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Biden, Iraq, and Obama’s Betrayal
Incipient Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s selection of Joseph Biden as his running mate constitutes a stunning betrayal of the anti-war constituency who made possible his hard-fought victory in the Democratic primaries and caucuses.
The veteran Delaware senator has been one the leading congressional supporters of U.S. militarization of the Middle East and Eastern Europe, of strict economic sanctions against Cuba, and of Israeli occupation policies.
Most significantly, however, Biden, who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the lead-up to the Iraq War during the latter half of 2002, was perhaps the single most important congressional backer of the Bush administration’s decision to invade that oil-rich country.
Shrinking Gap Between Candidates
One of the most important differences between Obama and the soon-to-be Republican presidential nominee John McCain is that Obama had the wisdom and courage to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Obama and his supporters had been arguing correctly that judgment in foreign policy is far more important than experience; this was a key and likely decisive argument in the Illinois senator’s campaign against Senator Hillary Clinton, who had joined McCain in backing the Iraq war resolution.
However, in choosing Biden who, like the forthcoming Republican nominee, has more experience in international affairs but notoriously poor judgment, Obama is essentially saying that this critical difference between the two prospective presidential candidates doesn’t really matter. This decision thereby negates one of his biggest advantages in the general election. Of particular concern is the possibility that the pick of an establishment figure from the hawkish wing of the party indicates the kind of foreign policy appointments Obama will make as president.
Obama’s choice of Biden as his running mate will likely have a hugely negative impact on his once-enthusiastic base of supporters. Obama’s supporters had greatly appreciated the fact that he did not blindly accept the Bush administration’s transparently false claims about Iraq being an imminent danger to U.S. national security interests that required an invasion and occupation of that country. At the same time Biden was joining his Republican colleagues in pushing through a Senate resolution authorizing the invasion, Obama was speaking at a major anti-war rally in Chicago correctly noting that Iraq’s war-making ability had been substantially weakened and that the international community could successfully contain Saddam Hussein from any future acts of aggression.
In Washington, by contrast, Biden was insisting that Bush was right and Obama was wrong, falsely claiming that Iraq under Saddam Hussein - severely weakened by UN disarmament efforts and comprehensive international sanctions - somehow constituted both “a long term threat and a short term threat to our national security” and was an “extreme danger to the world.” Despite the absence of any “weapons of mass destruction” or offensive military capabilities, Biden when reminded of those remarks during an interview last year, replied, “That’s right, and I was correct about that.”
Biden Shepherds the War Authorization
It is difficult to over-estimate the critical role Biden played in making the tragedy of the Iraq war possible. More than two months prior to the 2002 war resolution even being introduced, in what was widely interpreted as the first sign that Congress would endorse a U.S. invasion of Iraq, Biden declared on August 4 that the United States was probably going to war. In his powerful position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he orchestrated a propaganda show designed to sell the war to skeptical colleagues and the America public by ensuring that dissenting voices would not get a fair hearing.
As Scott Ritter, the former chief UN weapons inspector, noted at the time, “For Sen. Biden’s Iraq hearings to be anything more than a political sham used to invoke a modern-day Gulf of Tonkin resolution-equivalent for Iraq, his committee will need to ask hard questions - and demand hard facts - concerning the real nature of the weapons threat posed by Iraq.”
It soon became apparent that Biden had no intention of doing so. Biden refused to even allow Ritter himself - who knew more about Iraq’s WMD capabilities than anyone and would have testified that Iraq had achieved at least qualitative disarmament - to testify. Ironically, on Meet the Press last year, Biden defended his false claims about Iraqi WMDs by insisting that “everyone in the world thought he had them. The weapons inspectors said he had them.”
Biden also refused to honor requests by some of his Democratic colleagues to include in the hearings some of the leading anti-war scholars familiar with Iraq and Middle East. These included both those who would have reiterated Ritter’s conclusions about non-existent Iraqi WMD capabilities as well as those prepared to testify that a U.S. invasion of Iraq would likely set back the struggle against al-Qaeda, alienate the United States from much of the world, and precipitate bloody urban counter-insurgency warfare amid rising terrorism, Islamist extremism, and sectarian violence. All of these predictions ended up being exactly what transpired.
Nor did Biden even call some of the dissenting officials in the Pentagon or State Department who were willing to challenge the alarmist claims of their ideologically-driven superiors. He was willing, however, to allow Iraqi defectors of highly dubious credentials to make false testimony about the vast quantities of WMD materiel supposedly in Saddam Hussein’s possession. Ritter has correctly accused Biden of having “preordained a conclusion that seeks to remove Saddam Hussein from power regardless of the facts and . . . using these hearings to provide political cover for a massive military attack on Iraq.”
Supported an Invasion Before Bush
Rather than being a hapless victim of the Bush administration’s lies and manipulation, Biden was calling for a U.S. invasion of Iraq and making false statements regarding Saddam Hussein’s supposed possession of “weapons of mass destruction” years before President George W. Bush even came to office.
As far back as 1998, Biden was calling for a U.S. invasion of that oil rich country. Even though UN inspectors and the UN-led disarmament process led to the elimination of Iraq’s WMD threat, Biden - in an effort to discredit the world body and make an excuse for war - insisted that UN inspectors could never be trusted to do the job. During Senate hearings on Iraq in September of that year, Biden told Ritter, “As long as Saddam’s at the helm, there is no reasonable prospect you or any other inspector is ever going to be able to guarantee that we have rooted out, root and branch, the entirety of Saddam’s program relative to weapons of mass destruction.”
Calling for military action on the scale of the Gulf War seven years earlier, he continued, “The only way we’re going to get rid of Saddam Hussein is we’re going to end up having to start it alone,” telling the Marine veteran “it’s going to require guys like you in uniform to be back on foot in the desert taking Saddam down.”
When Ritter tried to make the case that President Bill Clinton’s proposed large-scale bombing of Iraq could jeopardize the UN inspections process, Biden condescendingly replied that decisions on the use of military force were “beyond your pay grade.” As Ritter predicted, when Clinton ordered UN inspectors out of Iraq in December of that year and followed up with a four-day bombing campaign known as Operation Desert Fox, Saddam was provided with an excuse to refuse to allow the inspectors to return. Biden then conveniently used Saddam’s failure to allow them to return as an excuse for going to war four years later.
Biden’s False Claims to Bolster War
In the face of widespread skepticism over administration claims regarding Iraq’s military capabilities, Biden declared that President Bush was justified in being concerned about Iraq’s alleged pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Even though Iraq had eliminated its chemical weapons arsenal by the mid-1990s, Biden insisted categorically in the weeks leading up to the Iraq war resolution that Saddam Hussein still had chemical weapons. Even though there is no evidence that Iraq had ever developed deployable biological weapons and its biological weapons program had been eliminated some years earlier, Biden insisted that Saddam had biological weapons, including anthrax and that “he may have a strain” of small pox. And, even though the International Atomic Energy Agency had reported as far back as 1998 that there was no evidence whatsoever that Iraq had any ongoing nuclear program, Biden insisted Saddam was “seeking nuclear weapons.”
Said Biden, “One thing is clear: These weapons must be dislodged from Saddam, or Saddam must be dislodged from power.” He did not believe proof of the existence of any actual weapons to dislodge was necessary, however, insisting that “If we wait for the danger from Saddam to become clear, it could be too late.” He further defended President Bush by falsely claiming that “He did not snub the U.N. or our allies. He did not dismiss a new inspection regime. He did not ignore the Congress. At each pivotal moment, he has chosen a course of moderation and deliberation.”
In an Orwellian twist of language designed to justify the war resolution, which gave President Bush the unprecedented authority to invade a country on the far side of the world at the time and circumstances of his own choosing, Biden claimed that “I do not believe this is a rush to war. I believe it is a march to peace and security. I believe that failure to overwhelmingly support this resolution is likely to enhance the prospects that war will occur.”
It is also important to note that Biden supported an invasion in the full knowledge that it would not be quick and easy and that the United States would have to occupy Iraq for an extended period, declaring, “We must be clear with the American people that we are committing to Iraq for the long haul; not just the day after, but the decade after.”
Biden’s Current Position
In response to the tragic consequences of the U.S. invasion and the resulting weakening of popular support for the war, Biden has more recently joined the chorus of Democratic members of Congress criticizing the administration’s handling of the conflict and calling for the withdrawal of most combat forces. He opposed President Bush’s escalation (”surge”) of troop strength early last year and has called for greater involvement by the United Nations and other countries in resolving the ongoing conflicts within Iraq.
However, Biden has been the principal congressional backer of a de facto partition of the country between Kurdish, Sunni Arab, and Shia Arab segments, a proposal opposed by a solid majority of Iraqis and strongly denounced by the leading Sunni, Shia, and secular blocs in the Iraqi parliament. Even the U.S. State Department has criticized Biden’s plan as too extreme. A cynical and dangerous attempt at divide-and-rule, Biden’s ambitious effort to redraw the borders of the Middle East would likely make a violent and tragic situation all the worse.
Yet it is Biden’s key role in making possible the congressional authorization of the 2003 U.S. invasion that elicits the greatest concern among Obama’s supporters. While more recently expressing regrets over his vote, he has not formally apologized and has stressed the Bush administration’s mishandling of the post-invasion occupation rather than the illegitimacy of the invasion itself.
Biden’s support for the resolution was not simply poor judgment, but a calculated rejection of principles codified in the UN Charter and other international legal documents prohibiting aggressive wars. According to Article VI of the Constitution, such a rejection also constitutes a violation of U.S. law as well. Biden even voted against an amendment sponsored by fellow Democratic senator Carl Levin that would have authorized U.S. military action against Iraq if the UN Security Council approved the use of force and instead voted for the Republican-backed resolution authorizing the United States to go to war unilaterally. In effect, Biden has embraced the neo-conservative view that the United States, as the world’s sole remaining superpower, somehow has the right to invade other countries at will, even if they currently pose no strategic threat.
Given the dangerous precedent set by the Iraq war resolution, naming one of its principal supporters as potentially the next vice president of the United States has raised serious questions regarding Senator Obama’s commitment to international law. This comes at a time when the global community is so desperately hoping for a more responsible U.S. foreign policy following eight years of Bush.
Early in his presidential campaign, Obama pledged to not only end the war in Iraq, but to challenge the mindset that got the United States into Iraq in the first place. Choosing Biden as his running mate, however, raises doubts regarding Obama’s actual commitment to “change we can believe in.”
77 Comments so far
Show AllWell, I'm out of here---the choice of Mr. Corporate Bankruptcy Biden, let alone the facts above, have made up my mind and heart to vote for NADER. I am so unutterably sick of these PROSTITUTES from Media to the Dimocrapic Party that I have a clear conscience now about doing so---and I do not know how in the world these traitors, frauds, parasites and ignorant creeps sleep at night. I always thought Biden was a fatuous sleazeball anyway....
bye-bye
Maybe you can answer this question:
"Why did Obama pick a corporate whore and a war monger in one when he could have picked a real Democrat such as Dennis Kucinich?"
Yet another of many reasons to vote for Nader/Gonzales.
I suppose one could stay at home or vote for a third party and see if we could survive four years of Johnny! Perhaps a financial melt down is what the world really needs.
Barack and Biden’s B&B
Barack and Biden
to be fair that’s B&B
and Barack’s Biden
ain’t no ordinary Joe
So ...Is it hope and change for thee?
or just a nod to the powers that be
Will the B&B crew be sellin short stays
in the Lincoln bedroom?....
to feather the fears of History
or to bring up the empire arrears?
Joe didn’t have to queue up for the VP job
just go along with the media slobs.. the corporate cobs
but..
will Joe be bidin his time
just like JFK’s Johnston done?
Will Black & White mix to grey
will they nix the predator’s prey
Or pray for a kinder sort of stay
a non missile sort of pay day
like mula wasting in the heat
or a Mullah taken off the beat
Is the fruit of empire low hanging?
Will it color code the homeland
from a glowing red ‘I am the decider’
to a mellow yellow
‘’yes we can’
Vote independent if you can. N.Y. - Mass. - Vt. ect. Only because of the supreme court.
The whole masquerade is so ugly, and shows such callous disregard for any intelligent citizen(s)... and it's cost so much to manufacture this horse race to create the ILLUSION of a genuine competitive (between 2 distinct camps, policy wise, as opposed to mere brand name designations) election.
Agreed, Siouxrose.
That it constantly insults our intelligence and dispirits us with doublethink is part of the game. While I will vote for Obama/MBNA, I will do so with the knowledge that the system is broken for the people. It works just fine for the power elite, but for the rest of us, it hurts.
If it hurts... and you continue to enable the system that causes you pain, then the only observable truth is that you cause yourself the pain you are experiencing. In a country so out of touch with any sense of healthy reality, perhaps pain is the last vestige of feeling before complete disconnect. Maybe you need the pain to convince yourself that your spirit is not toe-tagged.
I would hate to believe that you are masochistic enough to really "enjoy" the pain you cause yourself. You are hurting... I agree. But if you vote, it isn't the system that is the source of the pain.
Disable the system.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. This is all just a show. The game is rigged and the script is written. McCain is the one that will win the election if we even have one.
Obama is very well aware that he won't be elected. All this campaigning, speech making, handshaking, etc. is all just part of the democracy show. The race will narrow to a slim margin and Obama will bow out gracefully just a few electoral votes shy of the office. Biden knows this and is in on it. In fact, the results are already known by everyone in both the Senate and the House. There will be no suprise.
The popular vote is already counted as are the "winners" in each state. The electoral votes are already decided.
Americans will go out and vote in November as a token act to pretend this is still a democracy, but their votes have already been counted. CNN and Fox will play on the "suspense" to get as much ratings as they can and the "winner" will be announced. (McCain by a very slim margin)
If you think this "election" is going to be real you might want to start watching reality TV shows. It should be quite entertaining.
By May of 2009 we will be at war with Iran.
So let me get this straight, Sen. Kennedy knows this is all a farce but he felt the need to get out there with terminal brain cancer, just to continue the big charade? Was the New Deal of Roosevelt a farce too or did democracy work back then, when the poor elected him 4 times? And if it was real, don't you think we can get it back if enough people get out and vote?
Comments like yours do nothing except keep people home, believing that their votes don't count or that the two parties are just the same... And really, that's just what the oligarchs want. You're carrying water for the oligarchs, my friend.
And as for the Biden selection; Obama is addressing the biggest weakness that people think he has: inexperience. It's as simple as that, he wants to get elected. There's no way anyone can know how he will lead until he gets in and leads, and he can't get in on a purely progressive platform---no one can. He's giving himself a chance. I know he will be a better president than McCain because he was a community organizer, he's starting a grassroots fundraising movement online, and he has the ability to inspire us toward a better way. He will choose better judges, enforce gov't regulations, and avoid war with Iran... With him at least we have a chance to undo some of Bush's many travesties, and reverse the push toward corporate fascism.
If voting actually changed anything substantial, they would make it illegal.
I respect your opinion, I just disagree with your conclusions. Barack Obama may be a kinder gentler version of a corporatist, in your mind of course, but he is just more of the same. He is against the war, yet will escalate it, he is against NAFTA, but not really. His speeches are bombast and empty of specifics, or actually, those specifics change almost daily, depending upon the latest polling numbers and which group he panders to today.
This nation strays ever further from the intent of our founders and , in my own opinion, the lesser of two evils will not reverse its course. Only out of the box thinking will do that. Voting for either party perpetuates the stereotype, only by working to create a stong third party movement will our country be rescued from the control of corporate money. Perhaps it isnt the instant gratification that most seem to seek, but it is the only way I know .
If you wish to work within your party to rescue it from its current path I urge you to do so, I cannot, Im too busy working to bring third party candidates to the fore.
we see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
and if it is indeed "a token act".....I wonder what more could it ever be? We have three hundred million people and one national leader that represents all three hundred million? Maybe in the beginning when that one person represented three hundred thousand, this was a reality worth supporting. No matter how beautiful and true the system is, it can never meet the needs of three hundred million and growing, to one.
It is better to change your reference point and begin the arduous work of what this therefore means to us all, a worthy struggle to imagine a system where we are the one's that will based on our work and character and choices and policies, make the difference between human flourishing or human destruction.
I noticed that I can reach my family, my neighbor, my county commissioner, my representatives, my governor....well in a faded but still effective way. Reaching Obama or McCain or any one human in the clamoring mass of three hundred million so he may here me and and then do the work for me? My chances are three hundred million to one. Of these ones only a certain number of ones can be heard by Obama, and the one's with more of these....$$$$$ are the ones he listens to. How many do you think there are then that he will and can hear? Maybe three hundred? Three thousand?
I think focusing this hyper energy of what will change our world on this one distant and unattainable man, into what will change it, something that is closer and real me and you would be fitting for our times. I think anyone that has made it to a position of being considered for president, is the best we can do, either or any will work well enough for what they do, which as one person isn't really a whole lot more than you or I do. I'm more concerned now about who my local representatives are and what I do, and what we do together. Which I know a lot of you are also chanting relentlessly.
Too many have made the tragic mistake of making this one person the epicenter of their power of change, including this one man or that one man, that is riding the wave of this one idea to launch himself or himself into that potential. How terribly debilitating. For us all. This is why Obama is not and never will be the one in a democracy, where we have the many. And as one of the many I am going to point out to the rest of you who are my partners in that reality, snap out of it, this strange hypnotic trance. Snap! Your fretting is self manifested by a false system of awareness, one that says one human can save us all. Let us, you and I save him instead, lets save him from a doom worse than death. To be the next scapegoat, the next victim of our societies ill's and our ongoing lack of real democracy that he is representing.
If I may add some more to the comments by Siouxrose and TheLorax, here's some Frank Zappa:
"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, pull back the curtains, move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater."
Zappa could always see through the BS. And you do too.
Man, I miss Frank . . . and Bill Hicks . . . and George Carlin . . . and Douglas Adams . . . and Robert Anton Wilson . . . and Terrence McKenna . . .
At least we still have Tom Robbins.
And I miss Kurt Vonnegut's words and observations.
Hunter Thompson, Allen Ginsberg, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Paul Wellstone...Emma Goldman... Woody Guthrie... we need an army of dead heroes... More importantly, recognize who's left standing, pick ourselves up off the couch... look to the people protesting outside the PEPSI center convention in PROTEST CAGES....
There is no need to think that Obama's choice for VP is the deal breaker. That happened long time ago with Obama, and maybe with the election of Bill Clinton. The democratic party leadership has long ago sold out to corporate interests. The democrats are just playing catch up with that sad realization.
Hell, maybe our government has always sold out to the corporate elite ruling class over the basic principles of peace and justice (Vietnam War, the allowing of Pearl Harbor, the Philippines War, Slavery, massacre of the Indians etc).
The bottom line is that, again, you have a choice to go along with the status quo, to not. Nothing will change until we, the people, change, and in a fundamental way.
If the progressives in this country can't realize the serious shortcomings of Obama and the Democratic Party leadership, how can we expect the conservatives to see it?
While I am a Nader supporter, I think that this year I will vote for the Green Party, and see if they can make a viable difference.
The Status Quo has Got To Go! Vote Green Party, vote Nader, Vote Third Party.
Yeah, but see, you're still playing in the margins. The _system_ is broken, not just the parties. Speaking as a former Green (now independent), I can say with some assurance that even if by some freak of fate Nader or McKinney were to win the election, nothing would change. Matter of fact, things would get much worse! The Greens have no track record of working in Washington and the establishment would eat them for breakfast.
What use would that be at a point where one more misstep and we might be in the ash heap of history? As much as I protested and said that I would not vote for the lesser of two evils, that's where I find myself, realizing that nothing will change from Washington - out; it has to change from the People - in. WE have to change first, then they will have to change.
If you haven't yet seen the Bill Moyers interview with Andrew Bacevich, I highly recommend it. He nails so many points that it's hard not to come away unchanged, or at least, validated that we are not crazy.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08152008/profile.html
I don't have a reasonable expectation that McKinney or Nader will win. The purpose of my vote for them is twofold: first, they support the policies and solutions to important issues that I share whereas the democratic party does not (Iraq war, impeachment, death penalty, universal health care, corporate corruption, military industrial complex etc).
Secondly, I would rather make my vote 'count' for something that I believe in. It is not just wishful thinking. It is moving in the direction that I want to go in. I'm not sure what percentage of people would have to vote third party for the democratic party to notice, but I'm going to add my voice to that process.
Why vote third party? Where do you go shopping? Do you go to the store that has rotten produce and spoiled meat; or do you go to the store that has fresh meat and organic produce. You are making a choice as to where you spend your dollar, and if you spend it in the store that has fresh meat you are supporting and allowing that store to remain in business.
But if you spend your dollar in the first store, even though you believe that the second store is better, you are going against your own interests by spending your money at the first store and keeping it in business while allowing the second store to fail. Some people might give you reasons to go to the first store like 'everyone goes there'; but that wouldn't make me go there.
Same thing applies to voting. If you vote for a candidate based on 'who is winnable' rather than the quality of the candidate, then you are working against your own best interests and it will come back to bite you in the ass.
so it goes
Great interview. We are crazy if we think an election in November will fix this broken country. We the people have to take responsablity for this mess too! We've had 7 years to form a new party, to have voting machines fixed(paper trails), and go to the streets(and stay there). We too have failed. Its frustrating to say the lest.
It sucks living in a dictatorship.
Even if Obama 'wins,' his senior Senator with all the 'foreign policy' experience and connections to the MIC and Tel Aviv will call all the shots.
Obama can go to the North Shore and work on his surfing. His girls can play in the sand.
Sweet Lailani, heavenly flower... Why struggle and die is this mess?
Our lives are worth more than their profits.
What pleases me is that apparantly ~Siouxrose~ got thorugh the flooding in Florida alright. We were concernced about you SOU.
The Biden selection means McCain will be our next president.
Obama will win and lose the states that he is expected to win and lose. There are three KEY states he must win with absolute certanty and they are Ohio, Pennsylvanian and Floria. If Obama loses two of the three, he comes in second. I believe that is exactly what is going to occur. Whether he, or any liked it or not, he had to have Hillary as the VP.
Huh!!!
I have never been convinced that Obama is a progressive. I am amazed at how naive people are.
Democrats are best describes as the "B-Team" for corporate America and Israeli lobby, who have us in a stranglehold.
So, VOTE ANYBODY BUT THE TWO PARTIES
BTW folks, here is a web site which may be helpful after the election of Johnny and before the nuke wars begin.
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/
Prof. Zunes shows the kind of flexible open-minded ability to learn and change his position I wish I had. I used to read articles by Zunes that fawned over Obama and I used to blast both Obama and Zunes.
Now Zunes demonstrates why he is so highly respected: Based on the facts he has changed his opinion of Obama. I don't think I could've. I have always been against Obama from the first time I heard about him in 2004 as the "rock star" of the Democratic Party Convention that came out of nowhere. Unlike the open mindedness of Zunes I doubt my opinion is likely to change. No matter what is said I think Obama is a sell out and an opportunist.
About Biden: I've heard of him many times over the years, but when I heard and saw him smiling and laughing during the presidential debates he wreaked of Washington good-old-boy insider deluxe. That's what he is. He's been in the Congress over 35 yrs and certainly should have know better than to cheer for war.
I must say everything Obama does seems to confirm what I thought about him from the beginning. Sometimes gut instincts are the best.
I respect those that will vote for Obama anyway as the lesser-evil because it's their right, but I encourage those undecided to vote for 3rd parties and send Obama and the Democrats a message that we're not happy with them at all.
Maybe the Democrats veered too far to the right and lost the opportunity to bring change and instead brought us another good-old-boy. That may cost them dearly.
Lastly, my pizza guy, Ramon is well educated and very intelligent. Ramon's father was a doctor and Ramon knows a lot about a lot of things. Ramon tells me McCain will win. I will not bet him.
Too bad I can't even say too bad.
Obama's selection of Neo-Con Biden should finally dispell any false hopes about his messages of 'hope' and 'change' that he promises to bring to the White House. His true colors are showing;a corporate lackey who will continue the tradition of supporting the military, medical and prison industrial complexes that normal Americans have learned to fear.
I think progressives have been searching for a way forward. I offer a direction: local organizations that fight for direct democracy. It bypasses the federal twiddle-dee or twiddle-dum binary. I fear that most progressives are not able to work for such a goal and slowly I become demoralized.
Did any of you get a chance to see Stephen Zunes on "Democracy Now!" this morning?
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/25/a_debate_on_sen_joe_bidens
Voting is a charade to make us think our "democratic system" is fully functioning. McCain and Obama represent two feathers of the same bird; both corporate and both mouthing rhetoric that they believe will elect them in November. We must not rely on these elections to radically improve our lot. We must work outside of the elections to improve conditions in the workplace, community control of our schools, and job training for jobs that will repair our failing infrastructure. We need unions to represent workers demanding economic justice.
I was a state committee member of my state's democratic party and I just dumped them for my new love, the Greens! Felt like leaving an abusive relationship - no more "well maybe this time he really means it". The democrats have used and abused us progressives for too long -- time to break free and join the party that gets it! The 2006 election proved to us that it won't make any difference if we elect democrats or republicans. So what do you have to lose?
Cynthia McKinney for President, 2008!
Zunes has produced a fine argument to explain the words, "Obama's betrayal," in the headline of this piece. Nonetheless, few people will have a clue about Biden as warmonger. The mainstream press seem to think Biden is some kind of working-class hero.
Much of the deception is now transparent. There's still "hope talk," but everyone can see that no matter which party wins, the American people will be saddled with war debts to fund bloody deeds abroad, killing people who haven't harmed us.
It sickens me to see this stuff trotted out year after year. I wish there were a way to wake people up.
-TIA
Biden is to Big Banks as Cheney is to Big Oil.
I can totally understand the choice Obama made. There's bad times coming and they know it. Biden will see to it the average citizen is taken for all they're worth.
The republicans use their brand of thuggery overseas. The democrats take care of the hometown crowd (that be us). They burned 80+ men, women and children to pulps of molten flesh in Waco in front of the eyes of the whole world, and don't forget Ruby Ridge. Now, I'm not one to stock-up on guns and all that, but these guys in Washington wanted to make a point (that was or course, Clinton, Gore) and Reno) about any "homegrown armies"... so, this time instead of Iraqis, under the dems, its gonna be us. As banks continue to shut down every Friday (how convenient) and things worsen, I'm very worried. VERY worried.
The popular national "voices" of progressives that are (rightfully) featured here at CD will promote the ticket--any ticket--as long as its a democratic ticket. They, their lively-hoods, their futures are distinctly and directly tied to promoting, encouraging and electing democrats--while throwing democracy and anyone else to the lions. That is crystal clear at this point. Given the trickery by Obama in the last couple of months, these boys are going to be dangerous to Americans.
A third-party is now really a dream. Its not an option. The only change we can really make at this point is to somehow, defeat the Obama/Biden ticket, and then try to change the democratic party as it descends into chaos.
Vote for Nader. Vote for McKinney, heck, even vote for McCain.
The Obama/Biden ticket must be defeated.
Otherwise, vote for them at your, your children, and your nations peril.
P.S. Thanks CD for getting things back online. We really need you. ALL voices are needed now.
Wow, everyone here at CommonDreams is full of love for the Democratic pick! Hey c'mon, it could always be worse. We could have Hillary as the candidate! Then she might actually win over McCain, and keep us from going too far to the Right.
I don't think Obama cares what anyone thinks. He may be assuming that the antiwar crowd will vote for him. Maybe he hasn't been watching as the neo-cons quietly ditch the war, and call for a 2011 pullout. In that event it won't matter if Obama was antiwar or not, at least on Iraq.
We can complain to our hearts' content, but it won't change things. We can only take action to clear out the rats' nest, or find a new country. Who wants to come?
Oh by the way this new format means our names can no longer link to our blogs, if we had them. Maybe we can have a commondreams header/ID, so we can read what others have posted here.
He made you all wait a week to announce "Joe Biden"?...I'm totally underwhelmed...*S*
Biden is the perfect Democrat, a plagiarist, a corporate mobster who voted for the war and for the bankruptcy bill, written by and for the credit card companies. It's only natural that Obama has picked him.
Biden's favorite lie is that Democrats don't have 67 votes to stop Bush. He's counting on the idiots on Democratic Underground to forget that Democrats could've stopped every and each one of Bush's crimes/nominations in the last 7 years, all they needed was 40 senators.
The best part of all this was the 3 a.m. text message, a jab at Hillary. That must've made the 18 million who voted for her very happy. Smart move, preacher. Not that it matters, McCain will be the next president. Obama knows it, Bidens knows it.
Not to mention the fact that they could have ended the war in Iraq since 2006 simply by refusing to allow any bill to fund the war out of committee, and they could have impeached Bush and Cheney with a simple majority vote.
Lobo Gris
Wow. I guess I was so busy last week I didn't hear about the 3 a.m. jab.
That tells you just how immature ... and pissy ... Obama is.
I am more and more thinking that Obama DID offer the VP spot to Hillary and she turned him down.
We are wedded ,it would seem, to a system that betrays us, offers us no choice excepting a continuation of a nation controlled by the monied interests. Our founders overthrew a monarchy and we the people have allowed another to take its place. The illusion of the vote disguises the fact that we vote for the same damn policies, we vote, in fact, for liars.
These wars for profit will continue unabated, these economic decisions that ruin the lives of working people will continue to be made, innocents will continue to die for a point or two gain in the stock price until we the people understand that we have the power to change it all.
I believe in the future of third party politics, but, for those of you who do not, I suggest that you find another way to end the monopoly of money on our elective processes, if oyu can.
we see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Who did you expect a corporatist politician to choose -- Kuckinich? While I would have thought Barbara Boxer would have been a better choice, Biden is not all that bad. Though corrupt, he has been relatively supportive of domestic social progress and working class issues (unless they ran up against banking interests) and he has the foreign policy experience to balance out Obama's lack thereof.
Great Article.
Except I see one thing missing. ObamaBiden are nicely creamed. But no alternative is elucidated. And since no 3rd party has been organizing these last 7 years, it is McCain OR ObamaBiden.
I will vote against McCain and World War Three. If a million lives are saved that counts.
McCain has promised to wage war in Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq simultaneously.
A vote for Obama is a vote against that. Maybe several million lives will be saved without MCCain dropping bombs everywhere.
That Counts.
I agree We The People have had 7 years to get our act together. Boy oh boy where's the 3rd party or paper trail voting. So here we our voting for Obama, and hoping a few bones are thrown to the people by a democrate in the WH. A vote for McCain is a vote for WW3, if its not already too late to stop that.
It's not true that Greens and other independents have been doing nothing. I know many Greens who have been working for years trying to build a party. So far, it has been a losing battle because what we have gotten from the majority of progressives is: "We must work to get Dems elected. Only then can we have any influence." baaaa, baaaa, etc.
After the mid-term disillusionment, Obama stepped onto the stage. Progressives would not budge from idolizing him. We tried to tell people what was happening but they rufused to listen. Again, baaaa, baaaa. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink it. For the past eight years, progressives have been steadfast in their illusions that the Democrats will be different once they get into power. Independents have been treated like pariahs. Please, blame those who refuse to work for alternatives, not those who have been doing just that - it's twisted.
I wouldn't characterize Obama as a warmonger.
You really should try to argue without resorting to insults and abuse. Words like "shallow", "should be obvious" and "comfy" are insulting. You would be far more convincing if you'd let your ideas speak for themselves.
I KARE: Thanks for noticing! Being a "visionary" I got the electric "juice" before the storm! Lightning hit very close to my home, I lost phone service for 4 days, it fried my computer (I am using a laptop standby. Even though the computer nerds SAY the C-drive is OK, I am afraid to test it as I could lose a good deal of important work), and I had to have an electrician do some rewiring. I had been out for the day, didn't anticipate the early bands of the storm, and came home to pictures off the walls, a vase broken... the house SHAKEN by the electric bolt! I did feel lucky the place did not burn down!
These weather systems will BE interupting our lives, "business as usual" more and more, as the great Goddess Venus assuming the persona of Demeter, EARTH MOTHER will assert against the ravages of Mars, the great trespasses taken by warriors who violate the UNIVERSAL laws. This election debacle, that the once strongest & most prosperous nation of the world can be such an unapologetic champion for yet more war without conscience, is its own death warrant. Those who ask why we citizens don't do more are quite naive about the intensity of what we are up against. I still say STAR WARS (wherein a small band of high consciousness players manages to seize and undo the death star through its one vulnerable zone) IS the lesson & myth for our times. Obi Wan Kanobe, anyone?
TRASNLUCENT: What strange times are these, and what would King Solomon do? Vote for the one who may at his hand command the murder of several hundred thousands instead of the one who would clammor for carnage into the millions. What a choice before us... at least the SOULS are inviolate, though no one has the RIGHT to abort another's life experience... those who steal others opportunities to evolve on this wounded planet, however, misuse the central tenet of Divine law, and in my view cleave to the anti-Christ mentality. How dare they play god thinking they are fit to determine who lives and who dies? This is the LUCIFERIC aspect of the darkest portion of those broken human egos that seek to subsume the will of the forces of light, and demonstrate their claim to power in stealing that life, that light from others. ALL things that go against the grain of universal law must in time be righted... we ARE part of eternity, now engaged in this experiment on earth where free will, intended to be taught & modified by the entrance of Master Teachers who revealed The Law, and much of mankind has fallen behind in its own evolution due to the dark influence of these diabolical blood suckers, pretending to be leaders worthy of respect.
A lot of truth in this piece but the choice is clear: John McCain is running for Attila the Hun's 666th term.
Let's spend our time getting Obama elected, canvassing neighborhoods and working the phones, not lamenting how we've been let down. I want Kucinich but that's a pipe dream once again.
Yes, you're right on. So many here think they know how Obama will govern. That he's the same as McCain. That he's a corporate lackey, militarist ready to sell us down the road of corporate fascism. There's no way anyone can know until he gets in there and shows us. Let's give him a chance!