The Swiftboating of Barack Obama
If there’s anything I’ve learned about American politics over the past decade, it’s this: First, regressives will do anything - and I mean anything - to obtain power (the real purpose of which is to loot the public fisc of all items not securely nailed to the floor). And, second, just about everything they try works when employed against an American public possessed of stunning political immaturity.
It comes as little surprise, therefore, that two things happened over the last couple of weeks. One, that Barack Obama was swiftboated by means of a bogus inference in order to make him look like an angry black radical. And two, that a lot of dumb voters went for it.
It was pretty inevitable, really. I mean, the guy was getting rather, um, uppity, if you know what I mean. Winning elections and all. Mobilizing millions of voters. And so on. Plus he’s talking like he might actually, really, seriously, shut off the government teat of Iraq war no-bid contracts, NAFTA/WTO-based cheap labor, and massive tax transfers for the hyper-wealthy. This shit had to end.
True, John McCain is not quite as reliable a special interests whore as, say, Mitt Ownme, but he knows where his bread is buttered, and sometimes it seems like he even genuinely believes all the crap they feed him. Anyhow, he’s far more controllable than some Democrat, especially one who seems increasingly able to get voters (with a massive assist from the complete failure of Bush and the regressive agenda) to cease responding to the cues for which they’ve been so well trained these last decades. Hear that bell? Salivate now. We say “Jump”? Ask “How high?” See that grainy image of a black criminal? Vote Republican. Oh, and please be sure to hand over your wallet before exiting the building.
No doubt about it, people. The American plutocracy paid good money to create such a well disciplined voting class, and they’re not about to let that investment go down the drain without a fight.
The damn thing about it, though, is that Obama hardly gives them anything to work with. I mean, the guy is mild-mannered to a fault. He’s inspirational when he speaks, never angry and alienating. He was supposed to be vulnerable for opposing the stupidest foreign policy decision ever made, but instead all except the most low-wattage voters see Iraq as, well, the stupidest foreign policy decision ever made. I mean, the guy doesn’t even really seem black.
That only leaves one option remaining, then: Swiftboat the SOB. Find some tangential pseudo-vulnerability that goes after Obama’s biggest potential asset and turn it into a negative. Is he coming off to a mesmerized public as some kind of post-ideological, post-racial-divide healer who could unite the country and return us to our sanity? Then he must be turned into Eldrige Cleaver. All that’s needed to complete the picture is a big ‘fro, a beret and an AK-47 with a menacing tilt to it.
Preposterous? Think it can’t be done? So did I, until I saw a guy with three Purple Hearts and a Silver Cross turned into a weak, wimpy, lying coward, in order to make sure that a weak, wimpy, lying coward who went to Margaritaville instead of the Mekong Delta during the Sixties could be portrayed as some sort of macho tough guy, and thus steal another four years in the White House.
Fortunately, Obama is no John Kerry. The latter waited three weeks to respond to the attacks against him. He might as well have waited three years. Obama didn’t make the same mistake. And when he did speak, what a tour de force it was.
The most stunning feature of his speech was the least overt. This was a speech about his pastor, but that was not its central motif. This was a discussion of race, of course, but that was not its deepest theme.
What really mattered most about this speech was the way in which Obama addressed us. American politicians have treated the voting public with barely concealed contempt for so long now, we’ve largely forgotten what respectful discourse looks like. On March 18th, Obama reminded us.
Forget about charisma, a very much overrated if not dangerous characteristic in politicians anyhow. What matters instead is this: It’s been decades since someone spoke to the public with this much honesty and sophistication about our society and its choices. It was breathtaking just to witness that level of esteem pointed in our direction.
All the more so because of the epoch we’ve just survived. George Bush is far from the only contemptuous politician in recent history, but he is surely the worst of the lot, and his politics are instructive because of that.
In Bush’s world, everyone is two-dimensional, at best. They’re either good or evil. Folks is either with us or with the enemy. In Bush’s comic book reality, no issue is ever nuanced. There’s only right - which, remarkably, always happens to be his way - and there’s wrong. Once asked if he could name any mistakes he’d made as president, a flustered Bush was unable to identify even a single one. (I wish I could have been there to assist him. We probably could have made a dent in it after a week or two.) He cannot conceive that anyone he’s labeled evil could have legitimate grievances. He cannot imagine that America could ever have committed any crimes, such as using violence to achieve political ends.
Or so he acts when he speaks to us. I doubt he truly believes his own sorry shtick, which of course only makes it far worse.
Nor has the so-called opposition been much better. While their positions on issues might be slightly more thoughtful (and how could they be less so?), one has little sense from a John Kerry or a Hillary Clinton that they can say something just because it is truthful, as opposed to because they’ve calculated that it’s popular. Theirs is different from Republican pandering in scale and destructiveness, but not in kind. It is still pandering for purposes of personal benefit.
And American politics have been deeply impoverished for decades now because of our politicians’ contemptuousness. Worse, the effect has been cyclically corrosive. The more of it we get, the more of it we breed.
We live today in a polity characterized by the most unsophisticated public discourse, one where twenty-second scare ads win elections every time. And one where attempts at thinking through basic questions - such as whether our enemy resides in Afghanistan or Iraq - are ridiculed as effete intellectual elitism.
Look what it’s produced for us. Whether it is the federal debt, falling economic standards, environmental crisis, or our diminished world standing that we’re discussing - or, more likely, not discussing - Americans have dug themselves into failed policy holes of epic proportions. In very large part, this is because it’s been mutually convenient for both politicians and voters alike to indulge in a Potemkin politics of fantasy.
But the stunning sub-text of Obama’s speech is that we can think of these issues and the people involved in them as more than mere caricatures. In adopting this posture, he telegraphed to Americans more respect, and less contempt, than they’ve seen from any politician in three decades, ever since Reagan seduced them into assisting in their own looting.
When Obama reminded us that his former pastor had not only bad but also good ideas - like most anyone, black or white, emerging from the cauldron of American race relations might - he treated his listeners with a dignity and an intellectual esteem largely absent for a generation.
When he rejected the expedient route of completely disassociating himself from Reverend Wright, he demanded sophistication in our thinking. He asked us to use our minds rather than our emotional reflexes, and to invest more energy into determining our own fate than that which is required for passively imbibing deceitful television ads, cold beer in hand.
When he implored us to reject the divisions of race, religion and nationality that right-wing politicians have been exploiting for decades to divert attention from “the real culprits of the middle class squeeze,” he showed a political courage that is as exemplary as it is rare.
And when he did all of these things - but especially when he showed us an intellectual respect that we frankly haven’t often deserved - Obama demonstrated that he perhaps really might belong in that pantheon of American political giants that includes Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR and King, but precious few others.
He also made clear why those who peddle the politics of contempt have lately shown such desperation to somehow silence his revolution, a revolution not so much of policy - Obama is no V.I. Lenin; he’s not even a Paul Wellstone - as it is of esteem. Think, for a moment, of the sheer absurdity of what they are asking you to accept on the face of their argument.
Has this man committed treason, like Scooter Libby, for example? No. Did he lie to the world at a cost of a million lives, like Bush and everyone else in his reprobate camp? Uh, no. Has he bankrupted the future of our children through his environmental, fiscal and foreign policies, like the entire Republican Party? No, he did not. Heck, is he even guilty of the heinous crime of screwing an expensive prostitute, like silly Eliot Spitzer? Nein.
Barack Obama’s great crime, as the regressive noise machine (as well as a certain senator from New York) would have you believe it, is failing to quit a church where the pastor has controversial ideas. Let’s say this again, because the absurdity of it is so astonishing (as with all regressive politics, once you look closely). This man is being excoriated for the crime of failing to quit a church whose pastor has ideas with which he doesn’t entirely agree. That is why, it is being argued, Obama should be rejected as a contender to lead America as president.
This, by the way, while John McCain has been actively wooing televangelist (a modern euphemism for crook) John Hagee for his endorsement, despite that the good reverend has called Catholicism “a godless theology”, blamed the Holocaust on Jewish “disobedience and rebellion”, argued that Katrina was “the judgment of God against New Orleans”, and claimed that the Koran gives Muslims “a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews”. Notwithstanding any of those slightly controversial remarks, McCain sought this clown’s support, got what he wanted, and thus stated at a campaign event that “I was pleased to have the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee yesterday”.
If it seems like a helluva logical conundrum that Obama gets trashed for comments his pastor makes, over which he has no control, while McCain goes scot-free after seeking the endorsement of a king-size bigot, well then welcome to Swiftboat Land. Park your brain over there, to the right. By the same ‘logic’, John Kerry, who went to Nam, became our national security wimp, while Wee Caligula, who couldn’t even stay sober enough to show up for the faux service Poppy arranged to keep him out of the jungle, became our tough commander-in-chief.
Of course, logic has nothing to do with swiftboating, apart from the crucial requirement that it must be murdered in more ways than Rasputin was, and buried deep on some distant continent, lest anyone in America should actually awaken from their regressive-induced stupor long enough to ask why that emperor dude is running around in his underwear.
In truth, what Reverend Wright said is of as much actual concern to regressives as was John McCain’s supposed black love-child or Willie Horton’s crimes. Which is to say none at all. The point is to swiftboat Obama by injecting race into the campaign and frightening away closet racist voters. The point of doing that is to win power. And the point of that is to steal your money and your country.
That’s why Obama’s ‘revolution’ represents that most threatening commodity of all for those who employ contemptuous deceit to mask “economic policies that favor the few over the many,” as he accurately labeled it.
It’s a revolution, ultimately, of respect - and that’s really dangerous. For the first time in a very long time, a presidential candidate is speaking to Americans as if they were grown-ups.
We’re about to find out if anyone is listening.
David Michael Green is a professor of political science at Hofstra University in New York. He is delighted to receive readers’ reactions to his articles (mailto:dmg@regressiveantidote.net), but regrets that time constraints do not always allow him to respond. More of his work can be found at his website, www.regressiveantidote.net.
If non regressives want to fight back against regressives, they have to fight back.
Its not enough carrying anti war signs outside recruiting offices when pro recruiters show up. Make the pro recruiters join up.
If they cant fight then can at least drive a truck.
Call Bush a hypocritical coward for not serving in Vietnam and DONT BACK DOWN.
Dont apologize.
That is the worst thing to do. Right wingers are cowards at heart–press them too hard and like any bully they fold.
Why is the press corp so compliant with Bush–its partly corporate-but its because Bush bullies them and the press are cowards.
If people called Bush a hypocritical coward every time they spoke his name–it would stick. They give the imbecile way too much respect
I heard that people facing house forclosures are planning to go after banks and their families–shaming them by telling their kids what their parents do.
This is exactly what SHAC did with an animal research lab.
It works. You have to be as passionate about your cause as your enemies are about making money. Otherwise you end up a sell out like the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Greenpeace etc.
D.M. Green puts it perfectly. I only wish this message could get out to everyone, rather than being posted only to “the choir” here at Common Dreams.
An anecdote to explain why we can’t get past preaching to the choir. Yesterday I was giving a standard psyc lecture on the impact of physical attractiveness in our judgments of others, including politics. I knew no one would remember Dukakis, but dutifully cited him, then went on the current situation. It’s useful to know that I teach on a commuter campus with below average admissions criteria, but nonetheless, college students which puts them above average for the general public. Not a single person had ****heard of***** Dennis Kucinich. I turned helplessly to my brightest student, the one who is familiar with psychology as it has influenced Alfred Hitchcock, and said, “You haven’t heard of Dennis Kucinich?” And she got flustered and made me feel bad…….. I love my students, and I keep trying to make a dent, but we are up against some very monumental ignorance. The good news is these same folks are undoubtedly completely unaware that Obama made a speech, or that he went to a church with a controversial preacher; in fact, I read this a.m. that a significant number of poll respondents recently still held the view that Obama was Moslem.
Count me as one white guy who realizes that Obama himself cannot be made into a “nigger” image because of his obvious leadership qualities—so opponents from Republicans to the Clintons have decided to try to do it with Pastor Wright as the surrogate “crazy nigger.” (Pardon the language. I don’t like the word, but I believe THEY are trying to infer it without saying it. I believe we must accuse them of that very visual attempt on that very word.)
If Obama is smart now, and I think he is, he will run against John McCain from this moment, being mostly kind and respectful in words about Mrs. Clinton—yet smacking Bill at every opportunity. We want to see his graciousness toward an older woman, and we also somehow want to see him cold-conk the MAN (Bill Clinton) who would try to hold him down in the old mold of Jesse Jackson.
I believe Obama can bring the Presidency home, especially if Hispanics will soon wake up and realize that the same people who marginalize “blacks” will ultimately give “browns” the same treatment. The “let’s build a big fence at the border” crowd and the Pastor Wright abusers are the same folks. Unite the white progressives, the blacks and the hispanics and watch Obama win.
Yes, longingforsanity. I had to laugh when I read that, according to one poll, 10% think Obama’s Muslim and that some of those 10% were also familiar with the Reverend Wright controversy. So… Obama’s both a Muslim AND a Christian whose pastor is “anti-American.” Talk about being all things to all people.
longingforsanity,
I feel your pain. You have to remember that today’s students are brought up on I-Pods, the Internet, and other electronic media. Playing video games is more important than picking up a book or conducting meaningful research. The only time they do it is when they get an assignment. I once taught at a college in the Midwest where many students actually made bets seeing how many of them could get through college without having to set foot in the library! When I caught wind of that, I put an end to it (for the students who signed up for my classes). You should have heard the whining and bitching and moaning. But, they had to do it. At the same time, what it also called for was an innovative way to teach so they learned from the assignment and developed a passion for reading and research. There were many nights (and occasionally still are) when I got hardly any sleep because I worried about being an effective teacher. Many people assured me that I was, but I really wondered if my students were learning and enjoying it. As teachers, we do have enormous responsibilities, but we do it because we are passionate about teaching and want our students to learn. Hang in there. You will reach students. Sometimes, it takes a while, but you will do it. Not to get sidetracked, but what Professor Green is saying is true. And sometimes I wonder if we ought to let the country collapse under the Bushes and Clintons and start over. But two days a week, I stand in front of several young faces who remind me why I need to continue fighting the good fight: so they will have a future.
So to be president of this country you have to surround yourself completely with people who believe exactly the same things you do? Isn’t that the problem with the present administration? Being exposed to ideas you don’t agree with can lead to rethinking a situation and finding a new, workable solution to a problem. God forbid we have any leaders who are willing to mentally entertain more than one side of an issue. Better that they all be a bunch of unbending automatons who blindly follow the same path, even if it leads to the destruction of themselves and our country.
Excellent post, and
kelmer, I am with you there
What these elitist rulers need to be made aware of is that they are not ABOVE us like they think that they are, they are SURROUNDED by us, no matter where they go, no matter how insulated they are. We are just outside their gated communities. just waiting
so funny… and rather unfortunate, that we skirt this as often as we do.
“He (George Bush) cannot imagine that America could ever have committed any crimes, such as using violence to achieve political ends”
the oxford dictionary defines “terrorism” for us…
terrorism |ˈterəˌrizəm|
noun
the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.
I lived in China in the early 1980s and was struck by how much the government there infantilized its population, treating them as children who had to be hectored and led with simplistic formulas and diatribes. It’s the same kind of rhetoric the Chinese government is increasingly using to denigrate and demonize the Dalai Lama.
And it mirrors very strongly the infantilization of the American voting public with its striking loss of basic rational thought and discourse.
As David Michael Green and a number of other commentators have pointed out, Obama’s treatment of Americans as thinking intelligent adults is refreshing, enervating and hopeful.
Another excellent article from the right honourable Professor David Michael Green….
Nothing to add except: I only hope Obama’s security team are up to the task…LBJ’s mistress recently admitted hearing LBJ stating in Sept 1963, “that ‘SOB’ [sic] John F Kennedy won’t be bothering him again”..just before JFK’s assassination…
While I was helping our Board Of Elections get ready for the primary here in Ohio I remarked one morning on the declaration of independence of Kosovo from Serbia and all the menacing signs of conflict to come there. All my co-workers are politically motivated and involved and they all looked up as one and said “huh, wazzat?” It aint just the kids.
I’m still grinning about Barack’s speach, and the right just gets madder and madder that they can’t pin the tail on the donkey. Maybe we should tell them to take the blindfold off.
A previous poster noted that Barak could be translated differently in Arabic and Hebrew; “I hope that the American Barack (blessed, in Arabic), if elected, will not turn into a replica of the Israeli Barak (lightning, in Hebrew).”
I concede that Obama has been the most charismatic believable speaker that has appeared on the political stage for a good long while. Let’s hope the “Do unto other’s line” that he mentioned in his race speech will show up in foreign policy if he becomes president.
Blessing or Lightning
Barak the blessed goes with Obama
while lightning goes more with McCain
I’d sooner the blessing
over the bolt
for past policy smites
could become us,
the smote
The media have been flooded with paternalistic excuses for Jeremiah Wright, and Barack Obama’s was the most condescending of all.
First, Reverend Wright was Obama’s crazy old “uncle,” and now he’s a dinosaur mired in the tarpit of segregation:
Poor old guy! He thinks it’s still 1951. Don’t wake him up!
It just gets worse.
Poor old guy! Put him in a nursing home and forget him!
There is no resemblance whatsoever between this miserable picture and anything about Jeremiah Wright that I have seen or read.
Instead of the half-dead “uncle” Obama describes, the Jeremiah Wright I see in the famous videos is a fluent and highly educated man burning up enough energy to run a marathon in the course of every sermon.
Physically, this guy could kick Obama’s scrawny butt all the way from Philadelphia to New York, and mentally, Jeremiah Wright can talk and think rings around Barack Obama in every form of human communication except reading a speech from a teleprompter.
Jeremiah Wright is not your pathetic, half-dead “uncle,” Mr. Obama!
Jeremiah Wright is fully responsible for himself, and when he curses America and subscribes to the hateful black-power “theology” of James Cone, he deserves as much condemnation as the white-power neo-Nazis in their stinking gun-clubs in Idaho and Alabama.
Barack Obama’s condescending defense of Jeremiah Wright is a throwback to the paternalism of Jim Crow and the ante-bellum South, where the black “race” was supposed to need the guidance of superior beings like the Grand Dragon of the local KKK.
The only difference is that now the superior being is Barack Obama.
kelmer, i have been thinking that for years. maybe its time to put thoughts into action!
envision a brighter future,
the clouds are already starting to clear!!
Since the thrust of this article and comments is about how uninformed the American Public is, let me ask a question to all you bright, literate and informed Common (C)ream progressives - Do you know the Dali Lama’s stance on the Vietnam, Iraq wars and on Homosexuality? You should, and it’s not what you think. But of course because everything Tibetan is good you’ll let it slide. Much like the neocons do for their causes.
The smear campaigns are always going to come out at election time. The “Swift Boat Traitors For Truth” was a very effective Republican propaganda tool. These liars sank Kerry and people like them will always stand by to support whatever cause pays the most.
whew… what HE said
howie-
I couldn’t care less what the Dali Lama thinks about Vietnam, Iraq wars and Homosexuality. Just like I don’t care what anyone else thinks about it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If they try to violate or take away someone’s rights then I draw the line. If they torture someone or attack someone then they must be stopped. I don’t think the Dali Lama has done any of that.
Lorax,
The Tibetans led by their earth god are doing that right now. The Dali Lama and his religion have been given a free pass by the left.
Vote Republican. Oh, and please be sure to hand over your wallet before exiting the building.
Just remember not to reach for it if you’re one of those people, or plainclothes cops with itchy trigger fingers and oversensitive pistols might have to shoot you. (You know, maybe that kind of thing could be why Rev. Wright was a bit… abrasive?)
What matters instead is this: It’s been decades since someone spoke to the public with this much honesty and sophistication about our society and its choices. It was breathtaking just to witness that level of esteem pointed in our direction.
Isn’t it? Which is why I’d be proud to vote for someone like that if he gets the nomination; maybe he’s not perfect, maybe he’s not as progressive as we’d like, but it’s so nice to be spoken to as an intelligent adult instead of a child or a insubordinate employee.
Do you know the Dali Lama’s stance on the Vietnam, Iraq wars and on Homosexuality? You should, and it’s not what you think. But of course because everything Tibetan is good you’ll let it slide.
Which opinions are what, and how do you know? Cripes, we can’t win for losing with people like you. Either we’re “politically correct” Stalinist herd-thinkers, or we’re hypocrites.
Much like Rev. Wright, if the Dali Lama has some views I disagree with, well, he’s got his head straight on many others, and I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I have a friend who truly believes that the American Political Drama of quadrennial elections is high entertainment and that the conclusion is pre-determined by the powers that be. I hope this cynical viewpoint is incorrect and that we still have enough semblance of a democratic procedure left to manage an honest election.
But I have to admit that I really don’t see much evidence for belief that it will not be manipulated and controlled to serve the military-industrial complex.
Bush/Cheney and Company have trashed the Constitution and have yet to be called to account for it by the prescribed means…impeachment. (And to Nancy Pelosi I say “Sometimes we do things on principle…not because we know beforehand that we’ll win.”)
The first term was manipulated by the Supreme Court in a travesty of justice and political chicanery. And it’s even more stacked now. Once the law of the land becomes subservient to political ends, there is only one recourse left to the masses and it’s a terrible thing to contemplate since, typically, only the masses suffer.
As far as I can discern from public documentation, the majority of the voting structures in the U.S. are still under the control of electronic forms of vote counting. I’ve spent 25 years working in the computer industry and I guarantee you that anything based on a computer can be breached and manipulated without leaving a trace.
And before we get too far into the election season, someone needs to step up and talk about the manipulation of the exit polls. The failure of the exit polls in the early elections this year can be pointed to in the total manipulation of the final election to “prove” that the exit polls are meaningless and that John Q. Public really did vote Mr. McCain into office.
Never before in the history of modern exit polling have they proven unreliable. Therefore, it becomes of paramount importance to invalidate them as instruments and where better to do so than in early elections where the candidate field is wide and the outcome less than crucial?
Are we all being setup for the next Big Lie?
Lorax,
Though there is absolutely no reason to believe that Bush really had any intention to liberate Iraq, there is a reasonable argument that the Chinese did liberate Tibet. Before the Chinese invaded, Tibet was a land of serfs and illiteracy.
Here is an excerpt from http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html :
Until 1959, when the Dalai Lama last presided over Tibet, most of the arable land was still organized into manorial estates worked by serfs. These estates were owned by two social groups: the rich secular landlords and the rich theocratic lamas. Even a writer sympathetic to the old order allows that “a great deal of real estate belonged to the monasteries, and most of them amassed great riches.” Much of the wealth was accumulated “through active participation in trade, commerce, and money lending.”
Drepung monastery was one of the biggest landowners in the world, with its 185 manors, 25,000 serfs, 300 great pastures, and 16,000 herdsmen. The wealth of the monasteries rested in the hands of small numbers of high-ranking lamas. Most ordinary monks lived modestly and had no direct access to great wealth. The Dalai Lama himself “lived richly in the 1000-room, 14-story Potala Palace.”
Secular leaders also did well. A notable example was the commander-in-chief of the Tibetan army, a member of the Dalai Lama’s lay Cabinet, who owned 4,000 square kilometers of land and 3,500 serfs. Old Tibet has been misrepresented by some Western admirers as “a nation that required no police force because its people voluntarily observed the laws of karma.” In fact. it had a professional army, albeit a small one, that served mainly as a gendarmerie for the landlords to keep order, protect their property, and hunt down runaway serfs.
Young Tibetan boys were regularly taken from their peasant families and brought into the monasteries to be trained as monks. Once there, they were bonded for life. Tashì-Tsering, a monk, reports that it was common for peasant children to be sexually mistreated in the monasteries. He himself was a victim of repeated rape, beginning at age nine. The monastic estates also conscripted children for lifelong servitude as domestics, dance performers, and soldiers.
There are many more sources out there. Remember, the MIC wants Americans to idealize the Dalai Lama and to demonize China to further the arms build-up. Think about it.
amen, brother david, you are right on! thank you for your astute and clear thinking.
To read Prof. Green’s article is like inhaling a breeze of fresh air, after having read all the villifying media reports on Obama.
I have been very intrigued by this campaign, although I myself am from Belgium, and I know a lot of Europeans like me that have too. I believe it indicates how the world yearns for change.
What makes Barack Obama such an appealing figure, I believe, is the fact that he, before everything else, vibrates an intense sense of humanity. Nothing what he does or says comes across as an entirely political mise-en-scene, or a program-fueled puppeteering of voters. When he speaks, he seems to speak, first, as an disillusioned but hopeful American (I would even say a World) citizen who has been shamelessly disappointed in what America has come to stand for over the recent years, and who feels betrayed alongside all his citizen peers. He doesn’t at all come across as a political-savvy Ivy League-prepped media manipulator out to harvest as many votes regardless of how his inner beliefs may totally go against those of the electorate.
Having been living in various places over the world, I have come to see how a lot of Americans who I’ve met abroad - I know some of you might not care about how you are viewed upon abroad while they are remaining in the country, but still - were simply astonished by the downward negative (even if often playful in tone) image the recent years of plainly immoral and illegal political mismanagement (and indeed, as Prof. Green has pointed out, often supported by a deceived American electorate) has harvested across the world.
It is sad to see how politically manipulating games are relentlessly unleashed upon the voters, but it is very hopeful and inspiring to see how Obama seems to transcend all that with respectful trust in the American electorate to vote accordingly to their aspirations.
Go back snd sit in mother earth’s lap. She will give you new and improved energies. You may find yourself envisioning a brighter future for us all. I’m neither left or right, just want to quote Alice Walker’s words:”Where do we start? How do we reclaim a proper relationship with the world.” And her mudra: “And her New World Peace mudra, One earth, one people, one love. Repeat 7 times unto the 7th generation
Professor Green, thank you for your thoughtful essay. I’ve lamented for many years that America has not had an eloquent leader who could rally people behind him, or her, in the manner of Dr. King or Bobby Kennedy. Since 1968, when those two powerful leaders were both lost to us at nearly the same time, the Dumbing Down of America has been in full swing. The escalating cost of a college education, the drop-out rate among high school students, the inane programs on the television that pass for entertainment, the lack of viable role models for young people, etc., etc., has led to a very pliable public. Of course, when you have a large population that you wish to control, the best way to do that is to keep them uneducated, misinformed (msm), unhealthy (lack of single payer healthcare), and fearful. Hence the War on Terror was the Big Nail in the Coffin to keep Americans in line.
howie-
As far as religions go, the Chinese government recognizes mainly Taoism and Bhuddism. They do not formally recognize Tibetian Bhuddism. The Tibetian monks are engaged in a conflict protesting the violation of their religious rights by the Chinese government. Beijing is communist and communists usually settle differences with violence.
Fighting and injury is occurring but the question is “Who is instigating it?” China says the Dali Lama and the Tibetian monks are doing it and vice versa. I believe that China is instigating the violence based on their track record, inability to cooperate with international media, and internet blackouts. None of this constitutes hard evidence though so it is certainly possible that Tibet is to blame. Until the matter comes to an unbiased international light, all there is is conjecture.
I’m a former Hillary supporter who was won over to Obama by my disgust for Clintonian tactics. I plan to actively campaign for BHO from now on. I’m worried though about how much chance he will have in November with the savage attacks from the 527’s and right-wing talk radio combined with the Bradley effect and the just-plain racism that sadly still endures. In fact, it occurred to me recently (and this is something I’ve yet to hear from any of the “talking heads”) that maybe the first black president, in the sense that it took Nixon to go to China, will have to be a Republican.
obonodori, yes we are being set up for the next big lie. As soon as they started saying the exit polls worked everywhere but in the US I knew our elections had become fraudulent. And still are.
Goodness Jacob Freeze, you sound like a rabid dog. Are you sure you haven’t gotten lost and found yourself on the wrong website? Did you hear Obama’s entire speech or just the FOX news extrapolations? I’m no Christian, but I do subscribe to the Christian view of forgive the sinner but not the sin. Obama did the brave and honorable thing, which will cost him with rigid intolerant people, which seem to be in plenitude in this country, but I admire him for doing what is right instead of what is politically self serving. Of course, some people are unaware of the distinction. That’s why we get people like Hillary and George Bush.
kathyodat
If this “swift boating” is but a symptom of a cancerous right wing cabal which has taken over our country via the media and its “think” tanks, it will not matter much if they prevent Obama’s election or not because even if he is elected, they will assure that he fails as a president.
Stop whining about being “swiftbaoted” — especially when the real problem is not swiftboating but is instead all the issues Hillary and Obama and Mc Cain and mainstream media DON’T talk about.
Here’s one of them - http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/clin-m28.shtml
Added to that are a whole flock of other issues that none of the three are talking about.
The problem is that if liberals and progressives are going to fight back, they have to turn into conservatives and regressives. Liberals won’t stoop so low. They turn the other cheek and in America, get crucified for it.
America is a nation of sheep. It may take another generation for Americans to learn to get their news from sites like CD instead of from FOX and to learn to separate truth from propaganda.
Maybe progressives should start a sports, soaps and entertainment channel where they have lots of epilepsy inducing colors and attractive young people and can feature ads for progressive enterprises. That could be the only way to get the public’s attention. Current TV seems to be doing pretty well.
There seems to be no reason why liberals can’t out-compete conservatives except for the irony that once liberals start making lots of money, they turn into conservatives.
Here we go again. Obama playing the victim. But, as Paul Krugman points out, when actual policies are studied it is Clinton’s which will benefit the poor many, while Obama continues to court to middle class by preserving the privileges of the few.
The real problem here is that Senator Obama still hasn’t answered the question. Nor is it in our interest to make believe that Senator Obama has answered the questions about his lack of judgement.
The question is why did he support racism, bigotry and hate for America by not confronting his minister about it? Why did he remain in the Church with a congregation that apparently approved these views? Why did he allow his daughters to hear this type of hate?
Sorry folks, but racism, bigotry, hate and an anti-American agenda are fairly simple to recognize. Much more of this rationalizing and justifying and we can kiss the greatest opportunity in our lifetime for progressives good-bye.
Policy statements by the way are just that. Till he gets into office and starts dealing with Congress none of them know what they can truly get passed. I personally think Krugman wrong. I think Obama’s plan much better than Clintons. And I don’t think we can call McCains plan…a plan.
I loved the essay, Professor Green. And I hope the effort to bring down Barack Obama because of the remarks by Rev. Wright becomes more widely identified as SWIFTBOATING.
Yes, the cabal of conservatives, financiers and right-wing religious leaders has worked methodically since 1981 and succeeded in taking over the Republican Party. This Council for National Policy meets secretly three times a year on undisclosed dates and at secret locations to network, and it will take us a long time and much effort to undo the damage to our democracy.
Thomas More, you are making it sound like Reverend Wright spewed endless streams of hate and diatribe, when Obama pointed out that only on a very few occasions he had lashed out against American actions. Most of his sermons were about brotherhood and Christian love and forgiveness, and that was nourishing to Obama. On the few occasions when he was angry, Obama didn’t approve of his words and found them unacceptable. You don’t know what he said to his daughters walking out of church.
I think people who are making a big deal about this are looking for an excuse to make a big deal out of it. No one is looking at the words of Hagee who has just endorsed McCain, or looking into Hillary’s church, which would uncover plenty of fodder. It’s all about Obama.
kathyodat
Masses enthralled with a new messiah whose judgment spending twenty years
being mentored by a Wright Pastor make me nervous. The Hate Hillary machine
marches on as crowds gather to await a new kind of Rapture. Competence
matters, but Hillary is hated beyond reason as Rove laughs while he fiddles
as crowds burn with adoration for the man who can do no wrong. We are forced
to elect Obama because Mathews and his minions salivate for months about
Obama? Because man after man in the Senate and every state waxes in wonder
that this is the Second Coming? The religious reich wrecked the GOP of old
and now clever practiced fellows arrange a quick rise for an obama? There are no accidents.
Something in the funding, something in the absence of judgment bothers many who prefer a street savvy broad who has a clue about about consensus and why Obama will not dismiss the Blackwater boys… She can do this job of presiding; have Obama get his own church and stop the smooth talking for the believers who brought us Bush and his cronies. Ask
why Rove smiles so much as the crowds huddle awaiting Obama’s next word?
That someone is speaking is one thing. But are Americans able to hear? Or does their ‘from-birth’ indoctrination cut across the message of hope that Obama is sending? Will materialism and greed blot out their rationality?
My answer to that is contained in a post on my blog called ‘Epitaph for Mankind’. It won’t make your day!
www.dangerouscreation.com
Is this author going to get on his knees, and bow and scrape to his idol “OBAMA”, while he’s at it!!
I can’t believe CommonDreams published such rubbish!
It’s not even FACTUAL!!! Obama came right out and said, he would NOT end the use of Contractors in Iraq!
He didn’t Just go to Rev. Wrights church for 20 years, Obama PUT Rev. Wright on his campaign!!!
I am NOT a Hillary support, I don’t even dislike Obama, I just expect something better then this from CD!
Re: The article linked at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/clin-m28.shtml describes a horrific situation. But please don’t use it to attack Obama. I think it is likely Obama’s campaign did not know about the Clinton investment in this thing.
It is true that the investment is small, but when I learned about Bill’s employment at the SF investment outfit, obviously Hillary’s claim that she didn’t know what this Brazilian company was really doing clearly does not hold water.
Having said that, I wonder if the Obama campaign would dare to bring the subject up?
As politics get uglier and uglier, I become sadder and sadder. It’s truly a wonder that any decent person would want to try to run for President.
“We live today in a polity characterized by the most unsophisticated public discourse, one where twenty-second scare ads win elections every time.”
_______________________________
Try to tell Joe average-American-voter that he/she shouldn’t vote based on twenty-second scare ads, that those ads are subliminal appeals designed to influence voters with lies and half-truths, and that politicians pay for those ads with their souls. The only response you’ll get is a blank stare and a shrug of the shoulders. Probably half of American voters still think Saddam had WMD and was about to attack us. Millions of Americans have no health insurance and will soon have neither homes nor jobs as well, but Republicans can count on their votes because Republican ads promise to protect voters from attacks by gays, abortionists, and other “terrists.”
Sorry, but Americans deserve Clinton or McCain, although hundreds of millions of innocent victims around the world don’t deserve to suffer or die because of our “polity characterized by the most unsophisticated discourse.” Americans will learn why they shouldn’t rely on the MSM and political ads for their knowledge of world affairs, even if they have to learn the hard way.
How many have been to a 1930’s Baptist or Methodist church service, or perhaps a revival in any Christian church? You know the kind. It’s where there’s banging on the pulpit and wild exageration to the end that everyone gets the point. The Rev. Wright and I have a similar background.
In a recent CD there was a link to YouTube where one could hear the Rev. Wright make his “offensive” statements in context.
I hope all of you enjoyed it as much as I did. I’d like to hear the whole sermon.
Meanwhile, the MSM continues to play the excerpts from the Rev. Wright’s sermons as if to shame Sen. Obama! Since I think the MSM knows at least as much as I do, I consider their beating this old drum the same as telling a lie…since they for sure know the truth by now.
Speaking as a member of the control group who isn’t won over by Obama, i.e. not a zealot, cultist, etc.– it’s obvious that he’s of a far higher caliber than the competition.
And it’s pathetically obvious to even a modestly thoughtful and discerning person that the Wright kerfuffle is a humbug. Oh, it is certainly the case that some people are sincerely outraged, offended, or otherwise legitimately troubled by Wright’s counter-jingo rhetorical style. Heaven forfend that I begrudge anyone’s right to throw themselves into a tizzy of righteous protest about that awful, awful preacher man.
That said, it’s clearly a shuck. It’s one of those canards that is readily caught up by the permanent wingnut underclass, hovering at around 25% of the population. And Wright’s thoughts and words can be trimmed to a pejorative bite size perfect to feed bourgeois and middle-class outrage, with a low threshold for self-inflating groupthink.
So, as Green astutely notes, it is indeed the case that the anti-Obama forces will beat the drum to keep this puerile and bogus issue going.
FWIW, even though I wouldn’t vote for him, as noted, I do think that Obama has an exceptional talent for oratory, which will allow him to express what is ultimately the proper response– kiss my ass– in a manner beyond reproach.
If McSame somehow finds his way into office. Then I know that God is really Damning America!
There won’t be any serious swift-boating — Obama has been pre-selected to win. This much is clear, by the Republican pick of the unelectable McCain. Let’s see what the Bilderberger’s have in mind. The kinder-gentler empire, as the US segues from war to nation-building in the Mideast. Or at least the establishment of puppet dictators or corporate Exxon-states.
Thank you David M Green for such a pointed observation.
Folks, we must recognise the evil behind these Media employees who has sold their souls for a Declining Fiat Dollar.
To all readers, without respect of Race, I invite you to review this Link:
Original Black Ethiopia Israelites (author not identified) WAYBACK
http://www.webcom.com/nattyreb/rastafari/blackisrael.html
Hopefully. Truth will liberate our minds.
Original Black Ethiopia Israelites (author not identified) WAYBACK
http://www.webcom.com/nattyreb/rastafari/blackisrael.html
To All Readers; FYI
Original Black Ethiopia Israelites (author not identified) WAYBACK
Obama and Clinton are ready to admit that single-payer may be better than any other alternatives. Obama spoke out in favor of it at one time:
“So the challenge is, how do we get federal government to take care of this business? I happen to be a proponent of a single payer health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out.”
“A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. And as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, we have to take back the House.” (Barack Obama in 2003 before the Illinois AFL-CIO)
But, something happened on the way to Washington. The train derailed. Now Obama claims that his declaration was taken out of context. And Hillary Clinton, in 1993, told me that while single-payer might be the most logical model, it was politically infeasible.”
The Failed Health Care Reform Plan of 2009
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/79281
So much for ‘Truth to Power’, and No Special Money Influence! Follow the link, and see the truth!
Then Go To the Green Party web site, and keep in mind, No Corporate Money, a single united, defined party platform, All candidates run on! Part of which is: Single-payer/Non-Profit HealthCARE!
Did all of you see Bush’s proposal to give the Fed “sweeping powers” to deal with the credit crisis? I guess his banker friends lost a lot of money so he wants to give them permanent power to steal from the middle and lower classes. Here comes phase 2 of the plan to collapse the United States.
I don’t know much about the Dalai Lama’s political beliefs, but I do know that anyone whose cause is hyped by the corporate media is one who I look at with suspicion. Thank you for the info on the feudal conditions in Tibet before China’s interference.
Remember that the Afghan government that the US spent billions to overthrow, creating the “Islamo-fascists” as a means to an end, was trying to modernize Afghanistan, including bettering the lives of Afghan women.
As for Reverend Wright, what is so wild about his accusations? A right wing columnist that my paper runs criticized him for his AIDS as a bio-warfare weapon belief. She pointed out that African Americans may be inclined to believe it because AIDS is affecting a higher percentage of them. She then dismissed such a belief as foolish. What’s so foolish about that? I, personally believe that AIDS is a biological warfare weapon, and I had never heard of Reverend Wright before. What’s more, many Africans as well as African Americans, as well as gay folks, also believe this “outrageous” theory. Hysterically denouncing it as crazy doesn’t shake me in the slightest.
What kind of disease starts in San Francisco, New York and Haiti, and then shows up in Brazil and Africa? We are told that it was in Africa all along, but no one ever noticed it until a Swedish flight attendant spread it to New York, San Francisco and Haiti? And now it’s wiping out entire populations in Africa? Surely we would have noticed that before. And wherever the US was allowed in , AIDS soon appeared, as in China and the USSR.
Sorry, it makes more sense to me that the disease was deliberately spread than that it naturally spread in such a bizarre pattern. And we know that the US was working on just such a weapon because a researcher testified before Congress in 1969 that the US would, within 5-10 years have it.
http://panindigan.tripod.com/aidsdodhear.html
Deep breath time - this love affair with Barack Obama simply astonishes me! I don’t believe in the presidency and believe that progressives ought to support total reform of a broken government by pushing for a parliamentary system; however, we do have a presidency, and it is sad that progressives would in any way this passionless inexperienced politician who advocates pro-war positions and is willing to compromise (read: tilt to the right) on issue after issue. I’ll vote for 3rd party candidates and fully expect all real progressives to do the same. The ONLY way we progressives will ever get our agenda on the table is to REFORM our entire government. I don’t care about Rev. Wright, I care that I have read all of Obama’s books, listened to what he has had to say, and watched the drooling masses turn him into the second coming, and I’ve come to the conclusion that he is a total disaster for our country just waiting to happen.
I disagree with Hillary Clinton, but I do believe that Democrats would be better off with her as their nominee - that’s your business, I’m not a Democrat, but it makes sense: if you look at where she is getting her votes vs. where he is getting his votes, and that all of the states which Democrats must win to have any chance (she’s won all of them so far) to win in November, Hillary Clinton is the winner. Superdelegates would be wise to take this into consideration. Old man McCain CAN win, particularly with a conciliatory inexperienced candidate like Barack Obama.
I have heard a short clip of Rev. Whight’s work and think that any fair minded white person would agree with him that the US, and Canada for that matter, are racist countries. People of colour make up the majority of the people in jail and in poverty or low wage ghettos. How is it that the white middle class can get so indignant when these facts are aired? I do hope that Obama will triumph if only because I long to hear leaders who have the capacity to speak from the heart.
Clinton and Bush are soulmates and they are both disgusting. The media is composed of morons, cowards and worse.
Reading the posts of Obama supporters is like looking at a bunch of sorry losers that can’t get their asses in gear to do anything accept feel sorry for themselves. What happened to the audacity of hope? Where is all of this hope I’ve been hearing so much about? Quit feeling sorry for yourselves and get out there and talk to potential voters!
Obama was on the popular daytime show “The View” yesterday and talked about his top three priorities for an Obama presidency: 1. Begin immediate troop withdrawals from Iraq in a safe and orderly manner 2. Write legislation to provide health care for all Americans 3. Develop energy independence to provide cheap energy for all Americans, so that we can stop sending money to countries that fund terrorists, and to provide security for the United States.
Now that was a talk to be proud of for sure. The man has his priorities in the right place. Ignore the noise. Listen to the good. Good on Obama.
Professor Green always writes excellent articles.
Is “Swiftboating” a euphemism for smearing/character assassination/lies?
Americans fell for the old BS about it being “unpatriotic” to criticize the president “in time of war.” In a real democracy, a person should be able to criticize their leaders any time they want if their government is not being run properly. It’s cowardly not to.
I wish Hillary Clinton would just go away. She’s destroying the Democrats’ chances for winning. She needs to just switch over to the party she supports, the Republicans. She agrees with Bush and McCain and wants war with Iran and Venezuela. Besides, who wants a couple back in the White House who have no dignity after the Monica Lewinsky-lecher Bill scandal. They’re embarrassing.
Obama and his wife would be refreshing after Bill and Hillary.
(And George and Stepford Wife Laura)
right on kelmer
I still shake my head that everyone just jumped on the bandwagon of condemnation of the Wright guy…. I am white, was raised in a conservative Mormon family - and frankly can’t find much that he said that I would disagree with.
Our hypocricy (like refusing to insist that Israel abide by UN resolutions and giving them unquestioned support) was what brought on 9/11. When we support the militarism of Israel and other middle eastern states headed by dictators and such that we support - those who have been victimized by these groups would naturally see us as terrorists. It was only a matter of time that our hypocritical positions would come back to bite us..
I don’t appreciate that he said god damn America because i don’t like to see geographical entities described as blessed by god (or God’s chosen) or damned by God (enemies of God -i.e, those that don’t agree with us)…. But he’s a preacher and can’t help himself in using God to assign blame…
Anyway, I am amazed at the hoopla over it, and am glad that Barack Obama stood by him even while distancing himself from those views. That showed real character.
Rich Griffin, when someone such as yourself describes a candidate as an inexperienced candidate, I say that is a plus to me. In orer to be an experienced candidate one would have to be an insider. I’m sick of insiders running the show. Obama is articulate and takes the most rational positions (talking to our enemies being one)… I give him my total support.
How can you all continue to discuss Obama and Wright without defining the terms? I never see anyone talking about what Black Liberation Theology is and if Obama is a believer?
Obama isn,t Muslim but he is black ,and many whites will vote against him for that simple fact. It’s unfortunate but, that’s the state of affairs in Amerika. These are the same people that will show up at the polls. Older white people feel threatened by blacks. Rightly or wrongly they feel blacks get preference when it comes to hand ups.
I’ve seen this behavior first hand as a activist in the Midwest. What really happens is there is insufficient resources to meet all the needs. Affirmative action is used to provide an advantage to minorities. Poor whites then are not able to get their fair share. Over time this has built-up an outrage by working class whites and poor whites.
The problem is these policies have been put into place by the same people [power structure] that runs the country percisely for the purpose of keeping us divided. Unforunatly we are just gullable enough to buy into the ideal, that its the minorities who are doing this to the “majority” whites.
Until the time we change these current group settings into class groups we will continue to drift. To do this we will need to become color blind, we’re not there yet.
I’m a white man that will vote for whatever Democrat is nominated. I think because of racism in Amerika, Clinton has a better chance of beating McCain. Rev. Wright knew what he is talking about. Truth is always one of the first casualties of fascism.
What an elegant manner of telling the truth. Professor Green bloggers are right, this should go out in major newspapers!
We do hope many are listening!
We need this!!!
rc
Prof., Me gusta la analisis. El unico problema es que todavia existen demasiados problemas con la politica de Obama, aunque lo prefiero a Hillary o Clinton. Por primero, no toma ningun interes en la partida verde, en IRV, en cambiar el sistema de taxes, en aumentar el pago minimo, eccc.
I say let Senator Obama say whatever he chooses to say about anything he likes, any plans he devises, any women he seduces, any insights on race, gender, etc. He must, however, be willing to take all the flack that goes with taking a stand. I don’t think he was “swift-boated”. I think he has thin skin and can’t handle all the criticism. He hasn’t been around as long a Senator Clinton and his hide isn’t all that tough. She takes most slings and arrows like water off a duck’s back (except when she appears very tired). He and his staff seem to think they can have it any way they like; make all these grandiose statements, be light, talk a good line and in the end, not say anything of substance. Face it, the devil is in the detail and when he gives out details, he gets flack, just like Hillary. Welcome to the real world! The difference, is, she isn’t backing down and the boy’s club just doesn’t know what to do with her and Barack doesn’t have a clue either.
The only thing that sort of disturbs me about this whole incident is that Obama denounced the Reverend’s comments. I am white, 42 years old with a Masters and agreed 100% with everything I heard him say on the few clips I watched. When you are speaking on behalf of and as part of the oppressed, it is not racist to say you support black this or black that. Differentiating yourselves from the privileged, dominant culture is necessary in order to articulate your struggle. It’s like calling the women’s rights movement sexist because we spoke of women’s values, and women’s needs, etc. Advocating for yourself in this way does not mean to the exclusion of others. However, if you are of the dominant, priviledged culture (white, rich men mostly) and you talk of white power and white culture, then you are racist, because you do mean to the exclusion of all others.
So, I am disturbed that Obama would denounce him. Slimey politician move because I don’t buy it for a minute that he doesn’t agree.
Obama’s foreign policy advisor was instrumental in building up Al-queda for the CIA that still operates it to this day. Nuff said.
The first swift boats were the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
funeocons, has it occurred to you that Obama may agree with what Reverend Wright was complaining about, but not how he responded to it? What Obama said was Blacks have legitimate complaints, and so do working class whites. But being divisive does not solve anything, and the real culprit is the corporate oligarchy pitting the disadvantaged against each other. Did you even listen to or read his speech? He made it pretty clear that the real problem is not race, but class. It wasn’t a slimy political move, it was a courageous statement of what is wrong and a call for unity. It was opening the light on a subject that is the result of America’s “peculiar institution” which has never stopped affecting us.
kathyodat
I don’t really like the Dali Lama very much. His views on women and homosexuals are similar to the pope’s. Even worse, as has been pointed out, the Lama’s rule was harsh and destructive to his people’s welfare, but I feel the Chinese have no right to occupy Tibet against the will of its people. Just as I feel the US has no right to occupy Iraq or Afghanistan, and Israel has no right to occupy the West Bank or the Gaza strip. The Tibetan people have the right to believe in whatever religion they choose, and to determine what their future government will look like. The Dali Lama would be fine as a religious leader, but I would hate to think that Tibet would return to a religious monarchy.
As for Rev. Write: his comments are not racist only angry and they have been taken out of context. If you watch the whole speech most of it is not angry at all (you can on AlterNet). Much worse is McCain’s acceptance of Minister John “Catholics are the Great Whore” Hagee, and Clintons Elite, cultish, Star Chamber like prayer circle “The Family”. The press hasn’t pursued Clinton at all and Hagee is at best mentioned on the news. For those who feel Obama should not have separated himself from Wright, remember, this is an election in the US. Obama can’t look too controversial especially since he is black. It is impressive that he was able to diffuse the situation in the way he did rather than calling Wright a racist, or attacking the Clinton campaign with the same venom with which her campaign has attacked him.
To those of you like the Rick Griffin above who think because Hillary has won the big states the dems will need to win she is the best canidate, would you please, please, explain your logic to me? I’m begging you. Do you really think all those dems will go for McCain instead of Obama? If anything, I believe there are more Obama supporters like myself who will not vote for Hillary under any circumstances should she get the nomination.
sphne: If you think many of us Hillary supporters will automatically vote for Barack, you need to think again. I am really tired of the boy’s club members thinking only they get a crack at the top leadership job in the country and everyone will fall behind their lead - lead to where? If Hillary doesn’t get the nomination, I will serioulsly consider a write-in vote for either Hillary Clinton or Al Gore. I am through holding my nose at all these men who make life so hard for all of us and in the end, do little to improve life here and abroad. McCain will never be my pick - why? Because I have a brother who is looking at a possible 4th tour of duty in Iraq and I think he had done enough for all of us and I am afraid I’ll might loose him this time around, now that the civil war in Iraq is in full swing.
This is funny. Hillary has done her best to lynch Obama and now she’s shot herself in the foot, caught in a lie and we may end up with McCain who is outpolling them both.
Stunning how much one person can do to a party.
Rockerbabe, glad you came out with why you support Hillary. But if you’re tired of the good old boys’ club - Gore?! Check out his background. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, his family owned shares in the Venezuela oil company that was killing local protesters (before Chavez nationalized it) and he wimps out under pressure. He also single handedly stopped the resolution the Black Congressional Caucus tried to get signed in the Senate to open an investigation of the disenfranchisement of 90,000 black Florida voters in 2000. As President of the Senate he had the authority to sign it himself but he gaveled down every congressman who presented the resolution and pressured the few Senators who expressed a willingness to sign not to do so. I saw him do it, it was heartbreaking. I don’t care about his books and movies. Talk is cheap. Until he shows political courage I don’t trust him. And there he sits on the sidelines, hoping he will be dragged like a reluctant bride into the convention.
kathyodat
Rockerbabe, I always say, I believe a lot of women support Hillary because of the woman thing, the anti-boys club thing as you say. It reminds me of the blacks who were for OJ even though they knew he was guilty, they just were glad to see a black man beat the system. You may write in for Hillary if Obama gets the nomination but poll after poll has shown the opposite, many Hillary supporters would be more likely to switch than Obama supporters.