Let's cut the crap

[Neo-wobbly]

There are three kinds of prevalent attitudes that have been disturbing me; pro-Clinton, pro-Obama, and pro-unity. While I have disagreed, strongly, with the first two, I have been hesitant to take on the third. With accusations such as "FReeper" being tossed around, the last thing I want to do is to seem to attack the Party, but now I've had it.

I have my issues with the supporters of either candidate, much less the candidates themselves, but there is another issue that is coming up which I would like to address: The idea that we must support the Democratic Nominee, regardless of their policies. I disagree.

History time! The year is 1964, and Alabama governor George Wallace is challenging sitting-president Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination. George Wallace made himself famous by attempting to (physically!) stop racial integration in the University of Alabama, and, by extension, the rest of the South. Lyndon Johnson had succeeded John Kennedy as President following his assassination. The winner would be destined to face off against "Mr. Conservative" himself, Barry Goldwater. Now, as despicable as Goldwater's policies were, who would argue that the party should have united behind Wallace had he won the nomination?

To compare and contrast:

This election is similar to the election of 1964, because we have an extremely divided party striving to compromise on issues that are central to the lives of its members.

This election is different, because in 1964, we had a liberal candidate and a conservative candidate vying for the nomination; in 2008, we have two conservative candidates!

On a slightly less relevant, but possibly more troubling note, is this: two years later, in 1966, Wallace had his wife elected as governor of Alabama in order to circumvent the term-limit provision of the state constitution. Sound familiar?

Now I've got the Lurleen HRC-supporters mad, so I'll balance it out by saying something nice about her; ask me next week to see if I thought of something.

In 1964, I would have voted for Johnson because despite everything, he had some genuinely progressive notions. In 2008, I cannot see voting for either Obama or Clinton, even though I (slightly) favor Obama; we know about HRC and we know about McCain, which makes this a case of "better the devil you don't know..."

"Party unity" is no excuse for hypocrisy, and neither Obama nor Clinton are excuses for Democrats.