interesting. thanks for this run-down, as i'm still trying to figure out how i feel and what i'm going to do re: obama. maybe doug (who ought to have his own blog, anyway -- have we talked about this here or on lob-talk before?) could be persuaded to make his remarks available on the lbo site or post them here? my appypollylodgies if i missed them on lbo-talk.
i have felt for some time that nader himself failed to do the work necessary to keep that movement afloat after 2000 (iirc, this was also doug's position at least for a time), but i am open to schooling on the subject. On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 11:25 AM, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Last night I attended a well-attended and fascinating panel discussion at > the Brecht Forum in New York on the Obama campaign. With the exception of > Doug Henwood, all the panelists were for voting for Obama to one extent or > another. During the Q&A, there were some extraordinary contributions from > the floor. The meeting was being videotaped as well. If it ever ends up the > Internet, I will make sure to publicize the URL. > > All the speakers were limited to five minutes in their initial presentation > and Doug, unlike the others, read from a prepared text. Let's hope that it > is available online at some point since he had some very interesting > insights, as you might expect. Basically, he called attention to the rather > insubstantial character of the Obama "movement", which rests on his charisma > and built-up disgust with the Republican Party more than anything else. He > also spoke about Obama's turn to the right following his nomination, a > familiar pattern with Democratic nominees for President. In a follow-up, > Doug made a very useful point. He said that Reagan, unlike Obama, had a real > movement behind him. Reagan was part of a well-organized conservative > movement, while there is no counterpart on the Democratic side this year. > That being the case, what sense did it make to talk about the "movement" > keeping Obama honest. > > Next to speak was Gary Younge, a Black Briton who is the Guardian > correspondent based in New York and a contributor to the Nation magazine. > Younge has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Obama and rather > than trying to summarize what he said last night, I will instead refer you > to one of his articles. Younge also made a point that was a leitmotif > throughout from the panelists and the audience, namely that since the left > was so weak it had no other option except to back Obama. We were impotent > while Obama attracts 75,000 people to his rally. Fortunately, according to > Younge, Obama was far better than the average Democrat so we would not be > compromising ourselves so much. He saw the role of the left as organizing > itself so as to keep pressure on him to hew to the left, even if we were > kind of impotent. > > full: > http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/a-panel-discussion-on-obama/ > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >
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