Mumia Abu-Jamal on the Mid-term US elections

Lost Opportunities, by Mumia Abu-Jamal
[col. writ. 10/17/10] (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal

If polls are any measure of things to come, the first Tuesday in November will be a brutal day indeed, for Democrats.

As economic crisis persists and joblessness rises to levels not seen since the 1970's, working class Democrats are feeling decidedly lack-luster about members of Congress whom they feel have not fought for their interests.

When one is facing the terror of unemployment, voting is seen as a luxury that few can afford.
It is entirely possible that there are significant cohorts which are missed and thus are invisible to traditional pollsters. These voters are precisely those most willing to vote for Democrats: Black, young, students, for example; many of whom don't own landlines, and some who don't use the phone calling feature at all, opting to text instead.

If half of the 20 million young people who voted in 2008 vote come Nov. 2nd, the pollsters will have egg facials Wednesday morning.

But that's a pretty big 'If'.

For millions of young, progressive and left voters, the Obama presidency, once so ripe with promise, has been a profound disappointment.

From Guantanamo Bay, to Af-Pak (Afghanistan-Pakistan); from extraordinary renditions to tortures abroad to black site prisons run by the CIA; from a tepid health care bill that protected corporate profits more than the people; from respect shown to the rabid right wing to tongue lashings from the left, the reasons to ignore the election are legion.

It is hard enough to make history; it is harder still to make it twice.

In a few days we shall see if history can burp itself.


--(c) '10 maj