Critical support of Obama, says Bill Fletcher

My attention is not only at the top of the ticket/ballot, and will be getting back to local and state campaigns, candidates, issues and possibilities soon enough. Yet, this perspective from BC Editor in Chief Bill Fletcher may well hit the nail on the head:

My conclusion, and I offer this with great caution, is that critical support for Obama is the correct approach to take. Yet this really does mean critical support. It means, among other things, that Senator Obama needs to be challenged on his views regarding the Middle East; he must be pushed beyond his relatively pale position on Cuba to denounce the blockade; he must be pushed to advance a genuinely progressive view on the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast and the right of return for the Katrina evacuees; and he must be pushed to support single payer healthcare.

As I emphasized in an earlier commentary, it is up to the grassroots to keep the candidates honest. Silence, in the name of unity, is a recipe for betrayal.