Category: Barack Obama

I’m betting that O wins by 10-15% points.  I think he carries all mountain and west states except UT, WY, ID.  Yes, I think he wins in AZ.  I think he’ll win at least half of the deep south states.  He will lose KY and MS.  The others are a toss up.  He’ll lose in Alaska.  BFD.  

Now that’s just horse racing.  My real point is:  no need to pander.  You’re going to win.

But I don’t think O is pandering.  I think we are seeing the real O at last.  And unless (as I suspect it will) the economy really takes a deep six, I suspect an O presidency will be extremely frustrating to progressives. And I doubt the “change” he will bring will be sufficient.

Just some thoughts for a Saturday morning.

So, on this Independence Day, it’s time to think about how Obama is treating the progressive/left segment of the electorate.

After several ‘moves’ to the right in the past few days, can we trust Obama to represent the people that voted for him ?

Let’s recap.  Tax funding for religious charities, expanding the death penalty, FISA/4th Amendment, etc. Also let’s not forget his appointment of neo-liberal economists from the Milton Friedman/Chicago school of economic thought.

On the big issues let’s see if he’s any different from McCain/Bush

• Iraq  Let’s be real; he’s backed off from his early fuzzy ‘combat’ troop withdrawal plan. He’s funded the war everytime.  He’s going to increase the size of the military and the incredible waste of tax dollars.  On this issue, I think McCain might be worse, but right now it’s a tossup as they both want to ‘stay the course’.
  
   
• Healthcare McCain wants to destroy the employer-funded health insurance patchwork we have now. Obama wants to ‘improve’ the current system; how is he going to fund his public plan with all the money going to the ‘Defense’ (War) dept ?  McCain is clearly worse on this; however what’s the likelihood of Obama getting anywhere with his watered down plan ? The insurance companies are going to fight tooth and nail once they have to make any real changes.  Don’t count on it, given his cowardice with FISA, etc. Can McCain get away with his plan ?  I don’t think that’s realistic as we would have probably double/triple the number of uninsured people.  We might have a healthcare fueled revolt on our hands if that happens.
  
   
• Taxes/Economy McCain clearly has no clue; his whole ‘plan’ is written by the right wingnuts who are in the current administration.  Obama is better, but not bold enough. Can we trust him to follow through on his promises though ? He’s gotten a lot of money from the financial companies.
  
   
• Social Issues/Supreme Court Again McCain is a lot worse on this on the surface. Will the supreme court reverse itself on abortion ? I don’t think so; the religious conservatives would lose their most powerful issue.  But the real issue is whether Obama would appoint a real progressive to the court; given his track record recently I would say no.  We might get Roberts-like judges instead of Scalia-like judges.
  

In summary, I’d say in terms of foreign policy, there’s going to be virtually no change. On domestic issues, Obama might turn out to be better based on his current positions but who knows what’ll happen when he gets elected; how many more ‘shifts’ in his positions is he going to have?  

By Elizabeth Schulte via socialistworker.org:

http://socialistworker.org/200…

Counterpunch is one of my regular stop off points!

The dualistic mind is enjoying the on-going debate between “purity trolls” and “sell-outs.”  And most people on both sides of the issue appear to be quite certain of their stance.  Feeling somewhat queasy from the shaky ground under me, I’ve been looking in vain for the solid ground others seem to have found.  All I see is a Sophie’s Choice:  which one do you choose to kill–the Constitution of the United States or any chance of participation in the process?  I don’t know.  But I’m here to urge people to accept that we have a tough decision which cries out for meaningful, respectful debate.  And during this debate, may we keep in mind the most important political question we face–what action gives us the best chance of rescuing the constitution from imminent demise.

The recent flurry of controversy over the questioning of McCain’s qualifications for the Presidency reveals a strange transformation in American politics. We no longer argue about the substance of candidates and issues, but about their poses and postures. The defenders of John McCain are not outraged that critics question how John McCain would go about being president. They are outraged because critics question how John McCain goes about being John McCain. It is the coolness, the righteousness, the mojo of the McCain BRAND that was being questioned.

What John McCain’s propaganda machine is trying to sell to the electorate is a posture, a way of acting, an attitude toward the world, not a set of principles or policies. To attack the goodness of his behavioral facade is to strike at the core of a modern political candidate. The electorate has been conditioned to buy the package, not the contents of the package. The taboo that General Clark violated was to attack the attractiveness of McCain’s personality package.

The persona of the “military man” is a powerful brand in American politics. We saw it defended vigorously when General Petraeus was criticized for backing an escalation of the Iraq war. Opponents of the surge were NOT attacked for questioning the surge tactic; they were attacked for questioning the goodness of an American Army officer. Their crime was trying to damage the US military “brand.”

Similarly, McCain’s defenders are defending the “gutsy Navy pilot” brand, not the leadership qualifications of John McCain, who hasn’t flown a jet in decades. The inability to focus on the actual qualifications of political candidates is a sign of a dysfunctional political process. A similar focus on Obama’s magical, mystical persona as an agent of change afflicts the campaign of the Democratic candidate.

Unfortunately, when the voters go to the polls to elect a President in November, they will be choosing between two package designs, not two sets of alternative policies. It is time to pay attention to the package contents, because the challenges facing America in the next decade will not be solved by posturing and packaging.

This diary was prompted by the debate that circulated here around Senator Obama’s vote on telecomm immunity in the FISA bill, especially in Keith Olbermann’s diary of 6/26, and thereafter.  Olbermann’s rationalization was that Obama’s vote was a pragmatic move to attain power for the greater good.  The debate about Obama’s vote culminated in a defense of “purity trolls” (as such) in a diary listed here: “I’m calling out purity trolls by name,” incl. the Founding Fathers.  Since this “pragmatic” justification is endemic in politics today, I think it behooves us to examine it, and to specify and explain a “bad pragmatism” that comes of the uncritical acceptance of social “reality”.  I will also specify an antidote to “bad pragmatism,” in the concept of utopian dreaming.

(crossposted from Big Orange)

So Former Naval POW John McCain walks into the American Presidential audition room and proceeds to shuck and jive through his entire schtick, twirling his POW flag around while telling you that he’s not, and trying to convince America to vote for him because everybody tells him he’d be a swell president.

Gen. Wesley Clark, sitting in Simon Cowell’s chair, can’t take any more and raises his hand to stop the music.

“You’re a terrific juggler,” Gen. Clark says, “but

your future involves not being president.”

By Pham Binh via counterpunch.com:  http://counterpunch.com/binh06…

I just got done reading Keith Olbermann’s tortured excuse for not calling out Barack Obama on his FISA cave, and frankly, it’s as lame as it can get.  Sorry, Keith, but you’ve sold out to the far right without even realizing it.  Here’s why.

Throughout this campaign, you’ve been doing little or nothing but bash Hillary Clinton for all the wrong reasons.  While the senator supposedly representing New York has undoubtedly made plenty of verbal gaffes and has a poor record of defending the Constitution against the shrub and his gargoyle, you focused your rage exclusively upon her, and for all the wrong things.  One example is her suggestion that the bigot bloc might not vote for Obama, which is true: no matter how much he panders to the far right, no matter how often he bashes blacks to their faces, the bigots in this country simply are not going to vote for a black man for president; they’d sooner cast their ballots for a white woman.  You, however, joined in with those who relentlessly attacked her for pointing out this fundamental truth.

It’s refreshing to see that some businesses are doing well in today’s economy.  Perhaps the most successful venture going today is the pawn shop.  From Peoria to Pasadena,  pawn shops are seeing a boom in clients.

Says Doug Robinson, a pawn shop owner in Pasadena,

We’ve been on a continuous uphill run for a number of months.  I don’t see anything that will stop it.

Worse even than the paycheck advance loans, a pawn shop loan typically involves an annual interest rate in excess of 50%.  Yes, that is fifty percent per year.  In Mississippi, the cap is 25% per month, which is 300% per year (if not compounded monthly).  

Given that credit card debt is often 18% or higher, it is incredibly sad to imagine the poor soul who pawns an object at 50% interest to pay that very same object off on the 18% credit card debt.