Like all Obama supporters I was elated when our candidate reached the magic number and secured the delegates necessary for the nomination. At Rick’s there was a free beer or wine for Americans supporting Obama on the day he clinched the nomination. I’d followed the primary campaign season selectively through blogs and online news sites, feeling a great sense of solidarity among the net community. But then my mind immediately started to focus on the election. Even though I’m in Casablanca I do have a not too shabby little vehicle at my disposal for hosting events in support of Barack Obama as President of the United States. I am planning, in conjunction with Democrats Abroad, “First Tuesdays at Rick’s” beginning the first Tuesday in July and leading up to Election Day. First Tuesdays will be open to Americans and Moroccans alike, a time to share the excitement of the campaign and the future it portends. Mentally I’ve moved from online to the front line – my front line is a small one, but symbolic nonetheless – and as an American operating an iconic bar in Casablanca I have my ear to the ground. I see how avidly Moroccans are following the election, and how Moroccans in ALL walks of life look at Barack Obama and see the values they had always associated with America...until the Bush Administration cast aside American values in exchange for their own political, economic and personal agendas. Today I made my first donation to Barack Obama’s campaign, it’s not large, but it’s not the last donation I will make. I agree with Barack Obama’s decision to fund his campaign through his supporters, considering McCain’s cynical abuse of public financing now and in the primary campaign. But there are some things post-nomination that really disturb me. Maybe it’s my age, 62, and the fact I voted for the first time in the Oregon primary of 1968 for Eugene McCarthy – and would have actively supported RFK if he had gained the nomination. The election of 1968, my first Presidential election year could have made me a pessimist and drop out. Not only did Nixon win (against a Democratic candidate selected in the divisive Chicago convention), but one of my heros, Oregon senator Wayne Morse, was defeated by an upstart Portland lawyer, Robert Packwood. Instead, still, and always, outraged by the inequities of 1968 I have fervently supported every Democratic candidate, in spite of their being sometimes my second or third choice. Today, there is no wider gap between our candidate and the Republican – on every measure. But what do I see happening...nitpicking. When I look at my favorite blogs lately, I’m amazed at some stuff that’s going on. One, my favorites, was my lifeline during the primaries. What happened? As the primaries ended, the Discussion Leader/General who had so skillfully and sensitively directed the conversations over the six months of primaries, suddenly got delusions of grandeur, a “movement” developed, commenters started dividing into regional groups...and I could see these online friends diverting their energies away from the Obama campaign. The leader took his followers to another site. Following that, the FISA “compromise”. Yes it’s a stupid thing, but negotiated through Congress...a Congress filled with a good number of Democrats that need to be defeated, and will be defeated, by candidates coming in on President Obama’s coattails. And as Obama said that in the Senate he would move to strip telecom immunity, that is really all he can do. Right now, he’s a humble first term Senator and cannot cross – no matter how much he might want to – our Democratic leadership in Congress. So what I’m saying to anyone who might come across this rant is this: PLEASE DON’’T LOSE YOUR PERSPECTIVE. WE NEED TO WIN THIS ELECTION, THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF OUR LIFETIME. We need Barack Obama as President to provide direction to the House Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader to guide legislation; to appoint an Attorney General who will repair the Justice Department and restore the rule of law, and to guide appointments to the Supreme Court who will restore that which has been stripped from our Constitution. Keep your eyes on the goal – this is our last and best chance.
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