Untitled Document
It’s a good thing for MoveOn.org that George W. Bush was reelected.
If he hadn’t been, the liberal troupe would have nothing to contest. Even
if the bloody occupation had continued under a John Kerry presidency (it most
certainly would have), the cowering office-chair activists would have ducked
behind their computer screens awaiting the return of another brutal Republican
administration. Activism should never be partisan, but Moveon.org isn’t
about to hold the Democrats’ accountable for supporting Bush’s war
agenda.
I’m not even all that sure MoveOn opposes the Iraq war. Sure they rallied
opposition during the lead up to the invasion a few years back, but since then
they’ve done little if anything that should garner the respect of the
antiwar movement. Despite Kerry’s grotesque position on the Iraq war in
2004, MoveOn implored their members to donate cash to his campaign, but said
nary a word about his pro-war posturing. You can’t support a candidate
without putting demands on their candidacy and MoveOn’s breakdown has
made them all but irrelevant as an antiwar club.
Case in point. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York has continued to support
Bush’s war in Iraq as well as his greater war on terror, yet MoveOn refuses
to voice frustration. Instead, they support the war-hungry Senator and admit
they won’t stand up to her during an election year.
"The case I would make is that 2006 needs to be a year of reckoning for Republicans
on Iraq," Tom Matzzie, the Washington director for MoveOn recently told the
New York Times. "If the antiwar candidate is creamed by Hillary Clinton,
it's a distraction."
A distraction from what? If I remember correctly it wasn’t just the Republican
Party that got us into this dreadful mess. The Democrats voted for it, helped
sell the damn thing, and even bombed the hell out of Iraq during the 1990s,
all the while supporting deadly UN sanctions. And as Americans begin to turn
on this war, including prominent elected officials from both parties, Hillary
still won’t retract her defense of the war, let alone meet with genuine
antiwar activists here in New York.
All of this and the feckless MoveOn.org still won’t call Hillary out
for her warmongering.
MoveOn is nothing more than a cover for the Democratic Party. Issues
are no matter. Partisan politics are. We’ve got a war going on and advocacy
groups who allegedly oppose it should stand up to it, not pander to those who
do. The best way to force the New York senator to change his position
on the war is to run an antiwar campaign against her during 2006 from outside
of the Democratic Party.
Running a campaign against Hillary within the Democratic Party, as a couple
antiwar activists are doing (one a former Green, Steve Greenfield), is hopeless
-- for their challenges will end after the primaries. If the antiwar movement
really wants to take on Hillary in the electoral arena she has to be confronted
from outside the Democratic Party right up to Election Day and beyond. That
is exactly what MoveOn should advocate, but never will.
No, MoveOn.org is nothing more than a roadblock for an antiwar movement that
is finally gaining speed after a bout of silence. If we want to end this war
we’ve got to oppose all who support it -- the bigger the name, the better.
That puts Hillary Clinton at the top of the list.
Joshua Frank is the author of Left Out!: How
Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush, just published by Common Courage Press.
You can order a copy at a discounted through Josh's radical news blog at:
www.brickburner.org. He can be
reached at: brickburner@gmail.com.
