MR. PRESIDENT, WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES, OOPS, I MEAN PROGRESSIVE POLICIES?
I am acutely cognizant of the fact that politics is the art of compromise and that no president, however well-intended, can accomplish all he sets out to do. I also believe, however, from the luxury of not bearing the weight of his office, that there are minimal moral decencies that must be respected and observed by a President, in spite of the direct political consequences (meaning in terms of electoral status).
The gravamen of my complaints against Obama’s Presidency lie in his continuation and expansion of what are now his three wars, his – in my meager opinion – alarmingly non-resistant giving in to corporate power, his unwillingness to stand up for true equality for gays, despite alluding to intentions to do so during his campaign (although in fairness, he always said he opposed same-sex marriage), his unconstitutional remission in failing to go after members of the Bush Administration, including Bush himself, for crimes committed in office, including war crimes that merit life imprisonment, his remarkably disappointing allowance of terrible environmental policies to be set by his cabinet members, Salazar at Interior and Jackson at EPA, his less than bold choice of Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, his almost scandalous willingness to allow “intelligence” secrecy to continue, in clear violation of fourth amendment dictates to the contrary, his refusal to even place single payer nationalized health care coverage of all citizens on the table (although here again, I admit he has been forced by health care advocates to bring the possibility of some form of governmental insurance into play), a conspicuous lack of commitment to helping the homeless and destitute of this country, or rebuilding our dangerously sagging infrastructure (schools, highways, etc.), and – in short – what I, admittedly harshly, perceive to be a substantial lack of moral courage that runs through and not only informs his presidency, but leads to the above-stated consequences. He does the easy stuff, but he’s not willing to take Rooseveltian leaps of boldness onto the visionary paths we now desperately need government to travel.
I shall add brief particulars here to some of the above remarks. Regarding the wars, his policy is not only a continuation of the neo-con Bush era, but a deepening and therefore, to me, worsening of it. He hasn’t withdrawn any mentionable number of troops from Iraq in five months. He has openly and almost braggingly expanded the war in Afghanistan (for which he shall, I strongly believe, rue the day he did so), which I believe will result in tragic consequences to America (not to mention the Afghan people), and he is now pretty much neck-deep in Pakistan. I am not oblivious to the fact that there are nasty people out there who wish us harm, but his continuation and expansion of Bush’s dream of American empire is a dangerous loaded gun coming back to haunt us.
Let us not go into MSM (mainstream media) coverage of the wars (or anything else, for that matter, other than the death of Michael Jackson which they were all about, since it in no way threatened corporate control of American government), given that the MSM is simply the propaganda arm of the corporate state (and I haven’t got time or space here to make the case for that, or the fact that Beltway pundits serve one interest only, their own preservation and expansion of power and influence, because of which they now sicken me far too much to any longer watch their shows), but instead let us look at the reality.
The Afghan civilians we are continuously mistakenly slaughtering hate us passionately. In Pakistan, our errant drones kill increasingly large numbers of civilians, but then it’s only collateral damage to us. Unfortunately, to the innocent victims of these errant attacks, it’s a tragedy and a life-long commitment to hating the United States. For example, in our recent efforts to drive the Taliban out of the Swat valley, we have terrified at least two million citizens of that region into fleeing their homes and becoming desperate refugees. Now, there’s a way to win hearts and minds, isn’t it?
We have killed well over a million people in Iraq, probably closer to 1.5 million, at least ninety percent of whom were civilians. The war there costs four billion dollars a month. The war in Afghanistan costs well over three billion dollars a month now and the price is rising. We can’t get a handle on the cost of war in Pakistan, but let’s say an even billion a month. None of this counts the secret “black” intelligence budgeting that adds up to who can even say how much more, but it is a very reasonable and modestly conservative estimate to say that our three wars now cost us ten billion dollars a month. That is insane. Let me put that in more modest terms: That is insane.
We cannot afford it. And have remarkably little benefit to show for it after seven plus years of this lunacy, a lunacy that includes countless war crimes committed by the American military and high command, from the last President of the United States, down the line to some of the troops in the field. Support our troops doesn’t mean even when they commit war crimes. There is an old saying we often hear the first half of: “My country right or wrong.” The second half of the quote we aren’t often told is, “if it’s right, keep it right, if it’s wrong, make it right.” In today’s climate, even so-called liberal Democrats, which they are not, take vitriolic umbrage when one suggests our country, or far worse, President Obama, T.S. (The Savior), might be wrong.
As for corporate America, which succeeded – amidst all the hoopla of a black man being elected Savior – in “winning over” Obama before he even took office, the billions, which may well now be trillions of dollars that has been given the big hitters, with Obama’s blessing and insistence, has been accompanied by no concomitant insistence upon transparency or accountability, whatsoever, and the dearth of efforts by the Administration, and I do indeed mean the Obama Administration, to re-regulate the financial banking and investment industries, a failure that is, to my admittedly harshly judgmental way of thinking, scandalous in its remission and failure on the part of the President to do his duty.
Sotomayor will be a moderately liberal justice, unless she votes to repeal Roe v. Wade, but I doubt she’ll do that. It is worth noting, however, that Obama never seriously considered a bold progressive and highly talented and qualified choice for the bench, two names readily coming to mind being Larry Tribe and Elizabeth Holtzman. No, choosing a genuine progressive was also “off the table” before the selection process began, for to fight the right-wing lunacy in the Senate would have required moral courage, something I’ve seen precious little of in Mr. Obama’s conduct to date.
Gays are the one progressive interest group standing up and screaming that the emperor has no clothes, as Obama continues his brilliantly eloquent obfuscation of the issues, in his efforts to do notably little in bringing constitutionally mandated equality, true equality, to the GLBTQ community. Obama’s handling of gay issues is quintessential “worship what I say, but don’t watch what I do” Obamese, cake for the masses: He made a big ceremony over extending federal benefits to partners of gays, without happening to mention, of course, that those benefits wouldn’t extend to health care for partners because that is prohibited by the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Meanwhile, Obama’s Justice Department filed a brief in federal court last month defending DOMA, but The Savior explained it away as a “speed bump” on the way to legislative repeal of the law. The logic gets a bit convoluted, so let’s get this straight: Obama had his Justice Department file a brief, supporting the legality of DOMA so that it can be repealed. That’s our Savior. When he entertains gay leaders at a White House commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots next week, I trust a few of those highly intelligent “leaders” will point out their dissatisfaction with his logic.
Would that other betrayed progressives would stand up to his waffling, obfuscation, clever triangulation and downright selling out of progressive principles, but alas, the Democrats continue to worship at the shrine of The Savior. Heaven forbid we should truly cast racism aside and call a moderately conservative president a moderately conservative president, regardless of what his color happens to be.
As for the poor, we can dispense with that silly notion quickly: What poor? I’ve never heard the President mention them. By the way, what has he done to stop developers from quasi-legally stealing the conveniently condemned homes of abandoned blacks in the ninth ward of New Orleans, so that they can eventually drive the rightful tenants out and sell the land for a large killing, bringing white gentrification to New Orleans? Haven’t heard that mentioned by the Black Savior. Comprehensive policies to house, feed and medicate the homeless? Narry a word. After all, The Savior wouldn’t want to offend the right wing lunatics, who clearly need psychiatric care more than legislative appeasement, even though they have proven that they will never vote for his bills, nor quit skewering him in the press (albeit, for all the wrong reasons).
Obama had Eric Holder, the Attorney General claim, after the NSA was let completely off the hook for criminal and unconstitutional violations of our civil rights, by conducting unimaginably extensive illegal wiretapping of American citizens, announce that the problem had been resolved, or reconciled, I can’t remember the exact word, but it added up to we’re letting it go. As for Bush Administration crimes, well, we’re looking forward, not backward. The next time you’re stopped going ninety in a school zone, explain smilingly to the officer that you were indeed doing ninety, but that was then, and we’re looking forward, not backward.
To those who claim prosecution of the Bushies would interfere with our “moving forward” with important progressive legislation (again, what progressive legislation?), I suggest they ask themselves if proving we are a nation of laws, rather than one of powerful dynastic individuals might not be a matter of some consequence.
Where is the legislative proposal to rebuild our infrastructure? Or the presidential advocacy for single-payer health-care in America, the only western democratic country on the planet without such coverage for its citizens, and here’s a bulletin for the insurance industry, not one of those other nations has yet crumbled. Where is the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the shamefully prejudicial military policy which 75% of Americans now oppose?
Mr. Obama claimed a new ruling by his Administration would protect streams beneath mountaintop removal sites, even though the new policy is guaranteed to allow this heinous and ecologically, not to mention humanly catastrophic abomination to continue, but did so in such a clever way that he succeeded in claiming he opposed it. The wolves and the polar bears took a serious hit under Obama’s Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, when Obama allowed him to maintain Bush Administration policies not to protect either of these species. The Savior wouldn’t want to offend the Palin crowd. (Does he expect their votes in his re-election bid of 2012?)
The list goes on and on and on. I cannot commit all of my grievances against The Savior to paper. I consider him the worst disappointment in the history of the Presidency. Be clear, I do not say or mean the worst president, as GWB clearly secured that honor for decades, if not centuries, to come, but for someone so brilliant, so talented, so fully aware of the plight of the needy, the destitute, the disenfranchised, the downtrodden, racial minorities, practitioners of alternative lifestyles, and the desperate longing of the people of other lands to be free of the ceaseless reign of terror visited upon them by American bombs, Obama gets my vote for the most disappointing president in my lifetime. And I’ve been around a while.
To those who say, give him time, I reply, I shall indeed, for I suspect my now almost universally-condemned take on the Obama Presidency will soon seem slightly less unsupportable. I fervently hope that I am proven wrong, but when I am not, I shall neither gloat with I told you so-ness, nor rejoice in the accuracy I now fear lies in my Cassandra-like prognostications. Rather, shall I weep over the further decline of our once-great nation, as it slides deeper into corporate fascism, supported by consumer avarice that has replaced citizen vigilance, and I shall ask my friends to bear with me, for my heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause ‘til it come back to me.
The gravamen of my complaints against Obama’s Presidency lie in his continuation and expansion of what are now his three wars, his – in my meager opinion – alarmingly non-resistant giving in to corporate power, his unwillingness to stand up for true equality for gays, despite alluding to intentions to do so during his campaign (although in fairness, he always said he opposed same-sex marriage), his unconstitutional remission in failing to go after members of the Bush Administration, including Bush himself, for crimes committed in office, including war crimes that merit life imprisonment, his remarkably disappointing allowance of terrible environmental policies to be set by his cabinet members, Salazar at Interior and Jackson at EPA, his less than bold choice of Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, his almost scandalous willingness to allow “intelligence” secrecy to continue, in clear violation of fourth amendment dictates to the contrary, his refusal to even place single payer nationalized health care coverage of all citizens on the table (although here again, I admit he has been forced by health care advocates to bring the possibility of some form of governmental insurance into play), a conspicuous lack of commitment to helping the homeless and destitute of this country, or rebuilding our dangerously sagging infrastructure (schools, highways, etc.), and – in short – what I, admittedly harshly, perceive to be a substantial lack of moral courage that runs through and not only informs his presidency, but leads to the above-stated consequences. He does the easy stuff, but he’s not willing to take Rooseveltian leaps of boldness onto the visionary paths we now desperately need government to travel.
I shall add brief particulars here to some of the above remarks. Regarding the wars, his policy is not only a continuation of the neo-con Bush era, but a deepening and therefore, to me, worsening of it. He hasn’t withdrawn any mentionable number of troops from Iraq in five months. He has openly and almost braggingly expanded the war in Afghanistan (for which he shall, I strongly believe, rue the day he did so), which I believe will result in tragic consequences to America (not to mention the Afghan people), and he is now pretty much neck-deep in Pakistan. I am not oblivious to the fact that there are nasty people out there who wish us harm, but his continuation and expansion of Bush’s dream of American empire is a dangerous loaded gun coming back to haunt us.
Let us not go into MSM (mainstream media) coverage of the wars (or anything else, for that matter, other than the death of Michael Jackson which they were all about, since it in no way threatened corporate control of American government), given that the MSM is simply the propaganda arm of the corporate state (and I haven’t got time or space here to make the case for that, or the fact that Beltway pundits serve one interest only, their own preservation and expansion of power and influence, because of which they now sicken me far too much to any longer watch their shows), but instead let us look at the reality.
The Afghan civilians we are continuously mistakenly slaughtering hate us passionately. In Pakistan, our errant drones kill increasingly large numbers of civilians, but then it’s only collateral damage to us. Unfortunately, to the innocent victims of these errant attacks, it’s a tragedy and a life-long commitment to hating the United States. For example, in our recent efforts to drive the Taliban out of the Swat valley, we have terrified at least two million citizens of that region into fleeing their homes and becoming desperate refugees. Now, there’s a way to win hearts and minds, isn’t it?
We have killed well over a million people in Iraq, probably closer to 1.5 million, at least ninety percent of whom were civilians. The war there costs four billion dollars a month. The war in Afghanistan costs well over three billion dollars a month now and the price is rising. We can’t get a handle on the cost of war in Pakistan, but let’s say an even billion a month. None of this counts the secret “black” intelligence budgeting that adds up to who can even say how much more, but it is a very reasonable and modestly conservative estimate to say that our three wars now cost us ten billion dollars a month. That is insane. Let me put that in more modest terms: That is insane.
We cannot afford it. And have remarkably little benefit to show for it after seven plus years of this lunacy, a lunacy that includes countless war crimes committed by the American military and high command, from the last President of the United States, down the line to some of the troops in the field. Support our troops doesn’t mean even when they commit war crimes. There is an old saying we often hear the first half of: “My country right or wrong.” The second half of the quote we aren’t often told is, “if it’s right, keep it right, if it’s wrong, make it right.” In today’s climate, even so-called liberal Democrats, which they are not, take vitriolic umbrage when one suggests our country, or far worse, President Obama, T.S. (The Savior), might be wrong.
As for corporate America, which succeeded – amidst all the hoopla of a black man being elected Savior – in “winning over” Obama before he even took office, the billions, which may well now be trillions of dollars that has been given the big hitters, with Obama’s blessing and insistence, has been accompanied by no concomitant insistence upon transparency or accountability, whatsoever, and the dearth of efforts by the Administration, and I do indeed mean the Obama Administration, to re-regulate the financial banking and investment industries, a failure that is, to my admittedly harshly judgmental way of thinking, scandalous in its remission and failure on the part of the President to do his duty.
Sotomayor will be a moderately liberal justice, unless she votes to repeal Roe v. Wade, but I doubt she’ll do that. It is worth noting, however, that Obama never seriously considered a bold progressive and highly talented and qualified choice for the bench, two names readily coming to mind being Larry Tribe and Elizabeth Holtzman. No, choosing a genuine progressive was also “off the table” before the selection process began, for to fight the right-wing lunacy in the Senate would have required moral courage, something I’ve seen precious little of in Mr. Obama’s conduct to date.
Gays are the one progressive interest group standing up and screaming that the emperor has no clothes, as Obama continues his brilliantly eloquent obfuscation of the issues, in his efforts to do notably little in bringing constitutionally mandated equality, true equality, to the GLBTQ community. Obama’s handling of gay issues is quintessential “worship what I say, but don’t watch what I do” Obamese, cake for the masses: He made a big ceremony over extending federal benefits to partners of gays, without happening to mention, of course, that those benefits wouldn’t extend to health care for partners because that is prohibited by the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Meanwhile, Obama’s Justice Department filed a brief in federal court last month defending DOMA, but The Savior explained it away as a “speed bump” on the way to legislative repeal of the law. The logic gets a bit convoluted, so let’s get this straight: Obama had his Justice Department file a brief, supporting the legality of DOMA so that it can be repealed. That’s our Savior. When he entertains gay leaders at a White House commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots next week, I trust a few of those highly intelligent “leaders” will point out their dissatisfaction with his logic.
Would that other betrayed progressives would stand up to his waffling, obfuscation, clever triangulation and downright selling out of progressive principles, but alas, the Democrats continue to worship at the shrine of The Savior. Heaven forbid we should truly cast racism aside and call a moderately conservative president a moderately conservative president, regardless of what his color happens to be.
As for the poor, we can dispense with that silly notion quickly: What poor? I’ve never heard the President mention them. By the way, what has he done to stop developers from quasi-legally stealing the conveniently condemned homes of abandoned blacks in the ninth ward of New Orleans, so that they can eventually drive the rightful tenants out and sell the land for a large killing, bringing white gentrification to New Orleans? Haven’t heard that mentioned by the Black Savior. Comprehensive policies to house, feed and medicate the homeless? Narry a word. After all, The Savior wouldn’t want to offend the right wing lunatics, who clearly need psychiatric care more than legislative appeasement, even though they have proven that they will never vote for his bills, nor quit skewering him in the press (albeit, for all the wrong reasons).
Obama had Eric Holder, the Attorney General claim, after the NSA was let completely off the hook for criminal and unconstitutional violations of our civil rights, by conducting unimaginably extensive illegal wiretapping of American citizens, announce that the problem had been resolved, or reconciled, I can’t remember the exact word, but it added up to we’re letting it go. As for Bush Administration crimes, well, we’re looking forward, not backward. The next time you’re stopped going ninety in a school zone, explain smilingly to the officer that you were indeed doing ninety, but that was then, and we’re looking forward, not backward.
To those who claim prosecution of the Bushies would interfere with our “moving forward” with important progressive legislation (again, what progressive legislation?), I suggest they ask themselves if proving we are a nation of laws, rather than one of powerful dynastic individuals might not be a matter of some consequence.
Where is the legislative proposal to rebuild our infrastructure? Or the presidential advocacy for single-payer health-care in America, the only western democratic country on the planet without such coverage for its citizens, and here’s a bulletin for the insurance industry, not one of those other nations has yet crumbled. Where is the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the shamefully prejudicial military policy which 75% of Americans now oppose?
Mr. Obama claimed a new ruling by his Administration would protect streams beneath mountaintop removal sites, even though the new policy is guaranteed to allow this heinous and ecologically, not to mention humanly catastrophic abomination to continue, but did so in such a clever way that he succeeded in claiming he opposed it. The wolves and the polar bears took a serious hit under Obama’s Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, when Obama allowed him to maintain Bush Administration policies not to protect either of these species. The Savior wouldn’t want to offend the Palin crowd. (Does he expect their votes in his re-election bid of 2012?)
The list goes on and on and on. I cannot commit all of my grievances against The Savior to paper. I consider him the worst disappointment in the history of the Presidency. Be clear, I do not say or mean the worst president, as GWB clearly secured that honor for decades, if not centuries, to come, but for someone so brilliant, so talented, so fully aware of the plight of the needy, the destitute, the disenfranchised, the downtrodden, racial minorities, practitioners of alternative lifestyles, and the desperate longing of the people of other lands to be free of the ceaseless reign of terror visited upon them by American bombs, Obama gets my vote for the most disappointing president in my lifetime. And I’ve been around a while.
To those who say, give him time, I reply, I shall indeed, for I suspect my now almost universally-condemned take on the Obama Presidency will soon seem slightly less unsupportable. I fervently hope that I am proven wrong, but when I am not, I shall neither gloat with I told you so-ness, nor rejoice in the accuracy I now fear lies in my Cassandra-like prognostications. Rather, shall I weep over the further decline of our once-great nation, as it slides deeper into corporate fascism, supported by consumer avarice that has replaced citizen vigilance, and I shall ask my friends to bear with me, for my heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause ‘til it come back to me.
posted by david hoch at 9:26 AM
1 Comments:
I was interested in a short blog, not the blogosphere equivalent of War and Peace!
Actually, an excellent analysis, although I am a strong believer in pragmatic politics. Too much too soon might have doomed this presidency from the get-go. A centrist tilting intellectual (actually, anyone) trumps that pathetic end result of quasi-aristocratic in-breeding that preceded him.
Lobster Boy
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