I’ve never considered myself very cool. But lately, I’ve begun to think of myself as at least kind of a little bit coolish. After all, I support Obama, and he’s cool, right? He’s the coolest candidate since John F. Kennedy, or so they say.
But then, recently, I was listening to an interview on The Rachel Maddow Show on Air America Radio (technically, a podcast of the show) and I realized I’ve been deluding myself: Supporting Obama isn’t cool. Maybe it was cool once, but it’s getting less and less cool all the time.
What was it about this interview that yanked the cool carpet out from under me? It was the awesome, overwhelming coolness of a man who is so cool that most people know him by only one name. Move over, Cher. Here is Markos! (being interviewed by the somewhat less cool David Bender, who interviewed Markos about the upcoming Senate vote on a bill that would provide immunity to telecom companies that illegally wiretapped U.S. citizens for the U.S. government):
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BENDER: … that vote is coming up now. It’s been delayed in the Senate ’til after the 4th of July recess. And two Senators, Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd, have talked about not only gumming it up but possibly amending this FISA bill to take out the telecom immunity. You have been writing recently at Daily Kos about the issue, both specifically, and writ large as it affects the presidential campaign, and there’s a lot of concern now that Barack Obama has walked back from his commitment to oppose a FISA bill that gives telecom immunity. He has said he will vote for it if that’s the compromise. We don’t know where he will stand on a filibuster. You have gone so far – and you posted this, and I caught it yesterday – that you’re holding back on making your personal contribution to the Obama campaign, based on the fact that (on) this and other issues, he has, he has walked back a bit. You know, we’re hearing all the rhetoric. “He’s moving to the center.” “He’s using the left.” “This is his sister Soulja (sp?) moment.” Whatever happened to her, by the way? Um, how do you feel about what’s happening here, and again, is the perfect the enemy of the good, and the good being the essential fact that Barack Obama needs to be sworn in next January.
MARKOS: Barack Obama is going to be sworn in next January. I, there’s, I have no doubt about that. Absolutely.
BENDER: I’ve just knocked wood here.
MARKOS: (Barring) a calamitous collapse of epic proportions, which is always within the realm of possibility, not very probable. The issue here isn’t that we don’t support Barack Obama anymore, or that I don’t support him anymore. Of course I support him. I look forward to Barack Obama. I want him to win and win big.
BENDER: And you make that clear. You make that clear in your post.
MARKOS: Right, right. So this is not an opposition. It’s not, “I hate Barack Obama,” or “Barack Obama no longer meets my, my, my, somehow, my standards of what a good Democrat should be.” None of that is the case. What is the case, is that Barack Obama, by going back on his word on FISA, and, sort of, using us as a foil to show how moderate he is – I don’t even know what he’s doing – basically what he’s saying is, “I don’t need, Markos, I don’t need your financial and ardent support anymore.” That’s what he’s saying. And he probably doesn’t. He has huge movement behind him. He’s got millions of people that are donating, working for him, whatnot. People like me who are really, really concerned about the FISA situation, we’re a minority, an admitted one. I mean, I’m not going to claim we’re this massive movement. Right? Just a fairly small number of people who are really obsessed with protecting the Constitution.
BENDER: But, a large number, Markos, a large number of ardent people – and, when you say that he may feel he doesn’t need the money anymore, well just last month he only barely outraised John McCain, which is a first, and so maybe there is some argument that if the checkbooks are closing, that could have a real impact on the campaign he can run over the summer.
MARKOS: Right. No, absolutely. And that’s sort of the calculation that they need to make when they’re deciding how to move on certain legislation. They have to understand that even among his supporters, it’s not 100 percent, all in, no matter what Obama does. There are repercussions to the choices he makes. By deciding, “you know what, FISA’s not important to me,” and I guess, I think most people are focused on tangible issues. I mean FISA’s sort of abstract, right? The Constitution. People are more focused on, “Am I going to lose my job,” or “When are we going to get out of Iraq,” or “How can I get health care? You know, I’m one illness away from catastrophic financial ruin.” Those are the things that people are really focused on right now, and FISA’s sort of an abstract issue. So, um. But, there are people like me that are really, really, you know, that really believe in the Constitution, and it should be defended. So, he, we’re sending the message, and it’s not a malicious message, but any time he makes a calculation of that sort, he’s going to lose somebody.
BENDER: It’s a friendly push. It’s a friendly reminder.
MARKOS: Absolutely. And if he decides, if it turns out that he does need that money after all, he does need my ardent support and that of people like me, then he can quickly decide, “You know what, I am going to help filibuster this FISA bill. I’m going to use my leadership as a leader of the Democratic Party to come up with a FISA compromise that is a true compromise, not a capitulation to George Bush, but a true compromise that protects the Constitution.”
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Now, let’s review some of the truly cool things Markos said in the interview above:
First: “Barack Obama is going to be sworn in next January. I, there’s, I have no doubt about that. Absolutely.”
It’s cool that he has absolutely no doubt about something that will be the subject of intense speculation throughout the country for the next four months. If I were cool, I’d be a confident as he is. But I have to admit I’m plagued by doubts; and that’s why I feel motivated to give money to Obama’s campaign, to volunteer for him, and to try to convince my friends to support him. I’m not entirely certain that he’ll win, and that’s why I think my involvement might make a small difference. But if I were cool, like Markos, I wouldn’t feel the need to get involved because I’d already know the outcome months in advance. Confidence about stuff: that’s cool. Chicks dig it.
Second: “People like me who are really, really concerned about the FISA situation, we’re a minority, an admitted one. I mean, I’m not going to claim we’re this massive movement. Right? Just a fairly small number of people who are really obsessed with protecting the Constitution.”
He’s so right, and so cool. Uncool people like me tend to believe the Constitution is pretty popular with a sizeable majority of the American public. I mean, if you walk down the street and you ask random people whether they support the U.S. Constitution, you’re liable to get a fairly positive response. So uncool people like me figure if most Americans aren’t concerned about the FISA bill, it’s because they don’t really understand why it’s such a threat to the Constitution, perhaps because people like Markos haven’t succeeded in delivering their message. But my knee-jerk belief in the popularity of the U.S. Constitution is just so uncool compared to Markos’ belief that only a small minority – for whom he apparently speaks — really care about the Constitution. Markos is so cool he didn’t even think it necessary to explain in the interview why the FISA bill threatens the Constitution. (I had to get that info from my friend Lee, who isn’t very cool at all.) Instead, Markos implied that I’m not passionate about the FISA bill because I’m not really “obsessed” with protecting the Constitution. Obsession is cool. Talking in ways that make other people feel stupid is cool. Chicks dig it.
Third: “I think most people are focused on tangible issues. I mean FISA’s sort of abstract, right? The Constitution. People are more focused on, ‘Am I going to lose my job,’ or ‘When are we going to get out of Iraq,’ or ‘How can I get health care? You know, I’m one illness away from catastrophic financial ruin.’ Those are the things that people are really focused on right now, and FISA’s sort of an abstract issue.”
It’s true: cool people like Markos aren’t like the rest of us. They don’t tend to worry as much about health care, jobs, or war. (That’s partly because cool people are independently wealthy and would never serve in the military. ugh!) But the real reason why cool people don’t worry as much about the “tangible” issues, is because cool people are smarter than the rest of us. Cool people live in a world of abstractions. You know, abstractions like the Constitution, which is far too abstract for ordinary health-care-wanting, job-wanting, peace-wanting Americans to understand. That’s why we need cool people, I suppose. Chicks dig it.
Fourth: “So, he, we’re sending the message, and it’s not a malicious message, but any time he makes a calculation of that sort, he’s going to lose somebody.”
Markos understands that it isn’t cool to be malicious. If Markos were “malicious” toward Obama, that would be very uncool. So, instead, Markos is offering up a friendly threat, a friendly message: “Vote the way I want, friend, or I may not give you any money for your campaign. And you may even “lose” some people, which presumably means they won’t vote for you.” The uncool might have a hard time reconciling Markos’ claim that he wants Obama to win big with his implication that Obama may need Markos’ support to win and Markos’ threat that he may not end up delivering that support. But that’s only because the uncool, the simple-minded, can’t see the deeper meaning, the subtle truth. The uncool might also have a hard time understanding why Markos thinks his actions will make any difference, given his claim that he believes Obama is absolutely going to win. Like Walt Whitman, Markos contradicts himself. Chicks dig it.
So here it is, folks. If you want to be cool and punish Obama for voting yes on this FISA bill, you should withhold your campaign donation, which Obama doesn’t need because he’s going to win anyway. Or, if you are uncool – if you care about providing health care for people who are suffering, providing jobs for people who want to work, providing releif for our heroic soldiers who are dying for no reason in Iraq, and you’re not in possession of a crystal ball – then I suggest you open your checkbook. Obama needs your help, especially now that the cool are jumping ship.