On Nov 6, 2008, at 2:47 PM, Louis Proyect wrote:
Charles Brown wrote:
The question
should be about what's going on beneath the surface and how the
phenomenal embrace of vague "change" can be channeled into struggle
for fundamental real change.
I believe the Sandwichman wrote the above (misquoted thanks to CB's
quoting style! ;-)).
Sometimes, I feel like the ragtag bunch of us who pass for the US left
are no more than an episode of the once popular TV cartoon show: Pinky
and The Brain!
I am no more certain that the results reflect a "phenomenal embrace of
vague 'change'" than I am that the profits of cigarette companies
reflect the phenomenal embrace of riding horses or other activities
that are advertised as co-existent with smoking. And if there is such
an embrace (of "vague change"), then I think that very act bleeds away
any chances of struggle for real change.... But I am yet to fully read
Julio's response to me, and I remain optimistic that he will give me a
more positive view of things.
Joanna notes:
There is no question that class trumped race in this election and
this is a good thing. There is no question that Obama's election is
the result of thousands' of disenfrancised and passive people
becoming politically active and this is a good thing.
But wait: it is black turnout that seems to have increased, no? Whites
voted more for Kerry than they did for Obama. And turnout wasn't all
that much better either. That's just the election, of course. Have the
disenfranchised become politically active in other ways? Can you
expand on that? I didn't and don't see that happening, since Obama
explicitly eschewed organising around issues (by both rejecting such
movements as the 'netroots', and financially castrating organisations
that could advance issues as 527s).
--ravi
--
Support something better than yourself ;-)
PeTA => http://peta.org/
Greenpeace => http://greenpeace.org/
If you have nothing better to read: http://platosbeard.org/
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