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TechnoratiBiden, 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 AllVery difficult to read these American political opinions for the most part! All this griping here as usual with your flights into the never-land of Peter Pan politics and all here who would like to be children consumers in this liberal so-called progressive blog.
So many hoping for the choices that are not supported by the political machine. Yes look in the mirror people, except for a few who see the historic human choice in this bigoted land!
Mr. ex-prisoner of war, showed us his desire to pick someone extremely intelligent if he dies, we see his choices clearly. I hear the dream-merchants here in the face of the this rising debacle, who want nothing but purity of thought and an end to the political meanderings of this so-called democracy that is so immature.
The reality of this world pits the American dream now become the the western worlds dream and the world's nightmare, represented by both political parties and supported by your 401ks. Lets stop the nonsense people out there. There is only one choice in this election, to take a chance on a little change represented by a black man who will try within his limited power to change the way business is done and someone who will continue business as usual! Obama can only do so much he is part of the machine and the machine chose him, Nader or anyone else can do nothing!
This a a one party system if you want more choice try changing it to a parliamentary system. Good luck! That will happen after we are under thirty feet of water. In this system, the way it is; this is reality not a Disney Land show, never mind, perhaps it is? You have a single possibility of a little change rather than no change at all!
Wake up children! There is only one choice, like it or not the other option is no change at all in this warming hell of climate change your choice is to try to stop the oncoming end of the human race or allow it to continue like the snowball that is gone! You political purists out there are superciliously silly.
Was that the Deus ex Machina coming down for a sec to remostrate with us? A parliamentary system, is that what you're advocating? Never mind the confines of our Constitution and what we have to work with, but let's look at parliamentary systems for a brief moment? At the Hall of Fame..... Chamberlain, Deladier, Stanley Baldwin, Margaret Thatcher, Berlusconni.... I'm sure you can name many others. Even Hitler, technically speaking, came in legally.
Do we twist and turn over our troubles? We certainly do. But then for a mighty Deus ex Machina that should be no concern: just hurl down a lightning bolt on the little people, those scrambling down below: their sufferings and concerns and attempts at finding solutions are only laughable, anyway......
I could go point-by-point and address some of Zunes' arguments against Biden, but I don't have time. In general, he cherry picks facts, leaves important context out, and mischaracterizes Biden on some points. Biden is a strong supporter of Israeli security. If you want to be re-elected in Delaware, you have to be. The divide-and-rule characterization is not accurate. Biden was simply arguing during the height of what I think we will all look back on as the Iraqi civil war, that such divisions were being created de facto on the ground. This has largely come to pass. The Kurds want to be separate, but we stopped them in order to keep Turkey happy. The Shia and Sunni have pushed each other out of their respective regions and neighborhoods. Violence is down, because the divisions Biden was *describing* have been largely accomplished. He was only suggesting that we might want to formalize the situation to reduce bloodshed.
Yes, Biden's committee failed to invite Ritter. He was an ex-inspector. He wasn't current. Blix and Al- Baradai were current. They both testified before Biden. The important thing is that the Pentagon, CIA, and Bush admin officials lied and falsified evidence. Biden was among the first senators to call for an investigation of the WMD lies.
Obama was never radically anti-war. He said himself, he was only against "dumb wars". Obama has never been a radical anything. Those who thought that's what they were getting were not paying attention to what he has said or written or done. I voted for John Edwards (who as a Senator was way too centrist for my taste) because he was running on a populist platform that pushed policies I liked (90% CO2 cut by 2050, universal health care with a path to single-payer, renegotiation of trade deals, etc.). In fact, despite his loss, he did push the other candidates toward those policies. Even if he was insincere (one can never know), his stated positions would have made it easier for activists to push him to enact those policies. Obama was cautious on all of these fronts, slowly adopting more acceptable climate change positions and blurring the distinctions between his healthcare plan (status quo with some subsidies) and Edward's (later Clinton's). Edwards took a vote for which he said he was sorry. I suspect that Obama would have done the same (his speech as a state senator not withstanding) if he had been in the US Senate at the time. People did that against their better judgement because they were worried about re-election at a time when Bush had a 90% approval rating. Biden was up for reelection, facing a real challenger, in a state that has deep cultural ties to the old confederacy. It took some courage to oppose the Iraq resolution, but mostly it took not being up for reelection.
Obama is weak on almost all of the policies that I care about, but I am happy to support him because he is educable, pragmatic, inspiring, and the alternative is a disaster.
Biden has been great on a lot of things that matter. He introduced the first global warming bill. He pushed through the family medical leave act. Moreover, his foreign policy experience has allowed him to accurately describe events. Obama is not saying that judgement and experience are mutually exclusive. He needs to hear from all sides.
Most importantly, Biden is there to win over white working class voters. Right now, winning is everything.
The important thing is to defeat McCain--not fight battles about the recent past. It is this sort of drawing of false equivalences that will insure more years of Republican misrule. Biden is bad on a few peacenik shiboleths, so by association, Obama is similar to McCain. Therefore Obama is just as bad as McCain. Lets try to get our left-wing friends to sit this one out. Or maybe vote for Nader again. 'Cause, there's no difference between the two parties. Gore would have been just as bad as Bush. Anyone who is willing to act on this sort of purist "logic" is no longer my friend. That person is as much my enemy as any Republican, because the result is the same: disaster for our country, and the globe. Obama/Biden offers us the possibility of repairing some of the damage and avoiding some of the worst impacts of the current trajectory.Electing McCain would mean closing our eyes, stepping on the accelerator and driving into the looming towers we all know are there.
I have written too much, but as you can tell, I am angry that divisions on our side could give power to their side again.
Once again there is nobody on the D ticket that voted against the invasion of Iraq. Brilliant!
"There are various ways of keeping truth out of sight." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.VI, 1782. ME 2:95
This is an excellent commentary, and I'm sorry whoever wrote it didn't have time to be more thorough.
I have long read Stephen Zunes' posts and commentaries here and there, trusting his veracity and authority. And I'm sure he was opposed to the war before it began, and for the right reasons. But I find bswell's commentary persuasive.
Biden's support for the war speaks badly for Biden and he does go off on tangents. He is, I think, a decent man and his lapses are expressions of well meaning human weakness. His federalist three state solution for Iraq would have been another imposition on the Iraqi people, and we have seen too much of that sort of thing in US foreign policy. Biden has also referred to Hugo Chavez as a dictator, which is not very promising either. Yes, I think Biden is prone to mistakes.
But bswell (I hope that doesn't mean BS well done?) nicely discusses the purer than the pure in his semi-final paragraph. Those of us on the left have encountered often enough ideologues whose blinders are more likely to guide them than any practical considerations. And bswell is good on what to expect from Obama too.
Nice commentary.....
No one who holds office in the US of A is going to end the war for you
Professor Stephen Zunes does us a disservice by alluding to someone being able to do it for us. When you and Stephen have been arrested seven to ten times at Speaker Pelosi’s office and your friends and neighbors in each of the 435 districts have as well and when you stop buying crap at you local stores until the war is over and so on and so forth, then and only then will serious people begin to listen to your demands. War is over if YOU want it. You need to demand it. Organize, Organize, Organize
"When you start a war for the wrong reasons, you are responsible for all that follows, even the other side's atrocities." - Michael Neumann
The MACHINE rolls on and for convincing evidence of this reality take a moment to realize and understand some of the recent changes within Common Dreams pointedly our new "1000" word LIMIT.
Oh well any good communicator knows the less words used the better the impact or an adman's wet dream - the 10 second byte that truly bites.
What the heck the shit storma are upon us and thus my only desire is that it they garther the momentum necessary to reach the speed of sound, who the hell is listening anyway ?, before the end of 2009 as I really want to leave our spaceship with as many fellow human beans as possible.
The party of all our molecles exploding at the very same instance will definitely have to be the epoch of civilization. To exit in a big bang only seems fitting.
In the end we become what was our beginning and of course we are doing it for the CHILDREN.
Ahh yes the CHILDREN; of a lesser dog, no doubt.
.
I’ll say it again…
We needed Ralph Nader as President in 2000.
We needed Ralph Nader as President in 2004.
We NEED Ralph Nader as President in 2008.
Never before as we do now
http://www.votenader.org/index.html
.
Yes, Ralph Nader is the ONLY one who should be our President. BUT he cannot win THIS election. MAYBE the next one. Having read the posts on this thread I have to wonder if some of the pro-Nader/anti-Obama posts have been made by McCain supporters. This election may be a farce but when we go to the polls let's not waste our vote. Let's try Obamaa. Maybe he isn't the "best" choice but it will be a change. Let us see.
Third Parties are weak because there aren't enough PEOPLE working to make them stronger. Those who haven't been putting in time and energy don't have a right to criticize Greens for not magically becomming a "viable" party.
Voters seem to prefer working for the entity that is already powerful. Too bad but that's the way it is. It means they don't have to do anything, they can just sign up and, without lifting a finger, be a part of something big. I may write a book called, "Green Like Me," all about being treated like a second class citizen, maligned for daring to vote outside the box, daring to support Nader or McKinney, daring to "take votes away from the Democrat!" When the party isn't able to grow and become powerful, everyone says, "See, they aren't viable!" Twisted.
The duopoly has plenty more tricks up their sleeves. You can fool all the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time ........
The best reason for voting for Obama/Biden is to once and for all see the Democrat Party stark naked in the light. What will they use for their excuse once Bush is gone? You can be sure the duopoly is conniving, as I type, in order to be ready for the next scam on voters.
My feeling at the moment is the Dems are going to sacrifice this election so that the blame can be placed onto independents and Greens. "Obama never got the chance!" they will rail. We will be blamed again, the Greens will shrivel .... again ... and the dupolpoly will have won .... again.
Consider the possibility, that this is a perfect reflection of where America is today.
I'm not being an apologist, for the duo-popoly, merely illustrating that Americans generally have yet to realize the error of their ways.
What they choose is a direct reflection of their collective perceptions and expectations, and if they're aligned with going to war again, perhaps eventually the deaths of family and friends, the loss of more healthcare benefits, jobs, … etc … will envelope and then dissolve their illusions ?
____ ¿ Why do any of us believe that we can change ____
_______ the mindsets of millions of Americans ? _______
__ A c c e p t a n c e __ of the popular mass "delusions" and "blind obedience" to authoritarian numbskulls, is actually part of the healing process that more aware Americans might consider as a new strategy. As long as we attack "other" people for their stupidity, bad decisions, and repuke-lican complicity -- the tighter they will hold to their mistaken beliefs that got us here.
I place quotations about "delusions" and "blind obedience", because stating such is in itself reactionary & judgmental ( my errant world view and perceptions ). The American collective perception is, exactly what it IS. If that is different than what we as individuals believe and think, than it is up to each of us to believe that, fully and joyously -- w/o shaming and downplaying others.
What we resist -- persists.
I consider that 3rd party evolution is the opening for an eventual Parliamentary system, that promises much more direct and proportional representation. We must get past that initial 5% barrier, and then work for the 10%, … etc.
_____ But what about just jumping to 30% or 40%
_____ because Obama is a joke, and Mc_In_sane is even worse ?
I personally attempt to maintain an open ( w/o judgement ) perception, and know that I'm barely scratching at the surface of true acceptance here. I believe that this lack of acceptance of what IS, is actually the major aspect of why it is that way.
A paradoxical reality -- beyond reasonable solution -- mandates something entirely unprecedented !
When we focus upon what we really want, w/o concern for what :::I S:::, it is then that we access our true power to make a real difference.
Give up blaming and gaming -- and start dreaming & beaming really BIG !!!!!!!!
Namaste
Excellent post,
namaste to you
You know I'm not an Obama Fan...but he has polled lower since announcing Biden was his Veep choice...He should have bit the bullet...he would have been just about a shoe-in in November
Gallup has McCain up 2 points today...might be an anomaly but I don't think Hillary's supporters are going to forgive and forget...
and people are starting to notice the William Ayers connection (frankly I was surprised he was a College Prof...for about thirty seconds and realized...where else?)
Republican talking points
I was a Hillary supporter and I will never forgive the Dem party for playing favorites with Obama and allowing her to suffer the most appalling misogyny directed toward a female candidate that I have ever witnessed. But that's not the only reason I won't vote for Obama ... I think he's the wrong person for the job.
I'm starting to think that few people want that VP job with Obama. I'll bet he's an insufferable egomaniac. What if he offered it to Hillary and she said "forget it" ??
I see Obama is working overtime to squelch the Republican ads showing his connections to Ayers. Good luck on that, Obama.
Republican talking points
Third Parties are weak because there aren't enough PEOPLE working to make them stronger. I think only those who have been butting in time and energy have a right to criticize.
Voters seem to prefer working for the entity that is already powerful. Too bad but that's the way it is. It means they don't have to do anything, they can just sign up and, without lifting a finger, be a part of a powerful party. I may write a book called, "Green Like Me" all about being treated like a second class citizen, maligned for daring to vote outside the box, daring to support Nader or McKinney, daring to "take votes away from the Democrat!" And then, when the party isn't able to grow and become powerful, everyone says, "See, they aren't viable!" Twisted.
This is Gore-Lieberman deja vu all over again. Goodbye, Barack, we hardly knew ye.
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.
Read The Audacity of Hope again -- more carefully this time.
Obama supported Leiberman against Ned Lamont....
Meet your ZIONIST VP Joe Biden
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8DDuv3y5B8I
"I am a Zionist, you don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist" - Joe Biden
Obama picks a Zionist for Vice Prez.... can you say "never ending war?"
After all, it was Obama's idea to send 12,000 - 15,000 more troops to AFGHANISTAN just recently.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/07/20/2008-07-20_obama_meets_afghan_president_karzai_.ht...
"I believe U.S. troop levels need to increase. And I, for at least a year now, have called for two additional brigades," Obama told CBS News adding "perhaps three."
-----
Sorry folks, the machine rolls on. Sucker punch continues.
Get serious about a third party. That's where electoral politics for real change begins. Yes, you will be ignored in the corporate media. We are RULED by corporations. We are serfs. Disconnect yourself from illusions, delusions, and realize this project is one which will require a more serious assessment of political control of the corporate parties. Seize control of your community and work up....
Thank you for that. Obama is less than worthless now
Namaste
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!
No, he's not "right on," and Yes, we do know that Obama is a corporate lackey & a militarist, ready to sell us down the road. He's already done it -- you're just unable to see it.
Dem Party apologists like you always fall back on a false version of your critics' position. The position is not that McCain & Obama are "the same." They're mostly the same, & the few differences are mostly in rhetoric & style. But they're not exactly "the same." So please stop using a phony version of the argument.
Since Obama locked up the nomination, he's sucked up to AIPAC, spoken belligerently about Cuba, threatened Iran, called for escalation of the war in Afghanistan, voted for Bush's FISA proposals, taken the Bush-McCain position on the Georgia-Russia conflict, and said "No" when CNN directly asked him if the US had anything to apologize for on the global stage, in the past 7 years. He's expressed full-throated support for the War on Terror. He's spoken deprecatingly of the 1960's antiwar movement.
There's lots more, too -- but these things alone make it perfectly clear that he's a militarist & corporate lackey.
I think some logic might help your arguments. He's ready to sell us down the road, and he's already done it---contradiction. They're not the same/ they're mostly the same... Then you attack me--ad hominem fallacy.
I'm not an apologists for the Dem Party, I'm quite critical of it really, and of the two party system that we're stuck with. I'm just a pragmatic realist who knows that we have only two choices come Nov.
Then you use all these loaded words like "sucked-up", "belligerently", "escalation" and "full-throated support" to describe his positions, that haven't really changed that much at all. (excepting the FISA vote) He's dealing with an electorate that marginalizes most progressive causes. He's trying to get elected in America after all...
Give him a chance ? While we're in the middle of a war and we've got a housing and mortgage crisis ? Forget it.
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.
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?
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.
That's unfortunately a shallow analysis. You're basically looking for an easy answer that makes you feel comfy, rather than facing up to the true dimensions of the problem. It should be obvious, after some reflection, that the system that forces you to choose between 2 warmongering proponents of global empire is a bigger problem than simply deciding which of the two jerks is the lesser warmonger.
It's not even completely clear that McCain is the one that's "less evil," since Obama's escalation in Afghanistan might wind up killing even more people than McCain's keeping high levels of troops in Iraq. Don't forget that Obama just chose Biden as VP -- it was Biden who proposed that Iraq be chopped up into 3 ethnic enclaves. In many ways, that idea is even worse than what Bush himself has proposed. It's based on the very same notion that the US is allowed to send troops anywhere, & decide how other nations & peoples should live.
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
He made you all wait a week to announce "Joe Biden"?...I'm totally underwhelmed...*S*
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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/
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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....
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.
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.
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.
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
If voting actually changed anything substantial, they would make it illegal.
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.
Vote independent if you can. N.Y. - Mass. - Vt. ect. Only because of the supreme court.
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’
Yet another of many reasons to vote for Nader/Gonzales.
Well, 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?"