I'm not wild about Harry, but

I am feeling sorry for him. Not that he doesn't have his shortcomings - I am really disappointed with all the compromises he's made regarding health care reform - but the feigned horror and shock being expressed over his remarks two years ago about the electability of Obama, by what seem to me to be stunningly hypocritical Republicans, well, it makes me want to defend him.

Reid is not a racist. His use of the word Negro was awkward and ill-chosen, not because it implies he is a racist, but because the word is antiquated and using it made Harry sound old and from a by-gone era. He sounded both out of touch and out of date, two things that are not beneficial to any politician. But using the word Negro does not automatically make Harry a racist! Without a whole bunch of other supporting facts, this judgement is simplistic and hurtful and serves no purpose other than to shut down all meaningful dialogue.

And what of his observation, that light-skinned blacks who sound white (that's really what he was saying) have a better chance of winning a nationwide election? Is this a racist observation? Whether or not this observation has any merit can be debated, but this observation is not in and of itself racist - it is simply an observation. Saying this doesn't imply much less prove that Harry thinks this is a good thing or a bad thing - based on the context of when and how he said it, according to Harry, it is just the way it is. This is analogous to someone observing that employers seemingly prefer hiring thin people over their equally qualified obese contemporaries. Making this observation does not mean the observer hates fat people or thinks thin people are better or more deserving. It is an observation without judgment of its "rightness." Unless such an observation is followed by an enthusiastic "yippee!" it proves nothing about the person making the observation.

I am not wild about Harry and there are some substantive reasons for perhaps not voting for him - but this bogus charge of racism is certainly not one of them.

Fired-up and ready to go - please?

Lieberman is certainly aggravating and annoying and it truly hurts to listen to him whine, but he has the right to whine, I mean voice, his opinion and to vote his beliefs. As much as I disagree with him, I cannot fault him for voicing his conscience, and if that means voting against the health care reform bill, well, so be it. However, if he insists on obstructing democracy, which prohibiting full debate on the health care reform bill definitely is, then he should be stripped of his committee chair and he should be unceremoniously booted out of the democratic caucus. He has the right to vote no on the health care reform bill if that is what his conscience and his constituents want (not!) but he does not have the right to prevent a vote - to prevent other senators from voting their conscience. The fact that he thinks, even for a moment, that he has that right is enough to make me want to take him by the throat and throttle him!!

Of course, he is not alone in believing he has the right to decide what is best for America, even if what he thinks is best goes against what most Americans think is best - but filibusters are wrong, no matter who does them, no matter what the reason. No elected representative should be denied the opportunity to vote on a bill - and no one has the moral imperative to prevent a bill that has majority support from coming up for a vote - no one. If Lieberman does what he is threatening to do, he should suffer some major, personal and political consequences.

While Lieberman whines and pontificates, President Obama is silent. As much as I respect and admire him and understand his apparent visceral need to form consensus, the time for staying in the background and not taking a stand is over. President Obama needs to find his voice – and his spine. He needs to come out in support of a strong public option – a public option that is available to anyone who wants it, not only the uninsured; a public option that will lower premiums for everyone by creating genuine, meaningful competition for the insurance industry. I do not know about anyone else, but I voted for him because I believed in him – I believed he had the will and the ability to make significant changes in Washington – the kind of changes he promised to make - not little changes, but big changes. He said we could and I believed him. What has happened? Was he always this cautious and placid and I didn’t see it, or has becoming president stripped him of his passion? All during the campaign, Obama was a progressive – a liberal with a liberal agenda. That is who and what we voted for on November 4, 2008. What has happened since then? Why is he allowing the republicans who have openly vowed to see him and his policies fail, along with some whimpy blue-dog democrats, to derail the agenda on which he ran and for which I – we – voted? It is one thing to be thorough and deliberate, to examine all points of view and to listen to all opinions – but come on – at some point, you have to take a stand and say what you stand for – even if it means you stand alone.


So I ask you Mr. President- if not now, when? When will we ever again have such palpable possibility for truly transformative change? I know there is an art to successful negotiations and that compromises must be made, but Mr. President, if you compromise on core values just to make some people less uncomfortable with change, then you’ve gone beyond compromise, you’ve crossed into the territory of betrayal - betrayal of those core values and betrayal of those who believed in you and in your commitment to those values.

It is not too late, you can still come out fighting for a strong public option and I certainly hope you will. I hope you can get some fire in your belly and fight for what I know you know to be the right thing to do – to fight for change that truly matters; change that makes a significant and meaningful difference to the people who are depending on you to bring the change you promised. It obviously is not easy, but this is a fight worth fighting and a fight you still can win - but first, you have to at least put on the gloves and get into the ring.

Mr. President, if you are listening - we who supported you and who voted for you are fired up and ready to go; won’t you please join us?