Re: [Marxism] How to respond to following Obama-vote logic?

["Ruthless Critic of All that Exists" <ok.president+marxml@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Sep 6, 2008 at 1:56 PM, S. Artesian <sartesian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Nothing snide-- you were comparing that argument to arguments about national
> liberation struggles and civil rights struggles.  Way out of proportion to
> the actual contest. The Obama candidacy is NOTHING like the national
> liberation struggles, the civil rights struggles; not even anything like the
> Kucinich campaign.
>
> Why would you argue with someone who says and quite rightly, that if Obama
> gets in the White House, a) the house stays white  and b) the
> psycho-marketeers of democracy will argue that it is the ultimate evidence
> that racism is no longer present in the US and then use that as the reason
> for dismantling what remains of protective legislation?  Unless you think an
> Obama victory is a plus?  So do you?  And if you do, I refer you back to my
> previous comment.

You clearly aren't reading attentively. I reproduce my post, below.
Notice the quotation marks. The "I" within quotation marks below is
not "Ruthless Critic", but the person (advocating a vote for Obama)
who I am interested in *countering* .


---------- Original post ----------------------------------------


Any idea how to respond to the following logic...?


"I got into a discussion the other day with a friend, who worried that
a Barack Obama victory would sideline the struggle for human equality.
"Power will now say that if there's a Black man in the White House,
what's there to complain about?," he argued. The discussion frustrated
me.

"So, is my friend saying that it is better for the worldwide freedom
struggle if Obama loses? This is like telling the national liberation
movements of the 1950s and 1960s not to take power because
neo-colonialism would suffocate their movements. It's like telling the
US Congress in 1964-65 not to pass the Civil Rights and Voting Rights
Acts because they don't address economic inequality.

"No. Pass the acts, and then intensify the struggle. Take power and
then push for more."

<http://www.newsone.com/article/what-the-election-means-for-those-to-the-left-of-republicans-and-democrats>

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu