My thoughts exactly

I have an Obama sticker on my computer. I'm an Obama supporter on Facebook. I've repeatedly said that I think he'd make the best president out of all the current candidates. So why haven't I volunteered to work for his campaign? And, more importantly, why is this whole primary campaign season leaving such a bad taste in my mouth?

At TPMCafe, Kathleen Geier is in exactly the same boat. She writes:

[Obama's] not perfect, but he's a good progressive and unlike Hillary Clinton, he opposed the Iraq war from the beginning...And, unlike Hillary Clinton, he didn't stand and applaud when Bush said the surge was working.

That said, I'm getting increasingly weirded out by some of Obama's supporters.

On listservs I'm on, some people who should know better – hard-bitten, not-so-young cynics, even – are gushing about Barack, raving about his "game-changing" politics, about his "power to inspire," about how they wept while viewing the now-famous Dipdive video, and on and on...

The language used here is the language of evangelical Christianity – the Obama volunteers speak of "coming to Obama" in the same way born-again Christians talk about "coming to Jesus."

But he's not Jesus! He's not going to magically enable us to transcend the bitter partisanship that is tearing this country apart. And even if he is elected, in no way will that show that somehow we have "gotten beyond" race.

The Obama campaign's instruction to their volunteers to steer clear of policy questions. How can we truly bring about real political change if the movement the Obama people are building is devoid of ideological content, content merely to mouth gauzy generalities about "coming together" and "yes we can"?...

Don't get me wrong -- inspiration is fine, necessary even, and the impressive grassroots organizing the Obama campaign is doing holds real promise. Ultimately though, neither Barack Obama nor any other leader is going to save us. What progressives achieve or do not achieve during the next presidency is almost completely dependent on how strong progressives are as a political movement. [emphasis mine]

Just look at our current president. He's miserably incompetent and widely despised by at least half the country. And yet, he's gotten much of his agenda passed through Congress. This has little to do with any special talents or abilities George W. Bush possesses has everything to do with the incredible power and discipline of the conservative movement in this country.

This is exactly right on the money (and makes me wonder why I haven't read any Kathleen Geier columns before now). American liberals are hoping for a savior - a single great leader who will provide the vision to sway the American people back to the side of good, who will have the charisma to win the nation over. A Liberal Jesus.

He isn't coming. He's never come in the past. FDR wouldn't have been the Liberal Savior if the country hadn't been more than ready to give the new liberalism a try; same with Reagan for the conservatives. And on top of that, if a Liberal Jesus did emerge, I probably wouldn't trust him.

In short, liberals need to be our own savior.

And that's why I'm feeling so disheartened by what's happening in the Democratic primaries. Once again, Kathleen Geier expresses my worries perfectly:

I worry...that some Obama supporters have become so emotionally invested in him that they would not support Clinton if she eventually prevails. And that would be tragic. Voters are fed up with Republicans, have moved significantly to the left on many political issues, and are more open to voting Democratic than at any time in years. Democrats are well-positioned to finally to enact a progressive agenda and maybe even achieve long-deferred progressive goals like universal health care and labor law reform.

To do any of this, a Democratic president is essential. And the small differences between Clinton and Obama are infinitesimal indeed when compared to the differences between either of them and any of the Republicans...

So I say, we should all get a grip, stop all this unseemly mooning over Barack, see him and the political landscape he is a part of in a cooler, clearer, and more realistic light, and get to work.