Compare, Contrast, Reflect

Zenpundit, a conservative blogger who I read regularly on all things small-war:

I’m getting the vibe that the Obamaniacs, who already see “political opposition= racism”, will, if victorious, be all too willing to use the hand of government to pressure critics into silence.

The charge that political opposition is being equated to racism is patently ridiculous, but it's the rest of the sentence that I want to focus on. Consider my friend Ray, not an Obamaniac but certainly an Obama supporter:

[After] this recent outrage-du-jour - John McCain telling campaign advisors that he's going to "whip his you-know-what" (Obama) in the next debate, the cries of racist, racist comment, racist subtext, etc went to red in some areas of the liberal blogosphere.

Sorry, folks, I just don't see it. And feel free to make your argument in the comments or send me a strongly worded email but it's not really open to discussion as far as I'm concerned so don't expect a reply.

A conclusion that I completely agree with.  I guess most people would consider me an Obamaniac, because I've been volunteering for the man since March 15th. But I don't consider myself one, and as evidence I offer this, this, this and this.

In fact, I don't think I know anyone  who volunteers for the campaign on a regular basis who I would classify as an Obamaniac, meaning, a hero-worshipper.  That's a portrait created by the media and Obama's political opponents, largely. (They also think we Obama volunteers are all teens and twenty-somethings, which is really funny.) The people I have been working with for seven months really, really admire his oratory and his campaign skills. He's a very inspiring speaker. After he stops talking, though, we do continue thinking.

So, among us not-quite-Obamaniacs, is there a "vibe" that we'd "be all too willing to use the hand of government to pressure critics into silence"? Are you fucking crazy? First of all, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU, have been my entire adult life. When I shook Obama's hand the other night, I had two items attached to my lapel: This button, and my ACLU pin. This was in a room full of lawyers, people who, despite what you may otherwise have heard, believe in the rule of law. The vibe was not of a mob ready to suppress dissent.

Speaking of suppressing dissent: I am amazed that anyone could read what liberals have been writing about for the past eight years and come to the conclusion that, in order to clean up the mess left by a gang of venal, incompetent ideologues who labeled opposition to war as treason - people who really and truly did use the hand of government to pressure critics into silence, including outing one of our own intelligence officers - we might come into power and return the favor. Yes! That's what we've wanted all along! We don't mind the abuse of power, we just wanted the power in our own hands. You've uncovered our secret plan. Jesus fucking Christ.

To put it less sarcastically, we're the people who want to defend the Bill of Rights. That's part of why we're doing this: We see it imperiled, and fear we're already too late to restore what's been damaged. We don't intend to do any more damage ourselves, and believe me, we've paid enough attention  throughout the Bush years to know what self-deluded defenders of the nation sound like when they're talking themselves into taking a little extra-constitutional authority. A President Obama had better think long and hard about accepting the advice of career intelligence types who try to mau-mau him into continuing warrantless wiretapping, for example, because as soon as it leaks he'll see his erstwhile Obamaniacal support fly right out the fucking window.

Zenpundit's a pretty smart guy, but even someone at the open-minded end of the conservative spectrum has no sense of political proportion. I'm not even mad at him; I can't feel insulted when someone has such a thoroughgoing misunderstanding of what liberals are all about. But if a guy like him spouts such claptrap, it's no wonder the average right-winger believes that Obama is a secret Muslim terrorist traitor. Whatever McCain and Palin do or don't do in the next three weeks is irrelevant. The storyline making the next Democratic President out to be an authoritarian is the same one we had about the last Democratic President. It didn't start with McCain and Palin; they're simply trying to ride it, and it won't end with them. If Obama wins, there will be a hard core of lunatics who will never, ever accept the legitimacy of his Presidency. Fortunately for us all, they will never again be able to do the damage they did during the impeachment in the 90s, when they controlled Congress. Plus, Obama doesn't seem to be the kind of guy to give them an opening by getting sucked off by a young tart in the Oval Office.

So, I am dismayed by all this nonsense, but remain hopeful. Maybe Obama is on to something with his kumbayah shtick. He might be able to make people realize McCain is right that a President Obama is nothing to fear. He's a moderately liberal Senator with a track record of cautious consensus-building that has apparently served him well. He's a technocrat, it seems to this not-quite-Obamaniac, someone who dispassionately masters what he works at, from the jump shot to law review to public speaking to winning the Presidency. His very lack of strong liberal orthodoxy almost cost him the nomination, in fact. If he carries that approach into the White House, marginalizes the lunatics in the far Right and discredits the crazy storyline, the GOP might have to abandon it as a means to power. Clearly, the Republicans are not responsible enough to discredit the lunatics on their own. Who knows?  It could work. Anyway, nothing else has.

Comments

[zenpundit]

Hi Mithras,

Nice post, fairly argued. My comment.

Like you, I greatly value free speech but unfortunately, like civil discourse, respect for freedom of speech has been in noticeable decline in recent decades and that sadly has occurred across the political spectrum. If the ACLU has no shortage of cases, FIRE is no less busy. It would be nice if most Americans placed as high a value on civil liberties as you do but I think, statistically speaking, that is not the case, either Left or Right. The ability to tolerate opposing political speech seems to me to be a quality in short supply these days.

Of course, most supporters of Barack Obama are reasonable people, like yourself, but the Senator has also drawn support from people whose adulatory impulses exceed their respect for the democratic process. When I read about local district attorneys who support Senator Obama threatening his critics with criminal libel, as in St. Louis, that's disturbing, particularly when these are elected officials with considerable power and not anonymous yahoos.

So no, Mithras I don't think that you or most Obama supporters are inclined to support abuses of power. I'm concerned about a zealous fringe or cynical partisans who are along for the ride.