I'm tired of the demands for apologies, the constant denouncing and rejecting, and the endless stream of campaign purges. It's time for the candidates to define themselves by what they think, and it's time for the inept media to return to real journalism and stop asking candidates about an endless stream of supporters they disagree with. Will McCain renounce Hagee, Parsley, and Oliver North? Will Obama renounce Samantha Powers, William Ayers, Louis Farrakhan, and Rev. Wright? Will Clinton renounce Geraldine Ferraro, or remarks by Bill Shaheen or her husband? This game of six degrees of separation from offensiveness is not only a distraction, but it also has a devastating impact on free speech.
One of the key characteristics our next president must have is respect for freedom of expression, something sorely lacking in the Bush Administration where foreign scholars critical of American foreign policy are frequently banned from the country (see my new book Patriotic Correctness for more on this) and scientists are silenced for speaking out contrary to corporate interests (see the book The Republican War on Science). I hope that the next president will not fire anyone from the next administration for expressing their ideas, even if those ideas are contrary to the president's beliefs. Unfortunately,
Geraldine Ferraro's resignation letter to Hillary Clinton declared, "I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself..." That's not what I imagine America to be, where everyone volunteering for a political campaign must abandon their freedom to speak.
The crusade against free speech is even infecting DailyKos, such as this threat to go on strike unless DailyKos suppresses criticism of Hillary Clinton:
I've decided to go on "strike" and will refrain from posting here as long as the administrators allow the more disruptive members of our community to trash Hillary Clinton and distort her record without any fear of consequence or retribution.
Freedom isn't "unfair writing conditions." It's a basic necessity for DailyKos, and for this country. The only "retribution" anyone deserves for criticizing a candidate is the shame of being proven wrong in a free and open debate.
Yes, sometimes freedom can be unpleasant. People say dumb things in dumb ways. That's the price of liberty.
So I hope that Barack Obama will be the person to put an end to this cycle of purges and forced resignations. In response to the Wright controversy, Obama wrote: "I believe that Americans will judge me not on the basis of what someone else said, but on the basis of who I am and what I believe in; on my values, judgment and experience to be President of the United States."
Obama should invite Samantha Power back to his campaign and recognize that the offhand use of the term "monster" doesn't destroy all the good work done by a brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning professor. Obama should encourage Hillary Clinton to return Bill Shaheen and Geraldine Ferraro to her campaign. And Obama should make a clear and definite statement: as president, it won't be my job to tell people what they can and cannot say. The job of the president is to change this country for the better, not to stop people from expressing their ideas.
Note: I'm the author of a new book, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest, but I'm not part of the Obama campaign.
Crossposted at ObamaPolitics.