Beef, Smears, C4O and Other Dramz!

About 2 months ago, give or take - I was approached by psychodrew and atdleft and asked if I wanted to join as a contributor for the blog Clintonistas for Obama.

I went to the site and saw the list of people that were involved. Some of the names I didnt recognize, but others not only did I know - but were some of my favourite people at MyDD. I didn't hesitate in accepting.

Around the same time that I was working on a diary that was not particularly flattering to Obama. I didn't know what to do - should I cross post it or not? Since now it was not just little old canadian gal speaking - I was afraid that the C4O's may not want to be associated with it. So I emailed psychodrew and atdleft asking what I should do. They were split - on one hand we agreed that the C4O are explicitly not cheerleaders but on the other - this would be my first post - would this be a good introduction?

In the end - they both encouraged me to cross post - I did. But the fact that I considered censoring myself due to the political climate should be bothersome to those that share progressive values. For the record C4O do not ask for consensus before posting - although I did this particular time.

Why am I sharing this, or better yet why should you care?

Well currently one of the C4O is being attacked for 'smearing' Obama. We are not a monolithic voice. Just like none of you are. And speaking only for myself is I COULDN'T GIVE A DAMN WHETHER A PRAYER WAS LEAKED OR NOT. And I might add that not only am I Jewish but have been to the Wall.

But that's not the point of this diary really - rather that this hysteria of criticism of Obama - whether accurate, warranted or not needs to stop. *YOU* ARE NOT A PURVEYOR OF DISCUSSION THAT IS ALLOWED. Now that isn't to say that there are some blatant troll diaries around like this or this, but I think the disctinction is pretty clear to intellectually honest people.

We, as bloggers are not water carriers for a particular candidate but rather united in are desire to see liberal (or Democratic) values and agenda in governance (at least most of us are).

I read a piece at Talk Left that summed this problem up rather nicely:

Consider how some on the Left react to any criticism of Barack Obama. Instead of thinking about the ramifications for the policies they claim to support (or oppose), their kneejerk reaction is to defend Obama at all costs and to lash out at anyone who criticizes Obama.

Do they care about the effect on the actual policies? Not so much. By attempting to create a political landscape where Obama can do no wrong - they lose the war on issues.

So really this has got to stop. People have a right to gripe and complain about Obama and anyone else, you want to debate them - go for it. That's why its called Democracy!