CLRs Have No Choice

A couple of days ago, I 'fessed up to being a crazy leftist radical (CLR), something that the lunatic right--you know, those founts of wisdom and taste such as Limbaugh, Hannity, and O'Reilly--are calling Obama every day. They lie about everything else, and this too is a lie. A CLR is most assuredly not an accurate description of Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama is first and foremost a prototypical American politician, who, now that he has the Democratic party's nomination for president locked up, is tacking as quickly as he can to the amorphous center, the squishy middle where maybe you are and maybe you aren't and nobody can really tell so maybe they'll vote for me. You will not find a better rendition of why Obama's floundering than right here, to wit:

He back-flipped and supported the FISA bill. He rejected public financing, blasted the Supreme Court's decision striking down the death penalty for child rape and in the process proclaimed that he's . . . against "a blanket" prohibition on the death penalty. He showcased his Bible acumen with Christian fundamentalists, backpedaled from his pledge to sit down for talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said he wouldn't support the reinstatement of the fairness doctrine and endorsed white conservative Georgia Rep. John Barrow in his election battle with Regina Thomas, a liberal black state representative.

The most painful Obama flop is Iraq. His much played up anti-Iraq war stance was the biggest single thing that galvanized liberals and radicals. His new line that he favors a glacially slow, vaguely laid out timetable for a phased withdrawal from Iraq seems not much different than what McCain advocates.

What this course has done, and the latest polls are now showing him actually behind that certified moron McCain, is alienate the most staunch of his followers, people who really thought things could change in this country. People who believe that the times and the fearsome problems we face demand more than just the same old tired approach that requires the corporate capitalist stamp of approval. People like me.

I've already beat up on myself enough for being so credulous, so I won't do that anymore. But I do have assure you, that I will be voting for Obama come November. What other choice do I have? (Although, as I recently told a friend, I could write in Neil Young or vote for myself, my dog, my neighbor, or Obama five or six times for all the difference that will make in Oklahoma.) Our political system has made sure that CLRs have nowhere else to go. I've voted for a third-party candidate for president numerous times in the past when registering my protest seemed more important than it does now. I've spent my whole life in protest, and where are we? Just further along the path that I've been protesting. And I greatly fear that's the path we're going to continue on.