Lots of names are getting dropped as potential running mates for the by no means coronated Barack Obama. Governors Janet Napolitano, Bill Richardson, Kathleen Sebelius and Ed Rendell of Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas and Pennsylvania, respectively, are oft mentioned; so are Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, retired general Wes Clark, and, lord help us, diplomatically semi-sane but domestically reactionary retiring GOP senator Chuck Hagel. The conventional wisdom seems to be that Obama needs to tack (further) to the right with his VP choice.
Screw that. If we can’t have Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, the lone socialist in Congress, or Dennis Kucinich, the BTC News editorial board wants our only Muslim Congressman, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison.
Ellison is an outspoken advocate of progressive causes; just the thing to balance Obama’s timidity on many of those issues. He closes his email updates with a quote from Martin Luther King: “Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people.”
In keeping with that sentiment, Ellison has called for an impeachment investigation of George Bush, and signed on to Kucinich’s articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney. He is the cosponsor of legislation to establish a legal holiday in memory of legendary farm workers organizer Cesar Chavez, the sponsor of a bill aimed at easing punitive consumer bankruptcy law provisions and outlawing certain credit company excesses, and the cosponsor of legislation aimed at nullifying the Supreme Court’s endorsement of restrictive state voting laws.
He regularly points up the moral dimensions of military spending, saying, in an echo of the young (i.e., uncorrupted) Hubert Humphrey, that “our taxes support our federal budget and a budget is a moral statement about who matters in our society. A budget is a reflection of our humanity. It indicates about who counts, who doesn’t and what our priorities are. When $ .43 cents of every $1.00 goes to the military, the American debt stands at $9.4 TRILLION, our schools and teachers are under-funded, 46 million Americans have no healthcare, and our bridges are collapsing – our priorities are wrong.”
As a cosponsor of John Conyer’s single-payer health care plan, Ellison is a proponent of true universal health care as opposed to the pallid substitutes offered by Obama and Clinton. In the interim, he also supports the late Paul Wellstone’s efforts to require that insurers provide coverage for mental health care equivalent to that provided for physical care.
Naysayers will point to Ellison’s one-time support for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and his not infrequent difficulties with financial disclosure forms, traffic tickets and taxes. But those details will only serve to highlight Obama’s mainstream credentials. Perhaps best of all, Ellison would provide a guarantee of President Obama’s physical security; anyone likely to wish Obama harm would be absolutely traumatized by the prospect of President Ellison.
For all those reasons, and more, we urge Obama supporters to begin lobbying for Keith Ellison as the number two man on the ticket. Insh’Allah, y’all.
That should go well with this.
“You say you want a revoluuuuuuution …” My thinking at this point is that the GOP are so screwed that it’s the perfect moment to throw everything at them—an actual leftist candidate, actual socialist-oriented policies, and a Constitution-loving army officer certainly fits right in with all that. Oh for leaders.
I’m not clear – you can’t mean that Ellison is a “Constitution-loving army officer,” because he wasn’t and isn’t, but you linked that phrase to the leftist-socialist stuff, so I had to go look it up to be sure.
Well, I know you’re just having fun here, but when you consider that, despite hating the war, and despite knowing McCain has backed it all the way and promises more of the same, despite hating George Bush and what he and the Republican party have done to the economy and jobs, despite McCain’s vow to continue the tax breaks for the richest 1 percent, despite their concern about his age, despite all this the American people grant him at least equal the poll numbers they give Obama or Clinton.
There’s no accounting for it except, well, stupidity. Somewhere along the line, even with all the evidence of McCain’s future incompetence, the voters have fully bought into the canard that because he was a Navy POW that he knows something about foreign policy and everything else it takes to run a country.
Never underestimate the stupidity of the American voter, who gave us George Bush not only in 2000 but, more inexplicably (except for stupidity), in 2004.
No, I was referring to your link to former Army Capt. John Yee’s position as an Obama delegate.
McCain is actually trailing Obama in most polls, and Clinton in some, and Democrats haven’t really begun to exploit his myriad weaknesses yet, and Republicans have gotten absolutely creamed in the special elections this year, so I think their prospects are pretty dim. Of course the GOP slime machine hasn’t really geared up against Obama either, but a “war and slime” platform just doesn’t look like a winner this year.
p.s. — are you boycotting email? Queries await.
I can’t believe you guys are ignoring McCain’s “vision” of victory in Iraq by 2013!
I can see “war” not winning, but “slime” has a terrific track record. “Stupidity” and “slime” alliterate together well. If they don’t work this year, well, I’ll be greatly heartened that making people feel bad (alienated, angry, and afraid) lost to making people feel good (connected, hopeful and brave). Beyond that (the high risk of betrayal) I won’t go right now. People who’ve fallen off the wagon (since about 1963) need to take it one day at a time.
Hi Jack! I get McCain’s vision – happy Iraqis strolling hand in hand through Muzak-accented shopping malls, buying popcorn for the kids at the multiplex, driving little Arabic Peles to soccer games in minivans, secure knowing that the lower taxes the rich pay creates wealth that trickles down, feeling fulfilled at jobs with Blue Cross benefits and 401Ks (not worrying when those jobs are shipped off to Chad or Tajikistan – they can just get retrained at toll-booth school or the 7-11 Academy). Yes, I’ve tried what McCain’s been drinking – mushrooms hit fast when blended with pineapple juice – but I could never make it last long enough for the hallucinations to become real. Darn.
As far as that goes, “war” has a pretty good track record too; it’s just not a good year for it, and with everything else that’s going on, “slime” is likely to be overwhelmed by the question of “now what do we do?”
Jack, I for one am not discounting the very real possibility that McCain’s timetable for victory in Iraq dovetails pretty well with the Democratic timetable for getting out of the fight by alternative means.
Well, he’s got a really fine name, and after a serious comparison with the alternatives, I’ve warmed up immensely to single-payer health care. Who’s this Farrakhan guy?
[...] editorial board wants our only Muslim Congressman, M innesota Rep. Keith Ellison…. source: In which we endorse Keith Ellison as the Democratic VP nominee, BTC News: If It Says ‘News,’ It Must Be [...]
I’m sure Rep. Ellison will wear this endorsement like a badge of honor. I wrote about it here:
http://www.letfreedomringblog.com/?p=2782
[...] 27th, 2008 • 12:51 amEllison Endorsed for VP I was stunned when I read that a website has endorsed Keith Ellison to be Barack Obama’s running mate. Here’s BTC News’s explanation on why [...]