Really, thank you so much. Your extremism has helped me move beyond my hate and back into the realm of rationality. Finally. The hateful words I see thrown around by some of the Hillary supporters on this site are appalling. (By the way, if you're not one of the crazies, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about a small handful of people, and I don't think any of the regular diarists around here fit the bill. So try not to be offended.) Some of the Obama supporters are equally offensive, but there are quite a few reasonable, decent Obama backers around here, several of whom have treated me very respectfully, despite our differences in opinion. In fact, it sometimes feels as if Obama supporters (on MyDD, at least) are more open to respectful disagreements than Clinton supporters.
But some of the Clinton supporters on MyDD have cured me of my stubbornness. DKos became an unpleasant environment awhile back, so I left to escape the hate and vitriol aimed at Hillary; I came here, only to discover... a whole lot of hate and vitriol. It was just pointed in the other direction. When I first showed up, there was a good bit of "Obama is a secret Muslim" going around. I saw people referring to him as "the affirmative action candidate". I saw people making comments like, "Oh, boo-hoo, the poor downtrodden blacks, what will they do if Obama isn't president?" The people making those sorts of remarks were banned quickly, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were GOP trolls; nevertheless, I was taken aback (so much so that I wrote a diary pleading with people to knock it off). Still, I thought a lot of the anti-Obama rhetoric was amusing and well deserved.
My attitude began to shift when the Wright controversy began. Please note that I have nothing against the people who were offended by Wright or by Obama's association with him. I completely understand that. Wright's language was definitely inflammatory. However, my views on the issue are more in line with those of Obama's supporters, so I found myself in agreement with them more often than not. I soon realized that defending Wright and Obama was a lonely and fruitless activity for a Clinton supporter, so I stopped reading Wright diaries and refrained from getting into arguments about it in other threads. As I said, I understand people's disgust over the Wright thing, but some people were so vehement and so cruel. Some of it was clearly (dare I say) racist. So while people were furiously arguing with one another, I took a big step back, and that's what ultimately made the difference.
I started feeling sorry for Obama because of the way people were exploiting his relationship with a man he cared about. I started feeling sorry for TUCC. I listened to the sermon, The Audacity to Hope, and found it to be insightful and immensely enjoyable (and I'm a deist, not a religious type). Thereafter, I even started feeling sorry for Reverend Wright. Ultimately, the MSM and many of the Clinton supporters in the blogosphere did what Barack Obama and his legions of supporters couldn't do - they (unintentionally) made me feel rather sympathetic towards him. Sympathy eventually evolved into empathy, and it's very difficult to hate someone when you believe you can empathize with him. For months, I'd dehumanized Obama and his supporters, simply because I was angry. I didn't know him, nor did I care to get to know him. I was quite happy with my Obama hatred, as "untrendy" as it was for someone my age. But it was an angry, sneering, spiteful sort of happiness - it wasn't a peaceful feeling. It wasn't until I finally felt so disgusted by the way the MSM (Fox, especially) was giddily replaying the Wright footage that I bothered to remember Obama's humanity. Yes. Because that's what Barack Obama is - a human. A person. A relatively normal person who seems to be raising a couple of pretty nice little kids, despite what people may want to say about the damage which is surely (*insert eye roll here*) being done by Wright's "hateful" influence. He's just a person who makes mistakes and sometimes engages in behavior I consider unpleasant. Then again, I often engage in behavior I consider unpleasant.
At this point, I'm less than enthusiastic about anti-Obama diaries. My thoughts in recent days have frequently turned to the general election. Gleeful fantasies about the clever ways the Clintons could attack and overcome the GOP machine (again). Similarly delightful fantasies about Republicans gawking as they struggle to smear the Teflon candidate. Yes, I know, their attacks are often devastating, and even Obama won't come out unscathed. But I'll enjoy watching the Republicans walk on eggshells. A conservative talk show host who was introducing McCain recently referred to Obama as "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" several times at a rally, and McCain later apologized for it. As a result, the talk show host became furious and renounced McCain's candidacy. Hopefully, that guy's idiotic, ditto-head listeners will do the same. Granted, it's the 527's which'll do most of the damage, but I'm thinking - no, I'm hoping - that our nominee, whomever s/he may be, will be able to overcome it. I think s/he will. Not because of the war, but because of the economy. As I stood at the pump today and emptied my wallet into my gas tank, I realized how crazy people would have to be to elect a Republican this year. If gas goes over $4 by summer - which they've projected it will - people will be running (especially if they can't afford to drive) to the polls to vote for the Democrat in November.
But back to the point. I may get mad - furious even - but after seeing so much anger and bitterness around here, I've decided I'm going to refuse to hate anyone. I refuse to despise, detest, or loathe Barack Obama. If I have to cast my vote for him in November, I refuse to hold a grudge, and I refuse to feel disgusted. Because he is a Democrat. And although I may have some big problems with him and with his campaign, I believe he will attempt to protect many of the things I want protected - things like the environment, the Supreme Court, the troops, and the Constitution. I'm not going to penalize myself, this nation, or the world by refusing to vote for Obama, simply because he pissed me the hell off sometimes. And I figure, since I'm refusing to hold a grudge (I was never good at it, anyway), I might as well go ahead and work my ass off for the Democratic nominee, regardless of who it might be. Just like I did for Kerry after my boy Dean went down. Hillary will always be my preferred candidate, but now that I've cleared my head, I know she's not the only person I'm willing to work for.
I wish we could all take a step back. I wish we could all remember that the "other candidate" and his/her supporters are human. Some of them deserve a good punch in the face, but they're still people. We should all be making more of an effort to get along. We have a common enemy, you know. By the way, one good way to start getting along better would be to cut down on the rampant ratings abuse. Sometimes I go digging through the hidden comments and feel obligated to uprate Obama supporters because they've been unfairly HR'd. Come on, guys. Let's not aggravate each other unnecessarily. Soon we'll have to find a way to work together for a common purpose. Wouldn't it be better if we could start being more cordial toward one another now? At least it would save us time later on.
And for the Hillary supporters who can still afford it, please don't forget to donate!
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