For the sake of this piece, "bots" are those who are accused of blindly supporting Obama, no matter what, and "children" are those who have either given up on or are so pissed off at him that they are considering or advocating finding somewhere else to go. (I am attempting to be fair and accurate here, so if I am mis-characterising, let me know!)

I have been lumped into the "bot" category by some, even though I frequently confess to not being completely thrilled with his performance, so I am speaking from that perspective. I speak for myself, not for all of the bots (I'll delete the "so-called" from each for the sake of brevity, but keep in mind it is there.)

For starters, I was, and continue to be a strong supporter of the President. He has not, at this point, lived up to my expectations in all areas, but I recognize he inherited a mess of colossal proportions, so I am willing to cut him more slack than I may have, had the events of 2008 not unfolded the way they did. I also understand that he and I are not in lock step on the issues, and he is the one who gets to make the decision, not me. george bush had 8 years to screw this country up...I am committed to giving this President 8 years to do the best he can to unscrew it. I will guide and encourage him throughout those 8 years, knowing there will be many times he does not heed my council. He has more information than I do, but I am hoping he will at least consider my views as he makes his decisions.

Obviously, not everyone feels the way I do, and many of them, based on statements that sound more like petulant children than thoughtful adults, have been labeled "children." Duh. I
have been advised by people I admire, that this labeling is not productive, and I have attempted to moderate my language, although I am not always as successful as I would like to be.

Toward the end of Kali Star's blog from yersterday the discussion got pretty heated, and some came away feeling there was an attempt by the  "bots" to either silence or chase off the  "children."

Kali commented, I think it's vital that people unhappy with Obama are not run off TPM. It's a bullying tactic that has worked. I'll be back. They will not run me off.

My reply to that comment is the point of this post:

I'm sorry you feel like there is an attempt to run you off or silence you. Since I have been one of the most vocal in opposition to your opinion, I have contributed to that feeling, but it was not my intention.

I am glad you are here, and I rec'd this piece because I am glad the discussion is going on. We need to air our differences. Obviously, I am hoping you will see the merit in my opinion, as I'm sure you are hoping others will see the merit in yours.

Having said that, things that are repeated over and over without being disputed are left to stand as true. Those who believe they are not true need to push back. I do not believe Obama's Presidency is a failure. And although you certainly have the right to vote for whoever you wish, and to encourage others to do the same, I also have the right to express my belief that you are making a mistake, and encourage others not to be swayed.

There are those who will be influenced by what is said here. If people who are sitting on the fence believe that the left has withdrawn their support for this President, it weakens him. Therefore, it is incumbent on those of us on the left who DO support him, to continue to do so, and to attempt to sway those who are undecided to do the same.

If I cannot convince you of the correctness of my view, I do not want you to shut up or go away. I want you to show me the error of my thinking, and I will do the same. At some point one of us will sway the other, or we will agree to disagree.

To that I would like to add that many of us, myself included, are guilty of labeling. Once that is done, it is hard to see that person from any other perspective. Sometimes the labels are actually quite accurate, other times they are not, but the outcome is the same either way.

I really like TPM. I like the diversity of thought. If everyone felt exactly the same way, this would be a pretty boring place to be. I have learned and grown in ways I never could have anticipated as a result of many, many discussions with people who I initially disagreed with. Although my perspective is firming up, I hope never to be so rigid that I am closed to seeing the value of other ideas and adjusting my views accordingly.

So please, don't stop speaking, and don't leave, and try not to feel like you are being asked to do so. Yes, I can see that when you hold the minority opinion in a community, it can feel like you are being bullied. But by the same token, asking those who disagree with your perspective to keep it to themselves, is not the answer.

I believe with all my heart that that voting for a third party candidate or not voting at all is the same thing as voting for a republican. While you certainly have the right to believe differently, and to vote for whomever you please, I cannot and will not sit quietly by as people advocate doing things that I think have the potential to tear this party apart, the way the conservative right is tearing apart the republican party. We all have the obligation to speak our minds.

The saddest part of all of this is that we all ultimately want pretty close to the same things for this country. Our major disagreement is in how we get from here to there. My greatest fear is that we remain so divided that the repubs slip back into power while we are arguing about it.