THE COMPETITION
Obama would almost certainly be a better president than either Bush or his preferred heir apparent, John McCain.
He would also likely be a better president than Bill Clinton. The reasons for this are several. He is vastly more honest. This doesn’t mean he is without guile – far from it – but it is, for him, apparently a fallback position rather than, as with Clinton, the first thing you exercise upon arising. Further, even though he comes from Chicago, the worst anyone has been able to hang on him is Tony Rezko. Obama has not been impeached, the governmental equivalent to a criminal indictment. And he has not proclaimed a deep concern for minorities and working class whites while simultaneously screwing them. Finally, Obama would probably bring to an end the 28 year Reagan – Bush – Clinton – Bush era that has been disastrous to America.
HONESTY & CONSISTENCY
Obama does mislead, and not unintentionally it would seem. For example, Obama repeatedly uses the politician’s trick of providing desriptions of a problem as a substitute for a prescription. This allows him to delude voters into thinking he has sympathy with them without the need to offer solutions.
Has deceived the voters by not telling them that he would keep American troops in Iraq and he a tendency to shift on a number of issues, such as NAFTA and policy towards Iran, depending on the media tenor of the moment.
Misled on extent on lobbyist support
Wrote in his own book, “I am new enough on the national political scene that I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”
ARROGANCE
Four years ago, Obama was an obscure state senator representing part of one of America’s most corrupt and machine-run cities. He is now running as God’s gift to America and clean government based on this past, plus what he would like have been a temp job in the U. S. Senate.
JUST WORDS
Obama’s use of southern pulpit cadence and inflection gives him an unfounded reputation for eloquence. His actual words are often corny and trite. He relies on cliches such as hope and change that have far more common with ad agencies than with philosopher kings. He also loses his command of metaphor and meaning when he is removed from a teleprompter and asked some questions, a weakness reflected in his antipathy towards news conferences.
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MINORITIES
Like Hillary Clinton, Obama has built his campaign around genetic identity rather than on political principles and issues.
Wouldn’t have photo taken with San Francisco mayor because he was afraid it would seem that he supported gay marriage
BUSINESS INTERESTS
Has offered few good ideas about how to handle the current economic crisis.
Cass Sunstein, a constitutional advisor to Obama, told Jeffrey Rosen of the NY Times: “I would be stunned to find an anti-business [Supreme Court] appointee from either [Clinton or Obama]. There’s not a strong interest on the part of Obama or Clinton in demonizing business, and you wouldn’t expect to see that in their Supreme Court nominees.”
Wrote that conservatives and Bill Clinton were right to destroy social welfare,
Supported making it harder to file class action suits in state courts
Voted for a business-friendly “tort reform” bill
Voted against a 30% interest rate cap on credit cards
Had the most number of foreign lobbyist contributors in the primaries
Is even more popular with Pentagon contractors than McCain
Was most popular of the candidates with K Street lobbyists
Voted against a 30% interest rate cap on credit cards
In 2003, rightwing Democratic Leadership Council named Obama as one of its “100 to Watch.” After he was criticized in the black media, Obama disassociated himself with the DLC. But his major economic advisor, Austan Goolsbee, is also chief economist of the conservative organization. Writes Doug Henwood, “Goolsbee has written gushingly about Milton Friedman and denounced the idea of a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures.”
Doug Henwood, Left Business Observer: “Top hedge fund honcho Paul Tudor Jones threw a fundraiser for him at his Greenwich house last spring, ‘The whole of Greenwich is backing Obama,’ one source said of the posh headquarters of the hedge fund industry. They like him because they’re socially liberal, up to a point, and probably eager for a little less war, and think he’s the man to do their work. They’re also confident he wouldn’t undertake any renovations to the distribution of wealth.”
NEW IDEAS
Has produced no interesting new ideas nor promised to fight for any important new programs
CITIES
Has no meaningful urban policy
BUSH REGIME
Has not dealt with the criminality of Bush’s use of torture.
Aggressively opposed impeachment action against Bush.
RELIGION
Has run his campaign as though leading a cult rather than a political movement.
Has indicated a willingness to name rightwing Christians to his cabinet.
CONSERVATIVES
Went to Connecticut to support Joe Lieberman in the primary against Ned Lamont
Paul Street, Z Mag – Obama has lent his support to the aptly named Hamilton Project, formed by corporate-neoliberal Citigroup chair Robert Rubin and other Wall Street Democrats to counter populist rebellion against corporatist tendencies within the Democratic Party. . . Obama was recently hailed as a Hamiltonian believer in limited government and free trade by Republican New York Times columnist David Brooks, who praises Obama for having “a mentality formed by globalization, not the SDS.” . . .
Times, UK – Obama is hoping to appoint cross-party figures to his cabinet such as Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator for Nebraska and an opponent of the Iraq war, and Richard Lugar, leader of the Republicans on the Senate foreign relations committee. Senior advisers confirmed that Hagel, a highly decorated Vietnam war veteran and one of McCain’s closest friends in the Senate, was considered an ideal candidate for defence secretary.
Richard Lugar was rated 0% by SANE. . . rated 0% by AFL-CIO. . . rated 0% BY NARAL. . . rated 12% by American Public Health Association. . . rated 0% by Alliance for Retired Americans. . . rated 27% by the National Education Association. . . rated 5% by League of Conservation Voters. . . He voted no on implementing the 9/11 Commission report. . . Vote against providing habeas corpus for Gitmo prisoners. . .voted no on comprehensive test ban treaty. . .voted against same sex marriage. . . strongly anti-abortion. . . opposed to more federal funding for healthcare. . .voted for unconstitutional wiretapping. . .voted to increase penalties for drug violations
Chuck Hagel was rated 0% by NARAL. . . rated 11% by NAACP. . . rated 0% by Human Rights Coalition. . . rated 100% by Christian Coalition. . . rated 12% by American Public Health Association. . . rated 22% by Alliance for Retired Americans. . . rated 36% by the National Education Association. . . rated 0% by League of Conservation Voters. . . rated 8% by AFL-CIO. . . He is strongly anti-abortion. . .voted for anti-flag desecration amendment. . .voted to increase penalties for drug violations. . . favors privatizing Social Security
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PROGRESSIVES
Dissed Nader for daring to run for president again
Called the late Paul Wellstone “something of a gadfly”
Progressive Punch ranks Obama 24th in the Senate.
FOREIGN POLICY
Has no clear plan to leave Iraq and Afghanistan.
His top Iraq advisor wrote that America should keep between 60,000 and 80,000 troops in Iraq as of late 2010. Obama, in his appearances, blurs the difference between combat soldiers and other troops and has given no indication that he would reduce the massive mercenary force in Iraq.
Has hawkish foreign policy advisors involved in past US misdeeds and failures
Would probably be good at international negotiations.
Would improve America’s image abroad, at least until he did something stupid.
Supports Israeli aggression and apartheid. Obama has deserted previous support for two-state solution to Mid East situation
Has voted numerous times to continue funding the war
Favored cluster bomb ban in civilian areas
Promises not to sign a trade bill without environmental and labor protections.
Won’t rule out first strike nuclear attack on Iran
Called Pakistan “the right battlefield … in the war on terrorism.” Threatened to invade Pakistan
AP – He would return the country to the more “traditional” foreign policy efforts of past presidents, such as George H.W. Bush, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. At a town hall event at a local high school gymnasium, Obama praised George H.W. Bush – father of the president – for the way he handled the Persian Gulf War: with a large coalition and carefully defined objectives. . . “The truth is that my foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional bipartisan realistic policy of George Bush’s father, of John F. Kennedy, of, in some ways, Ronald Reagan, and it is George Bush that’s been naive and it’s people like John McCain and, unfortunately, some Democrats that have facilitated him acting in these naive ways that have caused us so much damage in our reputation around the world,” he said.
ECOLOGY
Voted for a nuclear energy bill that included money for bunker buster bombs and full funding for Yucca Mountain.
Comes in at 48th in the ranking of senators by the League of Conservation Voters
Won’t oppose nuclear power
Supports federally funded ethanol
CIVIL LIBERTIES
Supports the war on drugs
Supports the crack-cocaine sentence disparity
Supports Real ID
Voted against immunity for telecoms’ illegal spying on Americans
Supports the PATRIOT Act
Supports the death penalty
Opposes lowering the drinking age to 18
Helped fight for restoration of habeas corpus at Gitmo.
Refused to take a position on the anti-constitutional Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Supports No Child Left Behind
Supports charter schools
DEMOCRACY
Has inspired a lot of young and minority voters to get involved in politics
HEALTH
Opposes single payer healthcare
Supported restricting damage awards in medical malpractices suits
Favors healthcare individual mandates that would help insurance companies and banks but not citizens
Received $708,000 from medical and insurance interests between 2001 and 2006
SOCIAL SECURITY
Says “everything is on the table” with Social Security. Clinton seems slightly more supportive of the classic Democratic program
PROSPECTS
At worst, Obama will be one more fox placed in the chicken coop of democracy by the corporations and their outsourced workers in the media and politics. At best, he will rebel against his upbringing and offer America something new and better. Most likely, however, is that he will serve as a deeply frustrating transition between what should never have happened and what needs to be done – stabilizing our national dysfunctions as they continue to await proper and necessary treatment.
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