With Obama set to announce his choice for VP, voters are weighing in on who they think should be his running mate. 100,000 Strong Against Evan Bayh for VP is a facebook page that describes Bayh as a “career legacy politician who fell hook, line, and sinker for the…war and dragged much of our party with him.” It only has some 4,000 signatories but they’re aiming high. Reminiscent of the MyBo page against Obama’s FISA vote there is a clear determination on the part of Obama supporters to hold him accountable.
One can debate just how effective these online campaigns are—Obama did not change his position on FISA, though he did issue an explanation of why he voted the way he did—but, at a minimum, they indicate a level of internal dissent that is healthy.
What about the others on the short list? There’s a lot of talk about Obama’s need to bolster his foreign policy credentials, which seems to be driving the momentum behind Joe Biden. But Biden is far from the kind of progressive running mate many hoped Obama would choose. It appears that Obama’s supposed weakness on national security has eclipsed the primacy of a broader progressive agenda. Is this a failure of the progressive movement?
Here to discuss what the VP selection process might tell us about an Obama presidency are author and activist Kenyon Farrow, Andrea Batista Schlesinger of the Drum Major Institute, Lisa Witter of Fenton Communications, and theAmerican Prospect’s Courtney Martin.
2 Comments
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Laura Flanders
Advanced search
Blog Feed
Video Feed
Video Podcast
Audio Podcast
Does it really matter? When will the American people wake up and realize nothing will change until “WE THE PEOPLE” make a stand and tell Washington we’ve had enough and take our country back! I think the biggest weakness of the American people is that they have forgotten that “WE don’t work for the Government, the Government works for us”! In a normal situation they would be fired and we could bring in the people who would actually work for us. Why don’t we choose our Politicians like the Courts choose Juriors. Give everyone a chance. If they have what it takes, give them a 2 to 4 year term then on to the next one and no life long Politicians to milk us dry for their own interests!
How about we focus on America and not every other country. I was always taught that charity starts at home. That’s not the case with our system and that too needs to change. In a perfect world, we would take care of business at home then see what we could do to help others. Frankly, until we get rid of the Government from a city, state and fedral stand as it is today, nothing will change. You can put your hopes in the candidates, but you will end up dissapointed as is the norm!
Right on! The poor and the average working person is the majority. Let’s make the government work for us; right now its just making the rich richer, and they are financing their wars and fighting them with our dollars and children.