This is an open letter to Sherrod Brown, Paul Hackett, their staffs, and supporters.
For a time the Hackett/Brown tilt was fun political theatre for a while. Now I see a schism that is threatening my party and I'm done with it. I am getting background from each camp about how it's the other guy's fault. Here's my prescription: Get over it.
I feel like the teenage son in the middle of bitter divorce: I like mom, I like dad, and each is getting digs into the other through me.
Get over it.
I do not want to hear from either camp until I've heard that the two of you have gotten together to talk this out. Sit down, talk it out, shake hands and smile for the cameras. I don't want to hear about Hackett's involvment in a veterans PAC, I don't want to hear about Brown's view on the latest Bush Admininstration outrage, I'll blog on none of it because it's not what we need to hear.
Get over it.
Both of you have explaining to do. Both of you step over the line. Each of you currently resides several area code zones past the line. Don't go into the meeting thinking you will get an apology; go into it thinking you will apologize.
Get over it.
Yes, Hackett was a loudmouth upstart who didn't understand how politics works. Yes, Brown is a policy nerd who got surprisingly sharp-elbowed as the campaign wore down. Yes, Hackett said Brown should wear a dunce cap. Yes, Brown shopped really lame oppo research to righty blogs. Yes, Hackett is continuing to trash Brown. Yes, Brown is continuing to trash Hackett.
Get over it.
You can do this. If George H.W. and Clinton could get together to raise disaster relief money, If Yitzhak Rabin could shake hands with Yassir Arafat, if I can live peacefully with my Steelers fan sister-in-law, you two get reach accomidation.
Get over it.
The stakes dwarf whatever personal pride you have staked on maintaining the feud. We will know the truth about this Administration's secret programs and backroom deals only if we take at least one house of Congress this November. The Senate is our best bet and Ohio is a vulnerable seat. We need everyone pulling in the same direction if we are to win. Losing as a result of bruised egos is unacceptable.
Get over it.
I look forward to blogging about the peace conference. Otherwise, leave me out of the sniping. I no longer care who is more at fault. You shouldn't either.
RIP, JOHN OLESKY
5 months ago
16 comments:
I hereby add my signature.
You live with your sister-in-law? You are a far, far better person than I. Well, everyone knows that anyway.
Sign me up as well (vestigial elements of my former Ombudsperson role).
Well I meant "live with," in the broad, figurative "we generally get along" sense as opposed to the specific "under one roof" sense. Sorry for the confusion.
Pho-- awesome post. Count me in. (I of course say this with trepidation because now I have nothing to write about....Thanks man for ruining my short-lived blog! ;-))
Add my name to the signature list.
Now if they both COULD just "get over it".
This DrDem,
One of your best posts ever.
"The stakes dwarf whatever personal pride you have staked on maintaining the feud. "
Amen, also whatever personal pride some posters and bloggers have. This race has one candidate who is on our side, let's support Sherrod Brown.
Seth Rosen
VP
Communications Workers of America District 4
This is ratdg1.
I'll sign onto it. No more attacks on Hackett.
Now if we could just get Tim, Russell and Phil in a group hug.
It's time to move on and stop trying to give away any opportunities we Democrats have in Ohio.
Excellent job of cutting through the emotions of the moment and hitting what actually matters. Oh, and L appreciated the shout-out.
I agree with Tim. Nuff said.
Well-written post, Pho. It will be much easier to bury the hatchet once everyone ends Operation Blame Hackett (and the counter offensive that is yet-to-be-named; perhaps Operation Cookie Crumbles).
Anyway, it's hard, damn hard, to see things end this way.
But here's one former Hackett staffer signing off on the peace treaty.
Great post, I agree. Its time to move on and elect people to office who can save Ohio and our country. We're in one of the darkest periods in recent history. We need good leaders and we have to get busy and get them elected.
Sherrod Brown will do fine.
I don't know what all the fuss is about. Hackett said he agrees with Brown on most of the issues.
Let's just move on with the election and support Sherrod Brown.
Right on, Pho. Let's not loose sight of the stakes here. Consider just this short list of outrages from the past several months:
--The Alito Nomination
--The NSA Spying Scandal
--Croney Appoinments, Croney Contracts, and Free-Marketeering Bamboozlement Dominating the Nation's Disaster Desponse and Relief Efforts
--Cuts to Student Aid and Still No End in Sight in Iraq
--The Botched Prescription Drug Plan Implementation
And so on. And having considered this sadly partial list, just think what difference a Democrat- controlled senate would have made.
Come on, Ohio, do you part to help put the country back on the right path. Come on, Ohio Democratic candidates, put the needs of our state and the nation first.
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