Why we support Obama despite our misgivings

By GottaLaff

I start to realize how badly I wish I could articulate my own version of Bob Cesca's words after I read his:

He can't really be in favor of this crapwitted FISA Amendments Bill, can he? Did he really just praise the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives? Greenwald and Olbermann are feuding? Seriously? [...] Really, though, who ever agrees with a politician on everything all the time anyway?

I've said similar things on this very blog, but as you'll see, instead of snark, he has pitch-perfect eloquence. But first, he refers to a Kos diarist:

[A] diarist for Daily Kos reminds us:

Russ Feingold may have been the lone voice standing up to the first Patriot Act, but he voted for the confirmations of John Ashcroft and John Roberts.

Paul Wellstone was a strong liberal voice in the Senate, yet he voted for DOMA and the Patriot Act.

Dennis Kucinich, aside from being on the political fringe, was a lifelong pro-lifer until he decided he wanted to run for president.

Chris Dodd may do quite well on constitutional matters, but he voted for the Iraqi war, the Patriot Act, and is too beholden to the big banks and the hedge funds which he oversees from the Senate Banking Committee.

Bob-Who-Says-Things-Well continues:

You and I could wait a lifetime for a skeleton key presidential nominee to come along who flawlessly interfaces with each of our pet issues, and, consequently, we'd probably die a politically disappointed and overly cynical death. [...] He's [Obama] the liberal who this week, while simultaneously reaching out to evangelical voters, issued an unequivocal statement of opposition against any constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. That's textbook Obama.

Obama's the "we" guy, as in "inclusive".

In the simplest terms possible, choosing to support Senator Obama has never been about issues, but rather, it's always been about, 1) electing a thoughtful, smart president we can reference with pride -- a president who won't flatly embarrass us every damn day, and 2) electing a president who can inspire and negotiate the necessary support he'll need to roll back the darkness of the Bush years. [...]

Despite how we feel about individual issues like FISA or NAFTA, I think most of us with liberal or progressive tendencies can agree that we have a candidate here who is going to succeed on these challenges, while potentially forming a long-range coalition of support that could one day result in a purely progressive netroots candidate. [...]

Senator Obama will help to vindicate our long-suffering, dark ride generation and, thusly, our time in American history [...] If we can keep our attention focused on the big ideas that attracted us to the senator in the first place, he will make us proud.

Bob Cesca's regular daily really awesome blog can be found here. Now, back to the snark.