All you Progressive Patriots of any party or none, who have harbored hopes or concerns about candidate Barack Obama should consider adding your names to this fine open letter from the editors of The Nation magazine. As the editors explain, “Since his historic victory in the Democratic primary, there have been signs that Obama is wavering on some of the core commitments that moved so many progressive voices, including at The Nation, to support him. Please join this open letter calling on Obama to stand firm so he can deliver the change he’s encouraged us to believe is possible.” (Click here to add your own signature!)
Change We Can Believe In
An Open Letter to Barack Obama
Dear Senator Obama,
We write to congratulate you on the tremendous achievements of your campaign for the presidency of the United States…
Your candidacy has inspired a wave of political enthusiasm like nothing seen in this country for decades. In your speeches, you have sketched out a vision of a better future–in which the United States sheds its warlike stance around the globe and focuses on diplomacy abroad and greater equality and freedom for its citizens at home–that has thrilled voters across the political spectrum. Hundreds of thousands of young people have entered the political process for the first time, African-American voters have rallied behind you, and many of those alienated from politics-as-usual have been re-engaged.
You stand today at the head of a movement that believes deeply in the change you have claimed as the mantle of your campaign. The millions who attend your rallies, donate to your campaign and visit your website are a powerful testament to this new movement’s energy and passion.
This movement is vital for two reasons: First, it will help assure your victory against John McCain in November. The long night of greed and military adventurism under the Bush Administration, which a McCain administration would continue, cannot be brought to an end a day too soon. An enthusiastic corps of volunteers and organizers will ensure that voters turn out to close the book on the Bush era on election day. Second, having helped bring you the White House, the support of this movement will make possible the changes that have been the platform of your campaign. Only a grassroots base as broad and as energized as the one that is behind you can counteract the forces of money and established power that are a dead weight on those seeking real change in American politics.
We urge you, then, to listen to the voices of the people who can lift you to the presidency and beyond.
Since your historic victory in the primary, there have been troubling signs that you are moving away from the core commitments shared by many who have supported your campaign, toward a more cautious and centrist stance–including, most notably, your vote for the FISA legislation granting telecom companies immunity from prosecution for illegal wiretapping, which angered and dismayed so many of your supporters.
We recognize that compromise is necessary in any democracy. We understand that the pressures brought to bear on those seeking the highest office are intense. But retreating from the stands that have been the signature of your campaign will weaken the movement whose vigorous backing you need in order to win and then deliver the change you have promised.
Here are key positions you have embraced that we believe are essential to sustaining this movement:
§ Withdrawal from Iraq on a fixed timetable.
§ A response to the current economic crisis that reduces the gap between the rich and the rest of us through a more progressive financial and welfare system; public investment to create jobs and repair the country’s collapsing infrastructure; fair trade policies; restoration of the freedom to organize unions; and meaningful government enforcement of labor laws and regulation of industry.
§ Universal healthcare.
§ An environmental policy that transforms the economy by shifting billions of dollars from the consumption of fossil fuels to alternative energy sources, creating millions of green jobs.
§ An end to the regime of torture, abuse of civil liberties and unchecked executive power that has flourished in the Bush era.
§ A commitment to the rights of women, including the right to choose abortion and improved access to abortion and reproductive health services.
§ A commitment to improving conditions in urban communities and ending racial inequality, including disparities in education through reform of the No Child Left Behind Act and other measures.
§ An immigration system that treats humanely those attempting to enter the country and provides a path to citizenship for those already here.
§ Reform of the drug laws that incarcerate hundreds of thousands who need help, not jail.
§ Reform of the political process that reduces the influence of money and corporate lobbyists and amplifies the voices of ordinary people.
These are the changes we can believe in. In other areas–such as the use of residual forces and mercenary troops in Iraq, the escalation of the US military presence in Afghanistan, the resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the death penalty–your stated positions have consistently varied from the positions held by many of us, the “friends on the left” you addressed in recent remarks. If you win in November, we will work to support your stands when we agree with you and to challenge them when we don’t. We look forward to an ongoing and constructive dialogue with you when you are elected President.
Stand firm on the principles you have so compellingly articulated, and you may succeed in bringing this country the change you’ve encouraged us to believe is possible.
Here is a list of early signatories to this open letter:
Rocky Anderson
Moustafa Bayoumi
Norman Birnbaum Professor Emeritus
Georgetown University Law Center
Tim Carpenter
Progressive Democrats of America
John Cavanaugh, director
Institute for Policy Studies
Chuck Collins
Phil Donahue
Barbara Ehrenreich
Tom Engelhardt
Tomdispatch.com
Jodie Evans, co-f0under
CODEPINK: Women for Peace
Thomas Ferguson
Bill Fletcher Jr., executive editor,
BlackCommentator.com
Eric Foner
Milton Glaser
Robert Greenwald
William Greider
Jane Hamsher
Tom Hayden
Christopher Hayes
Richard Kim
Stuart Klawans
Richard Linklater
Bill McKibben
Walter Mosley
Eli Pariser
Richard Parker, president
Americans for Democratic Action
Gary Phillips
Writer and activist
Jon Pincus
achangeiscoming.net and member of Get FISA Right
Chip Pitts
Frances Piven
Elizabeth Pochoda
Katha Pollitt
Marcus Raskin
Betsy Reed
Bob Scheer
Herman Schwartz
Jonathan Schell
Gene Seymour
David Sirota
Norman Solomon
Author and Obama delegate to Democratic National Convention
Mike Stark
Jean Stein
Matt Stoller
Jonathan Tasini
Zephyr Teachout
Studs Terkel
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Gore Vidal
David Weir
Howard Zinn
(Again, click here to add your own signature!)
As the movement crumbles .
You know Obama is for the status quo. No change there.
That’s it? John Kerry got 59 million votes in the 2004 campaign yet you are all excited about 50 people who have signed your support list. That’s it?
Impressive. Fifty people willing to publicly admit support of the Obama ’08 campaign?
Will the others millions vote for McCain once they close the curtain? We will have to wait until Nov 4th to know for sure.
I feel much better now.
PS: As a consultant to several candidates for elected office one of the first questions I ask them is “why are you running for this post?”
That said, watch the following clip between a 7 year old and Senator Obama from last week.
VIDEONETDAILY
Obama tells 7-year-old America not so great
Responds haltingly to girl who asked why he wants to be president
——————————————————————————–
Posted: August 07, 2008
12:46 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Sen. Barack Obama explains why he’s running for president to an audience in Elkhart, Ind., yesterday
It’s the question every presidential candidate must be prepared to answer, but when it was posed to Barack Obama by a 7-year-old yesterday, the Democratic senator seemed at a loss for words.
Appearing before a packed high school gym in Elkhart, Ind., the young girl asked Obama why he is running for the White House.
“America is, is no longer, uh, what it could be, what it, it once was,” Obama said haltingly. “And I say to myself, I don’t want that future for my children.”
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71713
NOBAMA IS A JOKE . i see phil donahue is on the list . now we have to wait for harry reid . pelosi . fidel castro . hugo chavez .and all of the other of nobamas friends to sign .
Quite frankly I see the Nation as a publication of one of the fringes of the Democratic Party and while I think that they have lots of good ideas I dont think they have a lot of good ideas for bringing their vision to pass. For one thing thinking that witholding support for Obama will help achieve their aims is not in my mind a good idea. However they are Democrats – we are almost composed completely of fringe groups – and they need to be listened to and taken seriously but not followed blindly. Obama knows this.
This must seem pretty inefficient to my Republican colleagues on this blog. I have to tell you I am envious of the efficiency of the Republican Party. The way you stifle dissent and marginalize any naysayers – incredible! The way you work the vote by mail process to your advantage has been consistent for decades and the Democrats havent even done more than wish for such an organization – usually at the end of losing campaigns. Don’t even get me started on your fundraising ability. Carving out the corporations and wealthy Americans was brilliant! Democrats core groups are mostly poor and middle class, not much fund raising ability there.
Still its good to see the Republicans betting on the fundamental racisism of the American people. A lot of people are wondering about that.
My favorite comment is from Larry Willmore of the Dialy Show with Jon Stewart. He said near the end of the primaries last spring, “John, they are not voting for a black man right now, they are voting for the CHANCE to vote for a black man. Come November I think a 78 year old white guy will be about all they change they are ready for.”
I hope not, Obama’s the real deal. We’re lucky to have him.
anonymous.
Obama is the real deal?
Did you watch him struggle with a question from a seven year old girl as to why he wants ot be president?
How will be lead as our “commander-in-chief” as we lobby European nations to bring the Ukraine into NATO and Vladimir Putin starts sabre rattling?
Ugh Larry,
Logical fallacy…hasty generalization.
erick.
Logical fallacy NOT. Hasty generalization perhaps. But dare we gamble with our security.
What do we really know about Obama’s experience?
Do you truly believe he will not be tested by at least one of more nations to see what he is made of?
That’s it? John Kerry got 59 million votes in the 2004 campaign yet you are all excited about 50 people who have signed your support list. That’s it? Impressive. Fifty people willing to publicly admit support of the Obama ‘08 campaign?
Ay, Brother Larry.
I purposely stayed out of it yesterday when you wrote that nonsensical post confusing Disneyland’s corporate decisions with “nanny statism” — while everyone else was jumping on you I kept my silence, because I felt sorry for you.
But what are you doing here? You read what – the first sentence maybe? Or looked at the picture, and then saw fifty signatures?
This is a letter from progressives who are cautiously supporting Obama but are urging him to stick to the principles he espoused during the primary and not sell out and become a Republican-lite like we see too often. Last I checked there are about 30,000 signatures to this letter from the last few days – all public, including mine. These fifty are just the first FAMOUS people to sign.
You seem awfully impressed with this new WorldNet Daily story. Some rightwing author claims that Obama spoke haltingly, and in simple words, to a seven-year old. And this proves? This is the best you guys have?
Let’s see… still no response to any of the substance of the letter… even from my friend anonyms.
8)
I don’t know man…his name IS Hussein…
OK… re-reading my last response to Larry, I think the problem is too much nuance.
This was not really an Obama-cheerleading, pro-Obama post or letter. OK?
It is a letter from progressives who are concerned that Obama may be turning away from some of the values and positions that made us originally like him. And warning him that if this happens, even though we will still probably vote for him as the lesser of two evils, we will be fighting him whenever he takes anti-progressive stands as President. Got that so far?
ALSO. There are about 30,000 signatures. Not fifty. In the few days since this was written. But that’s aside from the fact that it’s not a list of people who support Obama. That would be tens of millions.
Now does that make sense?
Larry,
Just look at some of the names posted…they only included famous progressive liberals like Howard Zinn and Barbara Ehrenreich. These initial signatories were only shown to get people to sign up.
Larry, before you dig that ditch you’re in any deeper, you might take a gander at the you-tube video compilation where Gramps McCain is shown TIME AND AGAIN struggling with the FACTS, COHERENCY AND WHAT CENTURY HE’S IN! Yeah, let’s vote for the DUMB guy AGAIN. By the way Larry, you should read the Nation, you just might LEARN something.
Hahaha…
I couldn’t stop laughing when I heard Grandpa McSame say that “We were all Georgians”.
Abuelito McCaine may be getting press coverage for his stance on the Russian-Georgian conflict but it is nothing but rhetoric and metaphors. Does that mean he has more knowledge of world affairs than Obama? Hell no!
It just says that he is responding to anything that would put him ahead of the election game. The president of Georgia even dismissed his comments!
I knew I couldn’t keep this post on the subject of the qualms we progressives have with Obama … it’s so much easier for us to worry about / make fun of poor old mad McCain! And the Republicans here are so dopey they can’t really tell what we’re saying anyway, so… Si Se Puede!
Brother Vern.
You never have to feel sorry for me. By the way we missed you at Art’s birthday party yesterday
Vern.
The letter for which you are so enamored reads:
“Here are key positions you have embraced that we believe are essential to sustaining this movement:
§ Withdrawal from Iraq on a fixed timetable.”
There was no reason to read beyond that dumb comment.
Departure from Iraq on a fixed timetable is as bad as Geraldo Rivera who was “kicked out of Iraq after “compromising” army operations.
He was de-accredited by the US military for reporting Western troop movements in the war,
giving out his location coordinates when he was embedded in Iraq.”
What US General provided that wonderful withdrawl timeframe?
Not-so-great one,
As always, thanks for your trenchant, insightful commentary. If anyone ever needed a reason to be a Democrat, you’re it.
This Presidential election kinda sucks. It is almost like the Movies Oscars.
Old man McCain wont be around for the next one so lets give him this one.
And, why waste a big gun now just toss them a Obama .
I hope that if either one of them gets elected that they hire the right people to make that 3am decision.
Of course a Navy Cross (DFC) will go a long way and weigh heavily in my personal choice to vote for President.
17 or so called progressives aka a made up word for far left libs . and also 17 stay on your far left side . if NOBAMA IS YOUR MAN .
I applaud the likes of Juan Cole and Gore Vidal for doing this, though I’m not sure if Obama will ever read it.
We do need to get him to be accountable for his recent shift to the right. It’s not being honest and responsible towards his base or the American people.
I’m disullioned enough to vote Third Party at this point: http://tinyurl.com/5w9w9v
Not-so-great one,
And you can stay on your far right side. In fact, you’re so far right you just might fall off the ledge into the abyss.
Yikes, did I just lower myself to the Not-so-great one’s low level? Oh well, as long as we’re labeling anything that moves.
Everybody wants a pony. Good grief! Be careful what you wish for. ;-} ~ M
21 more n likely far left vern . i dont need to stoop to your progressive wrong side . oops i said a bad word . your so far left stalin is rolling over in his grave crying and yelling . where was nobama during my time . if he was the president russia would still be a world power .
Not-so-great one,
Fer right, far right, far right, far right, far right, far right, far right, far right, far right, far right, far right.
Etc., etc.
post 24 . far left . lefty . socialist , commi , progressive. liberal , =WRONG
Isn’t is nice that we permit comments by readers from both both ends of the spectrum. The far right and far left. That’s fair and balanced.