[Marxism] A panel discussion on Obama

[Louis Proyect]

Last night I attended a well-attended and fascinating panel discussion 
at the Brecht Forum in New York on the Obama campaign. With the 
exception of Doug Henwood, all the panelists were for voting for Obama 
to one extent or another. During the Q&A, there were some extraordinary 
contributions from the floor. The meeting was being videotaped as well. 
If it ever ends up the Internet, I will make sure to publicize the URL.

All the speakers were limited to five minutes in their initial 
presentation and Doug, unlike the others, read from a prepared text. 
Let’s hope that it is available online at some point since he had some 
very interesting insights, as you might expect. Basically, he called 
attention to the rather insubstantial character of the Obama “movement”, 
which rests on his charisma and built-up disgust with the Republican 
Party more than anything else. He also spoke about Obama’s turn to the 
right following his nomination, a familiar pattern with Democratic 
nominees for President. In a follow-up, Doug made a very useful point. 
He said that Reagan, unlike Obama, had a real movement behind him. 
Reagan was part of a well-organized conservative movement, while there 
is no counterpart on the Democratic side this year. That being the case, 
what sense did it make to talk about the “movement” keeping Obama honest.

Next to speak was Gary Younge, a Black Briton who is the Guardian 
correspondent based in New York and a contributor to the Nation 
magazine. Younge has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of 
Obama and rather than trying to summarize what he said last night, I 
will instead refer you to one of his articles. Younge also made a point 
that was a leitmotif throughout from the panelists and the audience, 
namely that since the left was so weak it had no other option except to 
back Obama. We were impotent while Obama attracts 75,000 people to his 
rally. Fortunately, according to Younge, Obama was far better than the 
average Democrat so we would not be compromising ourselves so much. He 
saw the role of the left as organizing itself so as to keep pressure on 
him to hew to the left, even if we were kind of impotent.

full: 
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/a-panel-discussion-on-obama/