Unity08 and Obama
I just had a terrifying premonition: Barack Obama becomes the Unity08 candidate. I guess I read a bit too much over at National Review today. Jonah Goldberg:
My hunch is that average Americans on either side of the ideological divide recognize their dilemma. Bipartisanship is overrated, but nobody wants day one of a new presidency to begin at the partisan equivalent of DefCon 1. America is now in the grip of Mutually Assured Demonization. If the GOP throws up another Bush (or, perhaps, a Gingrich), "Blue" America will turn its missile keys. If the Democrats trot out a Gore, a Clinton or a Kerry, Red America will respond in kind. How else to explain the enormous popularity of Barack Obama, whose anagram-like name seems to spell "fresh start" for millions of Americans who know nothing about him?
First of all, Red America (why doesn't he put it in quotes like he does for "Blue" America?) will flip out regardless of who the Democrats nominate. Its one of their quirky charms. But Goldberg's hunch about the public is, I think, basically correct and Obama will represent a fresh start for them. I argued the same thing in October and still stand by it. But I'm concerned that it's starting to sound like the Unity08 manifesto, which is a certrist (i.e., serious, Beltway insiders) organization pretending to be a citizen-powered movement. They call that "astroturf" in the biz. What's ironic is their stand on the issues sounds mighty familiar:
Unity08 divides issues facing the country into two categories: Crucial Issues – on which America’s future safety and welfare depend; and Important Issues – which, while vital to some, will not, in our judgment, determine the fate or future of the United States.In our opinion, Crucial Issues include: Global terrorism, our national debt, our dependence on foreign oil, the emergence of India and China as strategic competitors and/or allies, nuclear proliferation, global climate change, the corruption of Washington’s lobbying system, the education of our young, the health care of all, and the disappearance of the American Dream for so many of our people.
By contrast, we consider gun control, abortion and gay marriage important issues, worthy of debate and discussion in a free society, but not issues that should dominate or even crowd our national agenda.
In our opinion – since the disintegration of the Soviet Union – our political system seems to have focused more attention on the “important issues” than the “crucial issues.” One result: The political parties have been built to address the interests of their “base” but have failed to address the realities that impact most Americans.
Gee, who has been ignoring the "crucial" issues and promoting the "important" issues (sans gun control, unless you count the NRA's tireless lobbying efforts) recently? Here's a hint: they controlled Congress until this year's election. Unity08's position on the issues is a liberal agenda. It is not a conservative one. So why all the nonsense about being unified? I don't get it. I don't wish the Democrats to practice divisive politics, but I do want them to distinguish themselves--clearly--from the Republicans and give the American people a choice.
Maybe Unity08 won't endorse Obama (I think they're permanent passengers of the straight-talk express and Joe's party of one) but if they do it will make them partisans. And God knows, that is the biggest problem facing our nation today, according to George Will and David Broder. We must return civility to Washington, currently being destroyed by the Democrats, and return to a simpler time when the Vice President of the United States could politely tell a US Senator to go fuck himself on the floor of the Senate.
Truly those were halcyon times...