrain the reckless greed of the financial community and restore some semblance of a social safety net — beyond all this, the time has come for America to lead the way in building the foundations of a lasting peace based on fairness, cooperation, eco-awareness and global interconnection. I say this with a wary eye on the unraveling, angry, "us vs. them" constituency that the McCain-Palin ticket continues to stoke, with the seeds of hatred and no-nothingism they have scattered pretty much blowing back in their faces. "You know the other night in the debate with Senator Obama," McCain told a crowd in Cedar Falls, Iowa, "I said his eloquence is admirable, but pay attention to his words — we talked about offshore drilling and he said he would quote ‘consider’ offshore drilling. We talked about nuclear power. Well, it has to be safe, environment, blah, blah, blah. And the fact is . . ." The partisan crowd interrupted McCain with cheers — yeah, it’s us vs. the eggheads and global-warming nags — but beyond his immediate listeners, as his words spread over the Internet to a global audience, McCain morphed into an idiot, answering the fancy-talkin’ young guy from Harvard with "blah, blah, blah," trying desperately to appeal to the dregs of human thoughtlessness: robo-candidate, reaching for some reptile nub of the white backlash that has sustained the Republican Party for four decades. McCain and Palin, God love ’em, have set a new low, at least for politics in my lifetime: a new low in lack of seriousness, a new low in smear and hate. They have brought the Bush Doctrine home, with rallies that set "real Americans" against the rest of us and summon up the ghost of Jim Crow. In Clearwater, Fla., Palin tried to link Obama to Bill Ayers and domestic terrorism and wound up fomenting it herself, when someone in the audience shouted, "Kill him!" And Fighting John McCain, speaking at a VFW hall in Murrells Inlet, S.C., answered a question about sending a message to Iran by parodying the Beach Boys: "Bomb, bomb Iran." Later he said he was just joking with a bunch of vets, and if you don’t like it "get a life." To which I say, wow, even George Bush’s "decisiveness" can’t hold a candle to the recklessness of John McCain. The only person I would less like to see in charge of national security is Sarah Palin. "The size of our challenges has outgrown the smallness of our politics," Obama said this week as he began the final push of his long campaign, and to these words I hear myself utter a silent, soul-deep "yes." The type of politics to which he refers is the us-vs.-them variety suddenly coming up short for the mocking Republican ticket, which still thinks it can ignore us and speak only the language of war and fear. But there is a new, ethnically and globally inclusive constituency that Obama understands he has to listen to and help solidify. Thus in Denver he chanted "yes we can" with the crowd in Spanish — "si se puede" — and helped unify a country that’s sick of being divided. I urge everyone who is sick of the smallness of the political debate, sick of being shut out by us-vs.-them politics, sick of the narrow, unworkable range of options with which the nation would continue to meet its challenges if McCain manages to pull off a miracle (or something else) and win this election, to join me and vote for change and expanded political horizons. I repeat these words: President-elect Obama. This is the starting point we can achieve next week. --- Robert Koehler, an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist, is an editor at Tribune Media Services and nationally syndicated writer. You can respond to this column at bkoehler@tribune.com or visit his Web site at commonwonders.com. © 2008 Tribune Media Services, Inc. |
|
Recent Election Issues Articles Why Al Franken should NOT be riding private planes The suspicious, disturbing death of election rigger Michael Connell Last US House seat filled on grave of stolen 2004 election What happened this year in Ohio Imaginary numbers persist in our presidential elections The GOP attack on democracy continues in Ohio The 2008 Presidential election: a preliminary analysis Election protection in Ohio (and America) isn't over Recount fictions in Virginia's Fifth The Pits: Georgia's GOP swipes the Peach State Grant Park on Election Night Can the grassroots Internet-based election protection movement win the White House? How and why I just voted No time for Nader: A letter to Nader McKinney voters 'Vote stealing imperils democracy': former Montague resident charges election manipulation Will this Presidential election be stolen? It didn’t happen by chance... The time has come Beware the Twin Towers of electronic election theft Sarah Palin and the new Apostolic reformation Antidotes to complacency: four reasons to act Redesigning democracy A McCain "win" will be theft: resistance is planned Critical US Supreme Court ruling against Rovian GOP vote meddling may prove temporary Our national juncture Suppression Cuyahoga's witch hunt Videos from Ohio Election Protection Conference The Palin-Biden debate: high time to move beyond clichés Struggle: A Documentary GOP attacks on American voters turn desperate, ugly and dangerous Warming to Palin Brace yourself Cindy, Charlotte, and our Constitution Rainbow PUSH Coalition registers 2090 new voters this week Big presidential vote count error found and fixed in New Mexico Ohio 2008 opens with a subpoena, a surge and calls for election protection North Carolina: The new Ohio? Foreign policy debate all about war Be a poll worker and save American democracy Why hurricane Ike demands paper ballots on November 4 Death becomes her: let's make her our president Ten ways the McCain/Palin GOP is now stealing the Ohio vote John McCain: Morally, mentally, and emotionally unfit Logical consequences Rovian politics chose Sarah Palin Shocking choice by John McCain Ron Paul endorsement of Don Young "shocking and disappointing" The DNC platform: belief you can change in Obama doesn't sweat. He should. Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. applauds Sen. Obama’s speech before the NAACP Three key ways YOU can help protect the 2008 election Colleges, voter registration, and a historic opportunity: a more detailed proposal Obama must learn from Kucinich's election theft impeachment Clinton only needs 153% of remaining delegates The buried Florida story: why campaigning matters The myth of Clinton's popular vote lead Did the Limbaugh effect also flip Michigan? Edwards just put Obama over the top Did the Limbaugh effect also flip Michigan? Obama-Clinton funny math: Guam update Did the US Supreme Court deliver the Indiana Primary to Hillary Clinton? Did the US Supreme Court just elect John McCain? The 2008 election will be stolen The done deal Letter to Hillary: remember when John McCain slimed your daughter Fire and race Keep the Republic What it's all about... Can SuperDelegates stop the scorched earth campaigning? An election without meaning We have a dream Hope, change, and pissing in the wind: "Of Obama, Democrats, and the Power Elite" Ohio's voting machines are now an official crime scene Did Republicans give Hillary her victory in Ohio? Primary day at the polls in Columbus, Ohio Obama & Clinton: who's more likely to confront global warming? If you think Karl Rove is evil, make phone calls today Obama's talking points Adventures in inaudible audio with Senator Barack Obama Attention all voters: this is a must-see video On the campaign trail in the Buckeye State stalking the candidates: John McCain Will Clinton's advisors tell her the hard truths? How much damage will Clinton do before she folds? The Hillary nutcracker Behind Obama's wave of victories: the more they know him….. Hillary's hawks -- How Obama's and Clinton's advisors mirror their stands on the war Poll shows John McCain faces tough road in gaining conservative support The Obama Factors Vote against Clinton Why this Edwards voter Is now backing Obama Liveblogging Obama v. Clinton v. CNN It's all about Hillary, not her party The South Carolina you won't see on CNN - South Carolina primary colors: black and white? The South Carolina you won't see on CNN - South Carolina primary colors: black and white? Conspiracy theorist Hillary Clinton's sleaze parade Bob & Harvey's 3-Step "Ohio Plan" for fair and reliable voting and vote counts Media misses story: Obedwards wins New Hampshire Primary concerns Clear evidence of widespread vote fraud in New Hampshire The Kudzu Effect: The Voting-Industrial Complex chokes our democracy Still true to ObEdwards: Why I keep donating to both Edwards and Obama Clinton campaign office re-occupied by peace activists on day of Iowa voting Read Election Issues Articles by Year: |
FREE PRESS EMAIL UPDATE
Donate to the Free Press Election Protection Fund to help us investigate and monitor election fraud in this year's election.
FOLLOW US ON
twitter
facebook
SEARCH THE FREEPRESS
1021 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43205 | 614.253.2571 | truth@freepress.org
All content © 1970-2012 The Columbus Free Press
Disclaimer