There were of course a number of practical and legal obstacles to Debs winning this year's presidential election. As a permanently disenfranchised convicted felon, it's unclear whether he would qualify for the ballot in all the states. That, and being dead, though I've been unable to find anything in the constitution specifically listing vitality as a requirement for the office, a loophole exploited for several years by Ronald Reagan.
Still, it's worth considering the merits of Debs' character, policies, and qualifications. Debs was a brilliant union organizer and labor leader, driven by a deep hatred of suffering and injustice -- the sort of person we might call a community organizer these days. This brought him into the world of (Socialist) party politics. Radicalized by the brutality of government and robber-baron response to strikes, Debs turned to socialism, and ran unsuccessfully for president four times. Debs' socialism wasn't about mere wealth re-distribution. Nor was it the party and state sponsored terror that the totalitarian movements that usurped the name convinced Americans socialism means.
Debs' credo was one of sacrifice and humility in the service of improving the lives of poor people and opposing war. He saw capitalism, not as the engine of universal prosperity and political democratic freedom (as it is so often seen today), but as a source of suffering, stratification, and militarism, the true enemies of freedom and democracy. His pacifism led to his greatest sacrifice. As World War I ground on, and Woodrow Wilson brought America closer to the fields of Flanders, Debs agitated against the draft and was arrested for espionage. Though convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, he remained unbroken. At his sentencing hearing, Debs uttered what became the rallying cry for his final presidential campaign from behind bars:
"Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."
Next time someone tells you Barack Obama is a socialist, throw that back at 'em and ask 'em when Barack ever said anything like that. As much as the right might want to tar Obama with the brush of radicalism and class warfare, it's worth remembering what the real thing looks like. So far as I know, Obama has never claimed that his rightful place is in prison alongside the other outcasts from American prosperity.
It's been clear since he spoke at the 2004 Democratic convention that Obama thinks his rightful place is at the apex of the U.S. political system. It's also clear from the way he has campaigned, and most recently from the people he seems to be selecting to that we shouldn't expect a commune to break out any time soon in Washington. But it's also worth remembering that Obama did promise change. Much of this came in the form of Yoda-like platitudes ("change we must"). But he also said some specific things about what he would do (and how he would do them) that he should be held to.
One of the areas where he promised change fairly specifically was environmental policy, and today he made good. He announced that he would put in place a "cap and trade" system this year to begin addressing pollutants causing climate change. Put that one in the plus column.
He also said that he would work to re-professionalize foreign service and diplomacy, and move us away from a fear-based national security policy. Not such good news on this one. The two big items were his behind-the-scenes support for keeping Joe Lieberman on as head of the senate homeland security committee and his offering the secretary of state slot to Hillary Clinton. Neither of these moves is about the merits, because on the merits neither is a good candidate. This is pure naked politics. Lieberman means one more vote for the Democrats (assuming he's back on the reservation for good), and nothing more. Putting Hillary in the cabinet takes a potential voice of criticism out of the senate (with no risk of losing a safe Democratic seat), and more importantly, out of the running in 2012.
Obama is entitled to be political about certain things. Though a bit disappointed, I'm not yet heartbroken about these moves. Still, that makes him only one for three on big decisions this week, and I'd like to see him do better. Now what would Eugene do?
