Reply #180: Venom and vitriol do have a place [View All]

[jeanpalmer]

Anger also. They are important emotions that can have a constructive effect. If someone is doing something wrong, merely expressing disagreement on the issue but support overall may not get the person to change. During the Vietnam War, people had to take to the streets and riot to get the government to change a bad policy. There definitely was some vitriol there, and it served a very good purpose. I doubt the policy would have changed if the anger and vitriol hadn't come out.

In the case of Afghanistan, Obama is not going to stop the war by people saying pretty please or by their calling congress people. The way Obama sees it now, the Democrats may be upset with him but will not withhold support from him in 2012 over Afghanistan -- because he has a D behind his name and at worst he will be viewed as the lesser of two evils. Plus there are some people whose vote he knows he can rely on no matter what he does. The only way to get him to change is by Democrats showing their outrage and threatening to withhold support from him in 2012 if he doesn't stop these wars. If a large enough number of Democrats were to do this, he perhaps would feel the pressure and understand the possibility of loss in 2012 and decide to stop the wars. He won't stop them any other way. So again, anger and threats and vitriol have the potential to bring about a good result.

People who suck up to him, make excuses for him, and overall carry his water are not holding his feet to the fire, or bringing about change. So they're taking the wrong approach.