Chris Hedges writes: "Barack Obama's campaign message, filled with lofty promises of change and hope, is also filled with repeated reassurances to the corporate elite. Pick up a copy of Obama's book. The Audacity of Hope. The subtext is clear. It is a steady reminder to corporate America, a reminder bolstered by Obama's voting record, that corporations would have nothing to fear from an Obama presidency." (Chris Hedges - "Corporate America")
"The corporations have gotten the message. The same Beltway lobbyists, corporate donors and public relations firms, the same weapons manufacturers, defense contractors, nuclear power companies and Wall Street interests that give Clinton and John McCain money, give Obama money. They happen, in fact, to give Obama more. And the corporate state, which is carrying out a coup d 'etat in slow motion, believes it will prosper in Obama's hands. If not, he would not be a viable candidate. We have come full circle, back to the age of the robber barons and railroad magnates of the late 19th century who selected members of corrupt state assemblies to be their pliable senators and congressmen and sent them off to Washington to do their bidding." (Hedges)
Obama is a war whore, ready to attack Pakistan and Iran and keep enough troops in Iraq to keep our military bases there and protect our oil, and he has mastered right wing talking points on most other issues also, saying that Social Security needs to be fixed - and taxes need to be lowered. He is not very good on labor issues and he often says one thing while meaning and doing the exact opposite. He is typically a right wing Democrat so it is no wonder I am hearing many Republicans and those young conservative "Independents" throw their support his way. The only change they'll get is more of the same.
Obama is the hoax of "change" and "hope." Michael Parenti says, he is not politically Black. I'm not sure what that means anymore but after-all, color is only skin deep.
"There have been some important investigations into Obama's links with major corporations, including Ken Silverstein’s November 2006 article Barack Obama Inc: The Birth of a Washington Machine in Harper's magazine. Newsweek has also detailed many of Obama's major corporate contributors. Obama's Leadership PAC includes John Gorman of Texas-based Tejas Securities, a major supporter of Senate Democrats as well as the Bush presidential campaigns. It includes Winston & Strawn, the Chicago-based law and lobbying firm. It also includes the corporate law firms Kirkland & Ellis, and Skadden, Arps, where four attorneys are fundraisers for Obama as well as donors. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Henry Crown and Co., an investment firm that has stakes in industries ranging from telecommunications to defense, are all funding the Illinois senator." (Hedges)
"Individual contributors to Obama come from major lobbyist groups such as those of Jeffrey Peck (whose clients include MasterCard, the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and Rich Tarplin (Chevron, the American Petroleum Institute and the National Association of Manufacturers). Exelon, a leading nuclear plant operator, based in Illinois, is a long-time donor to the Obama campaign. Exelon executives and employees have contributed at least $227,000 to Obama's campaigns for the United States Senate and for president. Two top Exelon officials, Frank M. Clark, executive vice president, and John W. Rogers Jr., a director, are among his largest fundraisers. Obama has also accepted more than $213,000 from individuals (and their spouses) who work for companies in the oil and gas industry, and two of Obama's bundlers are senior oil company executives who have raised between $50,000 and $100,000. I could go on, but you get the point." (Hedges)
"...A vote for Obama is a vote for the corporate state. Under an Obama administration, the corporations would continue their ruthless drive to disempower the citizens, to protect an entrenched American oligarchy and to subvert what is left of our faltering democracy." (Hedges)
Glen Ford writes in BlackAgendaReport (11/29/06), "Barack Obama and the Winds of War: Turning Right" correctly so that Barack Obama is shifting even more rightward. (Ford)
"One year after his bland and idea-less speech on Iraq to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (see "Obama Mouths Mush on War," December 1, 2005), Obama returned to mush more of the same to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The U.S. should "begin to move towards a phased redeployment of American troops from Iraqi soil," he told the business-oriented crowd. Since the objective reality on the ground in Iraq and in U.S. public opinion had changed dramatically in the intervening year--resulting in Democratic capture of the House and Senate--Obama's failure to substantively revise his previous, timid prescriptions actually amounts to a turn to the right." (Ford)
"As the 2008 campaign begins, Obama instinctively positions himself even closer to the right wing of the party. His finger is in the wind, as always, but not the popular national or Democratic rank and file winds. Rather, Obama's game is to maneuver himself deep into the foggy Iraq policy realm inhabited by the gaggle of Democratic "front-runners"--a muck from which nothing ever emerges of any relevance to Iraqi or world realities. On that soggy playing field, the Senator is betting that his personal popularity and charisma will propel him toward his goal--whether that be the presidential or vice-presidential nomination, or simply to solidify his position as a major power broker." (Ford)
Obama's plan for a "phased" withdrawal is as bland as his health care plan is plain wrong - as critiqued by economist Paul Krugman, who is a progressive. Krugman essentially says Obama's plans are by no means progressive.
Paul Krugman in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Dec 19, 2007) writes, "Do Obama supporters who celebrate his hoped-for ability to bring us together realize that "us" includes the insurance and drug lobbies?
"OK, more seriously, it's actually Obama who's being unrealistic here, believing that the insurance and drug industries - which are, in large part, the cause of our health care problems - will be willing to play a constructive role in health reform. The fact is that there's no way to reduce the gross wastefulness of our health system without also reducing the profits of the industries that generate the waste." (Krugman)
Bush Lite
Obama: "As a phased redeployment is executed, the majority of the U.S. troops remaining in Iraq should be dedicated to the critical, but less visible roles, of protecting logistics supply points, critical infrastructure, and American enclaves like the Green Zone... Drawing down our troops in Iraq will allow us to redeploy additional troops to Northern Iraq and elsewhere in the region as an over-the-horizon force." (Obama)
Obama: ".......[W]e must communicate clearly and effectively to the factions in Iraq that the days of asking, urging, and waiting for them to take control of their own country are coming to an end. No more coddling, no more equivocation. Our best hope for success is to use the tools we have--military, financial, diplomatic--to pressure the Iraqi leadership to finally come to a political agreement between the warring factions that can create some sense of stability in the country and bring this conflict under control." (Obama)
Obama Plan
"Ah, that Green Zone, the vast fortress in the heart of Baghdad where the U.S. is building the largest embassy by far in the world. Leaving the Green Zone in U.S. military hands would be like a foreign occupier "withdrawing" from New York City while retaining fortifications stretching across all of mid-town Manhattan." - http://www.worldcantwait.net/
"Yes, sort of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, Obama wants some U.S. troops, but not all, to go somewhere over the horizon. But the horizon he's talking about is Kurdish turf, protected by 60,000 battle-hardened Pesh Merga fighters who have already secured the territory's virtual independence and, at last word, have not requested that their region be occupied. Given the habitual conduct of U.S. troops, a redeployment to Kurdish Iraq would likely alienate the only major Iraqi group that is not yet actively hostile to the Americans. The Kurds constantly threaten to seize for themselves the oil fields at Kirkuk--a move that would almost certainly provoke war with both Sunnis and Shia. If, as he claims, Obama doesn't want U.S. troops caught in a crossfire, he's got a strange way of avoiding it." (Ford)
"No more "coddling"? Here, Obama reveals himself as just another imperialist, oblivious to his own nation's crimes and incapable of internalizing the concept of self-determination and sovereignty of weaker nations. The U.S. has "coddled" 600,000 Iraqis to death--not counting those who previously perished during decade-long sanctions. The Americans methodically destroyed the Iraqi state, and now wonder why the militia/parties can't put it back together again. The Americans drove most Iraqis to hate them, yet remain persuaded that they retain the moral authority to scold one part of the nation, their "allies," while "extinguishing" (Obama's word) another part, the resistance." (Ford)
"Barack Obama, surveying the wasteland and finding no peace and no Democracy, refuses to blame the Americans, but instead claims the U.S. is "coddling" Iraqis. He admits "polls show that almost two-thirds of all Iraqis now sympathize with attacks on American soldiers"--an amazing figure, since the Kurdish region of Iraq is relatively untouched by the war and occupation, and Sunnis make up only about 20 percent of the population. Apparently, a huge chunk of the Shia majority, the group the Americans thought would be their natural allies, would just as soon see them dead." (Ford)
"In such a situation, the word "coddling" seems wildly out of place. But delusions run deep in the American political culture, undermining the faculties of even the most popular Black man in America." (Ford)
"There is a political solution to the American war in Iraq, although not the one Obama and his corporatist friends are willing to accept. Get out. Now." (Ford)
Kyle Szarzynski writes for the Badger Herald at the (UW) University of Wisc. The following is quoted from Badger Herald in University Wire 09-18-2007. Kyle Szarzynski says about Barach Obama, that he is a political opportunist. I agree.
"..Let's briefly examine his not-so-progressive record... He remains a strong supporter of the invasion of Afghanistan and the increasingly ridiculous farce of the war on terror." (UW)
"Mr. Obama's commitment to equality apparently doesn't extend to poor Mexican immigrants. While publicly stating, "there isn't a stronger friend to the Latino community than me," his voting record says otherwise. In 2006, he voted for the Secure Fence Act, which authorizes the construction of a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border. He also opposes amnesty for undocumented workers." (UW)
"On gay marriage, he is simply on the wrong side. He supports civil unions, but as he said, "My religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman." The absurdity of the former chair of Students for a Fair Wisconsin endorsing this candidate speaks for itself. It should be noted that Mr. Obama's position on the issue is the same as that of Vice President Dick Cheney." (UW)
Obama wants to bring Americans together, he says. He sounds an awful lot like George, doesn't he? Krugman says, "As health care goes, so goes the rest of the progressive agenda. Anyone who thinks that the next president can achieve real change without bitter confrontation is living in a fantasy world. Paul Krugman says Obama is not for change. By his position on health care he is really anti-change. Yes, he is. And he is NO progressive. He also has very little substance. An Obama presidency will not usher in progressive change. It will be anti-change. It will be more conservative, less liberty, more controlling, less democracy. It will be a bleak future.
Glen Ford in "A Knife in Our Hearts, Obama's Siren Song in CounterPunch Mag - (June 14, 2007), "Barack Obama is the antithesis of Black Power, a man who promises with every word he speaks, with every nuance of phrase and body language, and through his voting record as a U.S. Senator, that he personifies the definitive end of Black organized struggle in the United States - a unilateral surrender to white racism. This is his appeal to the white masses: that they will no longer be challenged to confront history, or to relinquish privilege in the present." (Ford-CounterPunch - June 14, 2007)
"Obama's siren song to African Americans is of an entirely different nature. He does not have to sing it; we provide the music, ourselves. The lyrics and melody are actually alien to Obama, but he has heard them off and on in his strange sojourn through life, and senses their power to sway us. He understands that most of us will demand nothing from him - not even elemental allegiance. His "Black" flank, he knows, is covered, while his white "progressive" flank is neutralized and confused by Black failure to recoil at his betrayals of the most basic elements of social democracy. The field is wide open to the greatest opportunist to emerge from melanin-rich ranks in the New Millennium." (Ford-CounterPunch)
"Obama has already cashed in on his "Race, but not really, Card" - to the tune of $25 million dollars in contributions in the first three months of this year, three-quarters of it from corporations. This does not happen by accident. Since setting foot in the U.S. Senate, Obama has directed his entire message machine to the task of convincing corporate America that he is a friend who can be counted on to leave the actual Power Game in their hands." (Ford-CounterPunch)
"One of his first votes was to transfer most class action suits to federal courts, where multi-billion-dollar companies found guilty of race, gender or general employee abuse are fined the equivalent of the millionaire CEO's latest weekend at the casinos in Monaco. In the process of taking class action suits out of state courts, where the penalties to offending corporations have historically been much harsher, Obama voted against an amendment to put a cap of 30 percent on credit card debt charges. A fraction of that multi-billion dollar gift to the most unproductive sector of the economy wound up in his campaign coffers." (Ford-CounterPunch)
Any doubt who Barach Obama will be a proxy for in the White House? This is a Harvard man, a man not of the people and certainly not representing Blacks in America. The class Obama is representing now is the class he has come to love while a Harvard man. The rich and famous of which he wants to be a part.
"The alienated man from Kansas, Hawaii, Indonesia and Harvard has not skipped a beat in his pursuit of Power Approval. He stood down while only California Senator Barbara Boxer stood up to challenge the theft of Black voting rights in the 2004 election. He coddled American Manifest Destiny queen Condoleezza Rice and Bush Supreme Court nominees, while doing nothing - absolutely nothing - to materially aid Katrina victims. He has stuck like Crazy Glue to positions on the Iraq war and health care that are practically indistinguishable from Hillary Clinton's - and in no way threaten the military-industrial complex or health care-insurance industries. Obama vows to add 100,000 more troops to the U.S. aggression and occupation force, to be deployed...wherever his masters want them to go.ObamaLaughingInOurFaces." (Ford-CounterPunch)
"Obama is a company man. He knows the language, the subtle and overt signals, and emits them like a beacon. Ruling circles have gotten the message, and that is why corporate media have made him a contender, and corporate billfolds have financed him." (Ford-CounterPunch)
"The "skinny kid" made his bones at the Democratic National Convention, in August, 2004, while he was still an Illinois senatorial candidate - a shoo-in against the hopeless and deranged Black Republican Alan Keyes. Obama put all white fears to rest: "There is no white America. There is no black America. There is no Latino America. There is no Asian America. There is only the United States of America." Hallelujah!" (Ford-CounterPunch)
Those were the words of Barach Obama which made him a star on the right. There was nothing to fear from Obama who was not a black man, not bothered by the intractable racism pervasive in America and institutionalized in American politics. But, like Colin Powell, here was a white-black man (literally) who says there is no white or black America. And young conservative Independents and Republicans can't rally behind him fast enough. BUT make no mistake about it. He isn't progressive. Maybe once was, but power and the smell and taste of it has poisoned and inflated the ego of the young man and from Illinois.
As pointed out by Glen Ford, "Therefore, there is no specific oppression of Black people in America (carried out by whites), and there is no Black polity worth paying attention to. Voila, the problem of centuries is solved!"
Glen goes on to say, "Obama is the `NOT-Black' candidate, who just looks Black, and will absolve white folks - like a priest behind a screen - of historical, present, and future sins. He will integrate the mythical American narrative, washing it clean of real facts by his very presence and gleaming smile. He is happy. White folks are happy. Blacks are happy. Oh, happy days!"
If there is still any doubt, I assume most of you know what and who the DLC is and how it is tearing the Democratic Party apart by ignoring it's most important and largest base, it's progressive side. These right wingers in the Democratic Party has usurped the glory and turned the Dems into a party of Republican lite. Well, guess who is listed as a member of the Democratic Leadership Council (as reported by Bruce Dixon and Glen Ford in TheBlackAgendaReport in 2003)? You guess it. Barach Obama is listed as a member.
"In 2007, the contradictions that have beset Black America since the collapse (or betrayal) of the Freedom Movement two generations ago, came into sharp relief. A Black presidential candidate who spends much of his time denying the significance of race in U.S. society, cozying up to Big Business, and assuring imperial interests that he will expand U.S. military capabilities, captured the often diametrically opposed imaginations of millions of Blacks and whites." (BlackAgendaReport.Com - The Year of Black Media Leaders Especially Obama - (Jan 2 - 8, 2008)
Glen Ford writes: "Barack Obama's corporate-made and-financed presidential campaign is the product of three distinct factors, all mitigating against Black self-determination and political cohesion: 1) corporate decisions, made a decade ago, to provide media and financial support to pliant Black Democrats that can be trusted to carry Wall Street's water; 2) a widespread desire among whites to prove through the safe and simple act of voting that they are not personally racist, and/or to dismiss Black claims of pervasive racism in society, once and for all; 3) a huge reservoir of Jim Crow era, atavistic Black thinking that refuses to evaluate Black candidates' actual political stances, but instead revels in the prospect of Black faces in high places. A President Obama would, of course, be the zenith of such narrow, non-substantive, objectively self-defeating visions." (BlackAgendaReport.Com)
Glen Ford says ".... his impudent posing as the "Joshua" to succeed Dr. King's "Moses Generation," while supporting none of the fundamental social transformations sought by King; his fawning praise of the same U.S. "free enterprise" system that King thought was incompatible with racial justice and peace; Obama's ridiculous and statistically baseless declaration that Blacks have already come "90 percent of the way to equality," inferring that his election would provide the final ten percent; the senator's initial insistence, later modified, that the Katrina catastrophe and the Jena outrage had nothing to do with race; his remarkable pledge to the Foreign Relations Council to increase U.S. troops strength by 100,000 soldiers and Marines, all the while maintaining the farce of being a "peace" candidate. The list goes on, and will doubtless lengthen as the campaign continues." (BlackAgendaReport.Com);
Obama and Oprah Winfrey, were a natural partnership of rich and powerful American-African-Americans:
"Obama's hook-up with Oprah Winfrey was perfectly logical. Both are famous, unthreatening media celebrities with huge white followings. They compliment each other, and achieve the same effect of mesmerizing fame-struck Blacks and soothing the fears of whites - placebos for both sorely afflicted groups." (BlackAgendaReport)
"The same forces that shut down the Black Freedom Movement to pursue their own private interests, 40 years ago, have metastasized into corporate servants of the rich. With the gradual extinction of Black journalism, African Americans have grown to believe that Celebrity = Power - a fatal equation that strips Black America of independent agency, of political autonomy, and makes them putty in the hands of media corporations and their Wall Street masters." (ibid)
Obama's appeal is a political charade and it is a betrayal of all of the "real" progressives in the Democratic Party. Progressives are under assault and this hoax, under the banner of "change" is not change at all. Obama promises false hope while he is an elitist politician who serves the same corporate masters.
Hank Roth
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