Glen Ford, Editor of Black Agenda Report wrote this radio commentary, published in BAR on 8/12/09. I reprint the article here with the permission of Glen Ford.
I have sensed the difficulty we/some/who knows who/liberals who hoped — have had in criticizing Barack. It is evident in many areas, blogs, MSM, many places. We had the audacity of hope and are trying to deal with the reality of now, of seven months since the inauguration. And we are struggling with the disparity between our hopes and what is happening.
How do we balance our very real hope and our very real sense of hearing him speak the right words, the feeling that he understands the deep underbelly of this society— how do we balance that with the Faustian reality of the deal which must be made with the power elites, the corporate massahs, if there is to be any chance of ascending in the structure to the point where some modicum of righteous benefit might accrue to the people, might just be possible.
We the people wanted to hear the truth. We were so painfully long overdue for the truth in 2008 that we soaked up the truth Obama spoke like dry sponges.
The Ruling class, however, the corporate elites wanted him only to speak the truth; they were not about to tolerate the truth spoken to be carried into action. And Obama, probably in good faith, tried to do the juggling act. But it hasn’t worked. It is not working. And I think it is up to us. Either we take our democracy back now or we agree to acqiesce into decades more of injustice. Except, this time we don’t have the time to make any more mistakes in the evolution of the human race, human consciousness and the survival of the planet. We need to see the reality and push Obama in the direction of survival, of evolution.
Glen Ford’s “Obama Kidnapped by Ruling Class” commentary is beyond the fold. Please come along….