Here is his commentary:
Last weekend my neighbor offered me four tickets to attend the Barack Obama rally in Minneapolis. Although I'm a longtime member of the Independence Party, my wife and I took our two children and joined 20,000 people to hear the dynamic young presidential candidate.
In terms of rhetoric, we were not disappointed. My spine tingled as Obama began his speech by recalling the legendary words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and framing his candidacy in terms of the "fierce urgency of now."
I was even more moved when he told the audience that he would tell people "not what they wanted to hear, but what they needed to hear."
"Yes," I said to myself, "that's precisely what's required."
Obama then followed this statement by claiming that he alone had the courage to go into Detroit and tell the automobile industry that it needed to increase fuel-efficiency standards to 35 miles per gallon.
"Perhaps Obama is different," I thought. This was in spite of the fact that earlier in his speech he had already promised that by the end of his first term, every American would have health insurance, every child under 5 would have access to early education, and that he would successfully cap America's carbon dioxide emissions.
I could hardly believe it, but I was on the verge of being swayed by Obama.
Now, I figured, he was going to tell us that if his administration hoped to accomplish these goals, we -- the citizens -- needed to be part of the solution.
Unfortunately, no great call to action came. Not one of his promises was followed by a concrete example of what we could do to help address these enormous challenges. In short, Obama told his audience only what we wanted to hear.
To be fair, none of the candidates has yet leveled with the American public about its culpability in contributing to the health care crisis and global climate change. But I sense Obama is setting up himself and his supporters for failure unless he gets serious about confronting the American public with the costs and personal sacrifices required to achieve his compelling vision of the future.
I remain open to voting for Obama -- just as I am open to John McCain or Michael Bloomberg (should he decide to run) -- but I want a leader who doesn't simply inspire me, but calls me to action. I suspect a great many other independents feel the same.
Another commentary from the Hankster:
What the left/liberal bloggers are saying is they can't REALLY trust Obama to get us out of Iraq (Hillary is given a pass on this issue), and they're not sure where he stands on government surveillence (Wouldn't that be #2 on the Dem party platform after getting out of Iraq?? But I digress.....) Apparently Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas grumbled that "the usual D.C. consulting crowd" was advising Obama to run a "safe race."
Brad Plumer goes on to say that "Of course, irking the major bloggers won't sink Obama's campaign. And he still has ample support both from midsized blogs and many blog readers - he consistently does well in Daily Kos and MoveOn straw polls."
Though I agree that the Big Blogs aren't the end of the story and as in all establishment venues, it's the Daily Kos and MDD, Open Left, etc. that have the standing, there does appear to be the same establishment/grassroots split in the blogosphere as we have everywhere else.
I'm an independent and as such in New York, I have no vote in the primaries that are taking place. I don't know that I would endorse Barack Obama unless he asked me to (Which he has not. And I didn't receive The Memo....) and unless he had some pretty compelling arguments.
One argument might be that he recognizes independents by name (Obama has yet to acknowledge endorsements of significant independent leaders in California like independentvoice.org's Jim Mangia, or Chicago's David Cherry of Illinois Independent Voters, or South Carolina's Independence Party's Wayne Griffin. In Missouri, independents like Barbara Woodruff put Obama over the top and raised the possibility that he might win the election based on independent voters. )
And he should talk concretely about our issues (Like open primaries, initiative and referendum, and other political reforms) when he claims our support.
That said, I don't like the politics of Daily Kos and Markos Moulitsas. Kos wants to be a vote broker for a supposed liberal voting bloc. Kos is living proof that the Amercian left is a calcified comodity of the Democratic Party that can be consumed like this morning's latte. (NOTE to Markos: The Liberal Movement has expired, please check your credentials at the door.)
The 2008 difference is that there's a real independent movement underway... A movement that Barack Obama and David Axelrod and other Dem strategists should pay very close attention to.
The Netroots are not alone. Compare the black Dem establishment. As Lenora Fulani put it yesterday: {A]ll of New York's black members of Congress backed Hillary and helped produce her highest percentage of the black vote anywhere in the country - 37 percent. In Harlem, the seat of the black establishment, represented by Congressman Charles Rangel, Hillary beat Obama by 7½ points. Rev. Al Sharpton remained neutral, managing to avoid getting caught in the crossfire between the insurgent and establishment camps.
We are in a fight in this country between the establishment (the elites) and the grassroots (everybody else). There's nothing in the blogosphere or in technology, in Harlem, or in Obama's campaign, that is inherently independent or forward-looking. That's up to us the people. The ability of the Obama campaign to connect with the independent movement will depend on the Obama campaign's ability to connect with independent voters, not their ability to read political polls.
I'm not surprised that Kos doesn't care about this fight and settles for "Dems Uber Alles". And don't you be surprised either when Kos and Charlie Rangel start saying we have to elect Hillary in order to beat Bush -- even if Bush is not running. Hey, you gotta have something to be against to win an election, right? Right. Except it's 2008. And we ain't yesterday's fools. -NH
P.S. -- Sen. Obama, if you want us, come get us. Don't be distant!
What do you think about the candidates outreach to independents?
Michael H. Drucker
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