Although I'm currently putting my political energies into supporting my Presidential candidate of choice, probably the biggest reason I am doing so is that I want to influence the 2008 Congressional elections. Don't get me wrong; I have high hopes for Barack Obama. But then, I had high hopes for Elliot Spitzer too. We can't count on any one person to be a political messiah. Human beings are limited and flawed. So the best way to ensure change is to try to get a critical mass of progressives into both houses of Congress--along with a progressive President, of course. I am supporting Barack Obama, in part, because it is my instinct that he will have bigger coattails than Hillary and will carry more progressives into Congress with him.
Of course, evidence of a candidate's likely coattail effect is always anecdotal and, while we can sometimes see a correlation in these cases, it's almost impossible to prove causality. Nevertheless, there are signs that Barack Obama will have serious coattails that could help change the face of government. Take, for example, the special election in Illinois for Denny Hastert's old seat. Obama campaigned and cut a commercial for progressive Democratic candidate Bill Foster. Both Denny Hastert and John McCain campaigned for Republican candidate Jim Oberweis. This is a heavily Republican district in Obama's home state. The Huffington Post has argued (persuasively, in my opinion) that this was a reasonable proxy fight between Obama and McCain.
The Democrat won.
And guess what? The result has already changed the way our government works. The very same day that he was sworn in, Bill Foster cast the deciding vote that led to the passage of a very strong House ethics bill creating an independent panel to review alleged ethics violoations that was fought tooth and nail by the Republicans. (For example, Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas) implored his colleagues, "If you have a single ounce of self-preservation, you'll vote no.")
So I believe that Obama would likely transform our government even if he turns out to be a rather ordinary President by sweeping in a progressive Congress, far more so than Hillary could manage. Increasingly, it looks like Democratic politicians agree.
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