Wednesday, March 14, 2007
In defense of David Obey
Harold Meyerson at the Washington Post has a nice defense of the new chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey (D-WI) against his anti-war critics.
Despite the taunts from both the G.O.P and the extreme elements of the anti-war left, the Democratic led Congress under Speaker Nancy Pelosi-who has remained consistently anti-war-is developing a realistic plan to end of the US occupation of Iraq. Unfortunately for some, a plan isn’t good enough. Perhaps reflecting the civic ignorance of many of countrymen, some on the anti-war left think all we need a big-bang vote and boom; out come the troops.
As Meyerson puts it:
“Last week, as he was working to build support for amendments that would impose a 2008 deadline on U.S. combat activities in Iraq, Obey was accosted by Tina Richards, an antiwar activist and mother of a Marine. With YouTube immortalizing the encounter, Richards asked Obey why he was supporting the supplemental war appropriations bill to which the amendments would be attached and why Congress couldn't just defund the war and bring the troops home now…Obey has since apologized for blowing up, but that hasn't deterred some antiwar bloggers from condemning him as some loony warmonger.”
Despite the taunts from both the G.O.P and the extreme elements of the anti-war left, the Democratic led Congress under Speaker Nancy Pelosi-who has remained consistently anti-war-is developing a realistic plan to end of the US occupation of Iraq. Unfortunately for some, a plan isn’t good enough. Perhaps reflecting the civic ignorance of many of countrymen, some on the anti-war left think all we need a big-bang vote and boom; out come the troops.
As Meyerson puts it:
"What Pelosi and Obey understand that their critics on the left seem to
ignore is that it will take numerous congressional votes and multiple
confrontations with Bush to build the support required to end U.S. involvement.
Thanks to the Constitution's division of powers, Congress and the White House
seem bound for months of fighting over the conditions attached to any approval
of funds for continuing our operations in Iraq. Over time, as the war drags on,
either enough Republicans will join their Democratic colleagues to put an end to
U.S. intervention, or they will stick with Bush, thereby ensuring there will be
a sufficient number of Democrats in the next Congress to end the war."
I’m not saying that the anti-war movement should pack up and let Congress do its job. Politicians react to organized pressure and the organized anti-war movement needs to make sure that our representatives are reminded that November 2006 was largely a referendum on the Iraq war and that the American people want our involvement in Iraq to end. Parts of the responsible anti-war movement are already doing this.
The irresponsible anti-war left-those folks who think Congressional Democrats are now our main enemy and should be confronted head on-on the other hand seems to be aping Stalin’s bad advice to the German Communists in the early 1930’s; their main enemy was not the Nazi’s, but the reformist Social-Democrats. As one spokesperson for this trend and frequent O’Reilly Factor guest put it:
“The triumph of the new Democratic Congress on their first day and their
promises of a "new direction" offered all the refreshment of Lysol dressing up
the stench of rotting homes of New Orleans' Ninth Ward, of human waste and blood
in the secret C.I.A. torture dungeons, and of the mangled bodies that are being
chewed by dogs in the streets of of Baghdad…Throughout their painstakingly
choreographed first day in Congress, the horrors that the Democrats are working
with the Bush Regime to push out of the public eye and the deep and widespread
disgust of millions with these horrors kept bubbling up.”
Right. If we really think that we have made no progress in influencing those in power we might as well give it up, because if the only tactic we have available to us is direct action stunts and mini-protests to topple the President, progressives will remain impotent. Ending the war in Iraq will means at this point an active coalition with Congressional Democrats, particularly with consistent anti-war Democrats like Jack Murtha, Jim Webb and yes, Nancy Pelosi. Like any coalition it will be fraught with compromise and frustration and at times will move slower than we would like. But in America, political coalitions are the only means to power as shown by the successes and failures of nearly every progressive movement in our history.
Speaking of the anti-war movement, this Saturday there will be a march on the Pentagon. Sadly the whole affair is organized by the leading exponent of the irresponsible anti-war left, International ANSWER. I’m still planning to go and will report back, in general it's a waste of time for progressive activists to work with these outfits that are almost wholly dominated by ultra-left dinosaurs with reactionary and bizarre politics. I would say we have under three years left of occupation to go and by 2008 the neo-conservative school of foreign policy will be almost wholly shunned. At this point these groups will have moved on to another issues to organize a “mass movement” around. We should be working on a building a long-term progressive coalition with the forces that can actually make change in society-labor, the African American and Latino community, young activists and progressive elected officials-not just scream at those in power.
Labels: anti-war movement, David Obey, Harold Meyerson, Internation ANSWER
# posted by Gang of One @ 10:26 AM 
