By Lydia Fiser
By Jessica Newman
Peter Laumann graduated from UF in spring 2009 with a bachelor’s in political science. While in Gainesville, Laumann worked as an intern for Obama’s campaign and also served as volunteer coordinator for the UF group Students for Obama in the months leading up to the presidential election.
He first became interested in Obama in 2004, when he heard the famous Democratic National Convention speech. In 2008, after four more years of Bush, Laumann was outraged by “civil rights policies that weren’t civil rights policies at all and increased foreign involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.” So he got involved in Obama’s campaign.
After one year, “things are definitely better than they were a year ago,” Laumann said. “Putting things in perspective where they could be, if John McCain had been president and Sarah Palin had been in the White House, there were serious concerns that we could be going to war in Georgia or going to war in Iran as well.”
But Laumann thinks Obama’s move to send 35,000 more troops to Afghanistan was a mistake.
“He said two or three brigades [during the campaign], which is a lot less than 35,000 troops,” Laumann said.
Laumann doesn’t completely blame Obama for things not playing out as he thought they would when he worked with the campaign.
“There are certain things beyond his control, like the power of the Democratic Party and the Senate,” he said. “Every politician is limited by the office they take. But that being said, I think that he has let me and probably a lot of progressives down.”
But for those who feel disillusioned or weary of politics, Laumann offered up a piece of advice.
“A lot of times what matters more is what happens on a local level,” he said. “Sometimes, even if one area of politics doesn’t look like it’s working out for them, there are still issues; there’s still legislation.”
Ok, this is outright hilarious. You pick a lesbian, a former Obama intern, an African-American politician, a soldier that doesn’t represent the typical soldier’s political view, and you expect to find anything other than good grades and support for President Obama? An apple will be nothing unless it is compared to another fruit.
Robert. It is true that TFP is a modestly small operation, run by a fist full of students and Gainesvillians, with a HUUGE editorial scope. I mean, they are aiming to grade the President’s first year in office. I account the smallness of their interview group here by TFP’s limited time and resources to cast a wide net.
But come on! Would you agree that these interviews be given by individuals who have some perspective from which criticism would be thoughtful and conflicted? At the least, these individuals represent quarters of our society that could only benefit from thoughtfully observing the political establishment that has historically marginalized them as “unlike us”, or “should always do what he is told” (soldier), or “always adore his own candidate”. Clearly, the supportive opinions given to this President are not as simple as supportive opinions given during the Bush years.
What do you want to hear? He’s a shill for the illuminati? He’s a socialist? He’s definitely going to have all our gun rights seized? He lies?
An argumentative angle that amounts only to name-calling is worthless in this type of discussion. Rather, it is dangerous, because it discourages our better tendencies for civil progress and encourages schoolyard sand-throwing.