Will Obama Ever Face the Press?  An update

Almost immediately upon release of the above titled column, I was contacted by leadership members of the Socialist Party USA, Matt Erard – National Ballot Access Director, SP 2008 Presidential Campaign and David Schaich - Socialist Party Campaign Clearinghouse Coordinator, concerning this statement in my column…

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“The Communist Party USA, Socialist Party USA and Democratic Socialists of America support Obama’s campaign.” Both Mr. Erard and Mr. Schaich denied that there was any connection between their party and the Obama campaign. In the interest of truth, I contacted David Schaich and requested the official position of the Socialist Party USA regarding the Obama campaign. While the Communist Party USA and Democratic Socialists of America have officially “endorsed” and support the Obama campaign, it appears that the Socialist Party USA has instead endorsed their own candidates, Brian Moore of Florida for president and Stewart Alexander of California for vice-president. In response to my request for specific party positions, Mr. Schaich wrote;

“I have not heard of a single Socialist Party member who supports the Obama campaign, and such support would be in violation of the Socialist Party Constitution, which states (Article VI, Section 2) that Socialist Party members may support candidates of other political parties only in
the absence of a Socialist Party candidate.  Since the Socialist Party has a Presidential ticket, any members who support other presidential campaigns are doing so without our sanction and in violation of our constitution. The Socialist Party is completely independent of the Democratic Party, and does not support it or its candidates, including Barack Obama.

Complete independence from the Democratic Party is a central element of the Socialist Party's identity and principles (socialistparty-usa.org/principles.html).  You may be aware that
in the 1960s and 1970s, a significant portion of the Socialist Party advocated operating within the Democratic Party.  In 1972-1973, those groups formed two separate organizations to pursue that program – 
Social Democrats USA, which is now defunct, and Democratic Socialists of America, which operates to some extent as a socialist caucus within the Democratic Party. Those who remained in the Socialist Party were opposed to that strategy, and dedicated to restoring the Socialist Party to full independence from the Democratic Party.” David

Since it is clear that socialists and communists indeed support the Obama campaign and more importantly, the ideas represented by that campaign, I remain firmly committed to the intent of my statement above. However, on the basis of the information provided by David Schaich - Socialist Party Campaign Clearinghouse Coordinator, I am retracting the statement which might be interpreted to mean that the Socialist Party USA “endorses” or officially “supports” the Obama campaign. It was never my intent to mis-state the facts. Even though it is a fact that socialists and communists support Obama for president because he represents much of their agenda, I am willing to accept “as fact” the statement from Mr. Schaich which clearly indicates that his party neither “endorses” nor in any way “supports” the Obama campaign. It is not possible to know how many members of the Socialist Party USA might in the end, support the Obama campaign. A simple comparison of the platform positions of socialists, communists, today’s DNC and the Obama campaign, will demonstrate beyond any doubt that these groups indeed pursue the same agenda, even when not directly working together. However, Mr. Schaich made another private point which is quite valid… “As I'm sure you are aware, a number of individual Republicans support Obama -- republicansforobama.org, gop.barackobama.com -- but it would be ridiculous to say that the Republican Party supports the Obama campaign.” Please post this update and retraction along with the original column. Thank You! JB