Small Donations Add Up for Obama - New York Times
i just made a donation this morning (not as large as i would have liked, but it's something.) the story of how regular, private citizens are giving directly to candidates is amazing. i don't know about any of my five regular readers, but i haven't given a donation to the main Democratic party since that crushing Al Gore defeat. why give my cash to them when they FUBAR things so completely?
while the obama 'juggernaut' continues i have to admit that i feel a little bad for clinton. i'm sure that feeling of momentary pity will pass soon.
in other obama news, just came across this blog, Think on These Things, that does a pretty good job of delineating the difference between Obama and Clinton - their policy stances, the arguments about 'experience' (hey, guess who's actually passed major legislation and who's just named a post office?) and the sneaky media attacks on Obama.
particularly good is this video of a young black guy laying it down about Obama and healthcare to a pushy interviewer in L.A. Think of These Things is pretty up front about being pro-Obama, so make of that what you will. S/He's laying out a comprehensive argument in favor of a candidate and it's convincing to me.
and, via that clip, here's another blog i stumbled on - Jack & Jill Politics - that looks pretty cool, mixing bougie-ness and political wonkiness all in one.
(what's Jack & Jill? where i come from, if you were black, lived in Baldwin Hills and your parents were of the professional class, you probably participated in J&J. if , like me, you lived below the Hill, your parents were lower middle class and didn't know about such things, then you didn't.)
have i wasted enough time at work?
i think so. back to the grind, folks.
9 comments:
I'm just going to start linking to all your posts, chick.
Anyhoo. I too am feeling a little bad for Clinton. OTOH, start reading stuff like this and a lot of my screw-the-misogynists impulse to support Clinton shifts over to the screw-the-racists.
It's kind of cool, though, that the racists (so far) seem to primarily be in the old upper echelons of The Establishment, rather than in the more populist venues of Fox News and MSNBC. It gives one hope for America.
(Of course, it's also possible that, not having cable, I'm just blissfully ignorant.)
i dread the moment when the full racist underbelly of our culture reveals itself. it is not going to be pretty and folks are going to have to really examine what it is they stand for and what they're willing to call out.
i can pretty much guarantee that, if Obama gets the nomination and the racist shitstorm erupts, black people won't be at all surprised at the venom. we expect it of us, unfortunately.
(you know, i try 'em out here and then i post them over there!)
Some of it won't surprise me, but I'm sure some of it will. I am surprised that so far it hasn't been worse, but like I said, that could be because I'm just ignorant. We'll see, because I'm pretty sure he's going to be the nominee at this point.
ding, it's out there in comparisons of Obama to Hitler, for starters. Is that supposed to suggest that he will try to elevate his "race" at the expense of all others? Or just to make people very afraid? I'm not sure what the point is, just that it makes me angry.
More on point, I've been making small donations to him when the requests come for a particular purpose; today for matching gifts with new givers. I exchanged emails with the new donor after we both gave. Nice way of encouraging community!
I also gave my smallest political gift ever, $2.30, in response to an ask from MoveOn for Obama's campaign. The idea was that 100 people giving $2.30 would be more significant than one person giving the $2300 limit. I love that kind of thinking.
Yay! I'm obsessively watching the Obama million person ticker - I'm happy to know one of those numbers is you! (I can only match at this point, having donated many (very small) times in the past).
I am also without tv and therefore(?) also in ignorance of any racist growlings that don't rumble up to teh internets - it saddens me to think that O'Reilly might be the tip of an iceberg of disgustingness.
There has been much since the South Carolina statements made by Pres. Bill Clinton. Now if you scratch at the political commentaries like a hound dog for his lost bone, I find that by giving the impression that Blacks are voting for him only because he is black, it marginalize his candidacy which I think is racist.
But I am pleasantly surprised that there hasn’t been a rainstorm
BTW, Bill O’Reilly wrote an surprisingly kind article on Obama http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BillOReilly/2008/02/16/some_excellent_advice_for_mccain_and_obama If I didn’t know better I’d almost think he likes him
Check it out
re: racist crap storms - they're often stupid, aren't they? i mean, they're literally stupid. it makes no sense to compare Obama to Hitler - no historical sense, no ideological sense. it's just plain idiotic.
the coming racist attacks on obama (like O'Reilly's lynching comment about Michelle Obama) only reaffirm for me that everyday racists haven't risen above the level of common barnyard animal. they say the same shit they've been saying for over 200 years.
to No Nonsense's point, the marginalization of black voters' agency is a slightly more sophisticated method of racial/political disenfranchisement. it smacks of paternalism and implies that 'white' voters think long and hard and intellectually about their political choices while black people vote like children, only paying attention to those who look like them or pay attention to them.
based on an earlier post of mine, i think that using the obama candidacy as a way to correct our country's racial history is just as valid as being a so-called 'values voter.' institutionalized racial justice is a part of my values. luckily, obama isn't just a black figurehead but a candidate with policy ideas that i can get behind.
and his campaign, indeed, has a way of fomenting community. i was stunned when i saw that my donation had been matched by someone - and i knew their name! and we could communicate if we wanted! you're right, Songbird, that's a way of doing things differently, of engaging people to make them feel as if they can make a difference.
re: engagement and community: obama detractors can scoff at it all they like but the same thing happens in the best companies around the country. you engage your stakeholders in your mission and vision, make them part of it, and your bottom line improves. why do critics act like it's all smoke and mirrors when it's a common best practice in the corporate world?
(as well as a common organizing tool)
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