Letters to the Editor
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Come to the Light, Joan Walsh
Whatever blowback Bill Clinton may or may not have caused in the South Carolina primary, it is clear that his Back to the Future mudslinging had blowback in the larger context. Whatever Senator Kennedy's impact may be, it is proof that Democrats, even very powerful, prominent Democrats, are sick of business as usual.
The criticisms of Obama supporters as religous zealots and the criticism of the candidate himself as lacking substance are inaccurate, unfair, and smack of the establishment cynicism that the former president displayed in South Carolina.
It is not that Barack Obama has no policy statements, it is that he chooses in a public forum to put the emphasis on emotion. Hillary Clinton does the same thing, but where she chooses shelter from negative affect (safety, familiarity), he chooses direct positive affect (change, hope). In this he reflects another politician, one who also defied the conventional wisdom (that a Catholic could not be president), and who represented ideals larger than himself, embodying the hopes of a nation.
Joan, it is time for you and Salon to take a stand, follow Senator Kennedy's lead and endorse Barack Obama for president. Prove to us what we readers know and believe--that Salon is an online publication for the twenty first century and not a throwback to the excesses of the dot-com 90s.