TNR’s Jonathan Cohn noted a story today from University of Chicago professor Harold Pollack, who volunteered for the Obama campaign over the weekend.
I spent today canvassing in Schererville, Indiana, with my 11-year-old. We were trolling neighborhood garage sales talking with people as we went door to door. In Indiana, people sell hot dogs, coffee, and soda at garage sales, which piqued my daughter’s interest more than the Norman Rockwell prints.
One of the garage sales had a sign: “All proceeds go to liver transplant patient.” The son-in-law of the garage sale holder has cirrhosis and being treated at Northwestern, where he is on the transplant waiting list. As this woman told the story (she was confused on some details), he had been working as a plant supervisor but had somehow lost his job. He had been making COBRA payments of $1000/month, but had lost that, as well. He is now in the waiting period for federal disability, and he is being inundated with bills.
I gave the lady some numbers, paid $20 for a cup of coffee, and left. She’s an Obama supporter, but boy I’d vote for Hillary if I had to despite everything if this meant I didn’t have to hear any more such stories.
Cohn added, “That message, I hope, reaches supporters of both candidates, so many of whom are telling pollsters they wouldn’t vote for one or the other.”
I hope so, too. Under a McCain administration, and given his meager healthcare policy these stories would remain rather common. Under either Clinton’s or Obama’s plan, they wouldn’t.
It’s the latest in a series of reminders on how clear the partisan choice should be.
I first started hearing from some Democrats in January that if their preferred Dem candidate lost, they couldn’t possibly support the intra-party rival. I not only still hear it, I think I hear it more and more frequently all the time: “I support my Dem, but if he/she isn’t the nominee, I’m out.” Maybe that means support the conservative, neocon Republican candidate; maybe it just means staying home on Election Day. I cringe just a little every time I hear this.
I realize a whole lot of Dems see the candidate they don’t support as beyond the pale, and offensive to the point of disgust. That’s become a little easier of late, as we’ve begun to see even more differences emerge between Clinton and Obama, on substantive and stylistic issues.
But on their worst day, “the other” Dem is still so much better than McCain it’s not even close.
On everything that matters — foreign policy, economic policy, judicial nominees, the environment, healthcare — McCain is wrong and the Dems, depending on your perspective, are either largely or completely right. One side offers more of the same; the other offers at least some degree of change.
From time to time, keep Pollack’s story about the guy in Indiana in need of a liver transplant in mind. Ask yourself if you’d be willing to vote for the Dem you like less if it meant not having to hear any more such stories.
I like to think the answer is clear.
Update: Just after posting this, I saw a TPM item from a reader who expressed a sentiment I’ve seen many, many times:
…I have to say, as someone who was marching in New Hampshire in 1991 for Bill Clinton, who ran the campus Democrats for his ’92 campaign, who interned in his White House, who argued against impeachment at every turn, who even defended the pardons, who has been an enormous and unwavering admirer, and who has been disgusted with his own parents for their seemingly irrational hatred of Hillary Clinton, there is something about the way she has run this campaign. From having people on her campaign raise Obama’s drug use, to her jumping on the bandwagon for every right-wing cheap shot, to her new populist, “got no truck with economists” stance, its been craven. More craven than I could possibly imagine.
If somehow against all odds she got nominated, I’d vote for her, but I’d do so utterly unconvinced that the quality of her leadership wouldn’t bring about disastrous results no less than the disastrous results that McCain’s wrongheaded policies and own cravenness would bring about. Yes, her policy positions would be much better than McCain’s. But if she’s this divisive, this self-preserving, this craven, I think the results can still be horrible, even with policy positions that are much closer to mine. At this point I feel like it would be the hardest vote for a Democrat I’d ever cast.
Now, I’m a Democratic fundraiser. And as detailed above, a very long time Clinton supporter. If I’m this repulsed, if it seems this craven to me, and I’m this pessimistic about her leadership, can I be alone?