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TechnoratiMoveOn.org Get-Together Aims to Send Message to Obama
With the election in the rear view mirror, the progressive political action committee MoveOn.org wants to make sure the candidates it worked to help get into office support a truly progressive agenda.
To that end, it held more than 500 "Fired Up and Ready to Go" gatherings throughout the country Thursday night. A meeting held at the Dardanelles restaurant on Monroe Street drew 15 people, all white and over 50.
About 350 MoveOn.org members registered for get-togethers in 18 locations throughout Wisconsin, said Paul Otto, state coordinator for MoveOn.org.
The local group wants to send a message to members of Congress as well as the nascent Barack Obama administration. Some members are worried that Obama as president will move to the center and not fulfill some of the promises he made during the campaign.
"So far it's disappointing who he's appointed to his Cabinet," said Margaret Welke, 54, a market researcher. "I don't want another Republican lite in office."
Welke told the group she doesn't trust Obama to do what he said he would do. "If you look back in history, few presidents became more progressive once they got into office," she said.
"I don't want to say that I stand with Obama because I don't know where he stands," Welke said.
MoveOn.org is coordinating a photo-gathering campaign, called "Real Voices for Change," in which members take digital photos of their friends, neighbors, colleagues, family members and even strangers holding signs or white boards that say "I stand with Obama for xxxx," with participants filling in the blank. For instance, "I stand with Obama on health care," or "I stand with Obama for ending the war in Iraq," or "I stand with Obama on energy independence."
Participants will also add their name to a petition acknowledging that they stand with Obama for change in Washington.
The organization hopes to get 300,000 to 500,000 photos to deliver to Congress. The names and photos will be organized by congressional district and be delivered to individual members of Congress in Washington, D.C., in January just before Inauguration Day. The photos will be available online and posted in the subway stations and other public spaces in D.C., visible to the millions of people converging on the city for the inauguration.
(To post photos, go to http://pol.moveon.org/changeweneed/voicesforchange.html).
"It puts a personal face on the issues that are important to people," said Otto, of Madison, the Wisconsin coordinator for MoveOn.org.
Petitions aren't good enough anymore, Otto said.
"It's getting to the point where you bring five or six bankers boxes of signatures and you drop them off on somebody's desk and they aren't read -- they are just put into the recyclables. This puts a personal face on issues," he said.
When members of Congress see the pictures coupled with the issues that the person cares about, they will see the passion in the person's face, Otto said.
"This is a mechanism to let (government) see that there are large numbers of people interested in these issues. These are individuals, not some amorphous group," he said.
James Frankel, a book editor who has been active with MoveOn.org for two and a half years, said the photo campaign will be a visual representation of many people all subscribing to the kind of change that Obama has promised.
"People perceive that this is such an important moment in history -- not just American history but world history because there are so many issues that have been neglected by the previous two administrations: climate change, reform of the economic system, health care, the war, energy independence," Frankel said.
He added that people who had never voted before joined with Democrats, Republicans and independents to elect Obama and other candidates who represent change "because we are profoundly tired of a government that lies to us and serves the interests of a very small group of privileged and powerful people against the interests of the vast majority of the country."
George Bush undermined every democratic institution in the United States, from the Constitution on down, Frankel said. "People don't want to believe that he could be as craven and corrupt as he really is," he said.
Frankel canvassed for Obama, MoveOn.org and the advocacy organization Advancing Wisconsin. When he talked to people -- other than John McCain supporters -- he said they were enormously excited about the idea of getting a government that will listen to the people for a change.
"Because we haven't had that in a long time," he said.
34 Comments so far
Show AllThe American people should know that George W. Bush is not only a war criminal: he is also a hate-crime criminal.
George W. Bush had better stop committing hate crimes.
“What did you think of that NAACP anti-Bush race-baiting ad in 2000? You know, the one that practically said Bush was responsible for the dragging-to-death-behind-a-truck murder of a black man just because he didn’t sign a hate crimes bill several years after the man’s death” (Posted by Aaron. Retrieved December 11, 2008, from metafilter.com).
ON THE TOPIC OF HATE CRIME(S):
“Sean Penn accuses Bush of ‘criminal negligence’” (Retrieved December 11, 2008, from deadlykatrina.com). Thus, Sean Penn believes that George W. Bush was at fault, criminally, relative to his response to Hurricane Katrina.
“Had the residents of New Orleans been white Republicans in a state that mattered politically, instead of poor blacks in city that didn’t, Bush’s response surely would have been different. Compare what happened when hurricanes Charley and Frances hit Florida in 2004. Though the damage from those storms was negligible in relation to Katrina’s, the reaction from the White House was instinctive, rapid, and generous to the point of profligacy. Bush visited hurricane victims four times in six weeks and delivered relief checks personally. Michael Brown of FEMA, now widely regarded as an incompetent political hack, was so responsive that local officials praised the agency’s performance.”
Jacob Weisberg. (2005, September 7). An Imperfect Storm . . . How race shaped Bush’s response to Katrina. Slate. Retrieved December 7, 2008, from slate.com
Assuming that George W. Bush had in fact been criminally negligent relative to his response to Hurricane Katrina, would Bush be responsible for hate crime?
“One of those very least were George Bush’s personal complicity in the death (murder to be precise) of my friend Margie Schoedinger[,] [an African-American woman,] in September of 2003. Determining the exact whereabouts and contacts of [then] president-elect George Bush on September 21 thru 22, 2003, should be entirely lacking in difficulty” (Leola McConnell (Nevada Progressive Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010). Retrieved November 29, 2008, from leolaforussenate.blogspot.com).
Does George W. Bush’s murder of Margie Schoedinger constitute a hate crime?
“A woman in Texas who filed a lawsuit against the president for rape and torture[,] [Margie Schoedinger,] was found shot to death. It was ruled a suicide. No one is investigating. Bush reportedly dated the woman in high school and speculation is that he was using the woman as his sex slave because he is above the law” (John Kaminski (author of “America’s Autopsy Report,” a collection of his Internet essays published on hundreds of websites around the world). (No date listed). Why We Need Martial Law . . . Criminal government is destroying America; military must step in to restore Constitution. serendipity.li. Retrieved December 10, 2008, from serendipity.li).
Do George W. Bush’s rape and torture of Margie Schoedinger constitute hate crimes?
“I believe that George W. Bush hates black people. Through secret government machinations, he caused Hurricane Katrina to form and aimed it at New Orleans on purpose, just so he could wipe out lots of poor blacks. I also believe that before the hurricane hit, he snuck into New Orleans and stole the keys to every school bus in the city to make evacuation of poor people impossible” (Janet M. Stroble. (2006, April 12). Now I Believe. military.com. Retrieved November 26, 2008, from military.com).
If George W. Bush intentionally did what Janet M. Stroble indicated, would Bush have committed hate crimes against countless black people?
“I believe that George W. Bush hates Moslems. All that garbage about freedom, democracy, and the right to vote is a pollution of their culture. I believe that George W. Bush hates immigrants. There were a lot of immigrants working in the World Trade Center and George W. Bush didn’t warn them ahead of time” (Janet M. Stroble. (2006, April 12). Now I Believe. military.com. Retrieved November 26, 2008, from military.com).
In that George W. Bush hates immigrants and deliberately failed to warn them ahead of time as indicated by Janet M. Stroble: would Bush accordingly be responsible for hate crimes relative to racial minorities who were harmed?
“Did Kanye West[’]s [comment], [‘]George Bush Hates Black People[’][,] get his mother killed?” (Retrieved October 18, 2008, from abovetopsecret.com).
There is a discussion at abovetopsecret.com relating to whether President George W. Bush murdered Kanye West’s mother—Ms. Donda West.
Did President George W. Bush, who hates black people, murder Kanye West’s mother in the heat of raging racism? Somebody indicated that although the president of the United States is monitored by the Secret Service, he certainly can meet with one or more persons where his conversations are not intercepted and secretly “order a hit” on someone or order the murder of someone.
If George W. Bush did murder Kanye West’s mother, would it constitute a hate crime?
GEORGE W. BUSH MURDERED A JEW!
“George W. Bush murdered the Jewish former Senator—Paul Wellstone” (Retrieved December 10, 2008, from andrewyu-jenwang.blogspot.com). This Internet site has a lot of information indicating that George W. Bush murdered Wellstone.
“Bush’s visit to Israel is under the guise of Middle East peace. You gotta be kidding me! Bush is THE MASTER ARCHITECT of Middle East war, not peace. . . . Bush didn’t go to Israel because he likes Israelis or like Jews, nope, he went there because he hates them. He went there to spread his message of doom, war, pain and death” (Storm Bear. (2008, January 10). PROOF: George W Bush Is An Anti-Semite! bitsofnews.com. Retrieved November 23, 2008, from bitsofnews.com).
Assuming that George W. Bush did in fact murder the Jewish former Senator—Paul Wellstone, would Bush have committed a hate crime? Bush would have “purposefully” (criminal-law terminology) murdered Wellstone. Wellstone’s Jewish wife and Jewish daughter also died in the plane crash. Bush would have “knowingly” (criminal-law terminology) murdered Wellstone’s wife and daughter. However, would Bush’s murders of Wellstone’s Jewish wife and Jewish daughter also have constituted hate crimes?
Retrieved December 12, 2008, from http://andrewyu-jenwang.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-did-you-think-of-that-naacp-anti.html
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
Move-On has been more concerned with getting funds to Democratic candidates than anything else. It abandoned the antiwar effort at one point, probably because the Democratic Party, on the whole, supported the wars during the Bush administration's reign of terror.
It's good to see Move-On make some sort of Obama push effort. I wish it were an effective one. Consider the actions described in the article. You're supposed to make photos of yourself that read as follows:
"I stand with Obama on health care," or "I stand with Obama for ending the war in Iraq," or "I stand with Obama on energy independence."
What's Obama's positions on those issues?
1. Healthcare: An insurance company scheme that won't provide universal healthcare. It maintains the status quo.
2. Ending the war in Iraq: Obama said he'd be ruled by Bush-appointed generals on the ground in Iraq. This is a tremendous loophole that could signal just more of the same old Bush policy.
3. Energy independence: Obama isn't promoting renewable energy. He wants offshore drilling like the Republicans. So, environmental considerations will be cast aside. The oil, which can't satisfy demand, could be sold abroad. We just don't know, other than he wants to drill. Obama wants to revive the nuclear industry. Nuclear is generational genocide. Banks won't fund those projects because of the massive liability. So, legal loopholes will make taxpayers insure an unsafe industry that can't properly dispose of nuclear waste. Obama wants "clean coal," a euphemism for the dirtiest source of energy on the planet. This is an energy policy? No, it's a free ride for some of the worst polluters on the planet while alternative energy considerations go unmentioned.
Why would people stand for Obama's positions on these matters? These are probably the weakest points in Obama's campaign. Move-On could ask for more, but it doesn't.
Instead of following Move-On's prescriptions, ask for single-payer (taxpayer-supported) healthcare for all. Ask for immediate and total withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and a cessation of the bombings in Pakistan. Ask for a national energy program focused on renewable energies (wind, solar, hydro, etc.) and conservation.
-TIA
"because we are profoundly tired of a government that lies to us and serves the interests of a very small group of privileged and powerful people against the interests of the vast majority of the country."
Read the quote above, I think we need to get something and get it for keeps.
"Serves" I believe that this is the single most important word that needs absolute acknowledgment today. Our civil servants, serve. That means they work for us, they stand with us and they don't just "listen to us" they do for us.
Americans have become so complacent in their duty to democracy. We want some single leader who will save us magically through our spoken hopes and dreams.
Thus we must follow he who hopefully appears to listen to us, but he who serves us, follows us, acts for us and respects us can't have us following him and begging, pleading and hoping he makes certain critical changes.
We can only save ourselves and Obama won't do anything but serve those who really mean to be served. So far the people who have been served in this country are those who wield and understand this power. Moveon.org is still subservient to Obama the president, their leader and can only further his agenda whatever that may turn out to be, it won't be the agenda of the people under such a dynamic that is not how the will of the people comes about, we know this.
I still don't hear this group voice anything but a pleading hopeful whispered shadow of their true power in democracy. They and anyone who aligns themselves with them need to keep saying moveon to themselves because they are the ones stuck in place under Obama, looking up.
WE must learn to mean it, if we want change. So I must respectfully reject Moveon.org and their message of disempowerment.
Obama has little to nothing to do with a change that is ushered in by the people, other than he will have sworn an oath to protect and serve those changes.
Leea: Hi. What do you mean "we can only save ourselves"? I'm not clear. I like your last line and I'd say to you that it's a little early to "give up" on Obama. (I am not a member of Move On.)
Hey NYCartist, I've never given to Obama so I can't give up on him. I am not caught up in the belief that one person at the top can make meaningful change. This is not how meaningful change happens unless you are government is a dictatorship or monarchy. So instead of watching what Obama is doing, I am watching what we are doing, the people, I am contemplating what I am doing, what I can do as things stand.
In this my energy is freed up in a way that perhaps is necessary to make changes, this is what I mean by we can only save ourselves. When we are under one mans whim, we are slaves to him. Obama means little to nothing in my idea of what needs to happen to change our society, and yet that might be the first step to that change.
Taking the responsibility back to ones self, feeling that power and acting on it.
I think this is a very difficult thing to do, and very few are doing it.
Still...better than President McCain...
maybe the "left" should have gotten more involved in the primaries, and supportted a REAL progressive?
Doh! I coulda had a Kucinich!
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
Anybody ever heard of Club Bilderberg????
Who decides who the candidates will be? Where did a novice, Barack Obama, come from?
82% of the American People were dissatisfied with the direction taken by the United States in the past 8 years.....Club Bilderberg has used the Tavistock Institute of Behavioral Research to help guide its decisions and policies....Yes, Henry Kissinger has been one of guiding lights, the man who said, "We can not allow the people of Chile to choose their leaders." (He then ordered the CIA to take care of Allende.)
Bill Clinton admitted that he had attended a Bilderberg Club meeting once, "Yes, I attended a meeting of that club, it was just a meeting of European Businessmen."
Wrong !
Some of the invited guests for 2008....Always, Henry Kissinger
Henry Paulson
Ben S. Bernanke
Richard Perle
Paul Wolfowitz
Condoleeza Rice
James Johnson (Helped pick VP)
Thomas Daschle
Timothy Geithner
Richard Holbrooke
Peter Thiel (The Money behind
"Facebook")
Did you notice any Obama people in the list? The full list of invitees is on the American Free Press.Net.
"The People in Power" do not value human life. They value: "POWER", "WEALTH" and "OIL".....Whether it was the attacks of 9/11 and 3,000 Deaths or "The "INVASION OF IRAQ" and over 1.2 MILLION Deaths, "They" made trillions of dollars.
"The Bail Out" was legalized theft from the U.S. Treasury.....Don't forget, Murder was legalized in the Middle East as long as it was US killing THEM.
All that we were left with was "Hope".......
THANKSGIVING MASSACRE IN FALLUJAH: 4TH ANNIVERSARY
FARHAT MAQUAMI
4 years after Massacre in Fallujah Iraq is still occupied and occupation force has no intention of leaving. Obama and his Gang of Bush War supporters like
like Liberman, Jim Jones, Hillary Clinton and the rest are here to stay. Obama is not bringing change he is going to support the troops and keep fighting the people of Afghanistan. People in Iraq are all over the streets objecting to the US pressure to get the puppet government agree to let the forces occupy Iraq three more years and Obama is silent!
We don't need Americans for three more years. We don't need SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement)," said Abdullah, referring to the security pact that will determine the presence of US forces in Iraq after 2008. "Iraqi forces are now ready and can secure the country." We want American now. They have brought us death, destruction and misery. We don’t want 150,000 American Mercenaries ( contractors) and 140000 US troops control our government.
A draft SOFA agreement stipulates that American forces would withdraw from Iraq by December 2011. “This is not good for Iraq” Doctor Awad shares Abdullah's views.
"I don't trust Obama or McCain. Even Obama's promises of withdrawing the forces will remain only a promise," he said. He is just a new face of the continued American occupation of the Middle East and this would continue under a new cover. While Americans would be sitting in their bases our fates would be in the hands of local terrorists, who are in the on the payroll of a bankrupt Empire!
"Americans cause destruction wherever they go. The sooner they leave the better." but they are going to stay and pay money to local Gangsters to run a town, a village or a district as their proxied while the population is suffering with no safe drinking water, no medicine, no security no electricity no jobs and no democracy.
The question for all concern about Human Rights is why we are continuing to occupy, oppress, force a puppet government upon Iraq to sign a pact to continue our occupation of a Muslim nation? Why the incoming President would continue the policies of Bush? Why no one questions the hypocrisy of defenders of “fetus” as a human beings while killing, maiming, and destroying the real life of a real Muslim man in Iraq and Afghanistan by branding them as “terrorists”.
Thanksgiving should not be a Memorial Day for the massacres of people of different race or religion. It should be a day of repentance so we shall never do it again and we help the victims of our crimes in this cold winter in Fallujah and elsewhere!
THANKSGIVING MASSACRE IN FALLUJAH: 4TH ANNIVERSARY
FARHAT MAQUAMI
What happened in Fallujah, Iraq on Thanksgiving day should remain in the annals of Crime Against Humanity. Massacre of Armenian by Turks, or Holocausts and Genocide in Congo and Sudan are the only comparisons. Yet the degree of brutality and disregards is incomparable when the massacre is committed by American Troops whose government championed Human Rights, and display many Museums of Holocaust and is the proclaimed defender of Human Rights.
These were American Crusaders invading a Muslim Country and trying to hip out a city from the Map. Just like Gengiz Khan or Attila the Hun, American Invaders anted to set example to instill fears in the population so the scared masses accept the occupation.
In Iraq's former bastion of Resistance an Iraqi security officer patrols the grounds of the "Martyr's Cemetery" in the city of . The tall iron bridge spanning the Al-Furat river that runs through the city of Fallujah is still the symbol of the raging anti-US Resistance that once engulfed Iraq.
In March 2004, four US Mercenaries working as security guards of US-based Blackwater security company were brutally killed by Sunni Resistance and left hanging from the bridge for three days. The gruesome murders came a year after the March 2003 US illegal occupation of Iraq that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein. The killings triggered one of the biggest assaults by US forces in Iraq code named “Thanksgiving Massacre” in Fallujah.
Fallujah, the City of one thousands Mosques, was virtually razed to the ground before US forces took control of the city in the western Anbar province, and every men over 16 who were left on the city were massacred.
Nearly five years later the streets of Fallujah are bustling with traffic while it is business as usual in the ruined markets of the city, where women in black hijabs haggle with vegetable vendors for cheap bargains, anti-US sentiments are very obvious. Everyone wants the US occupation to end. The "US forces leave Iraq quickly or they will be kicked out," said Sami al-Awad, a doctor with a flourishing practice in central Fallujah.
Many of Fallujah's 400,000 people have not yet forgotten the brutal Massacre of the Civilian population harshness of the US crackdown of the Sunni Resistance Forces in the city.
The US presidential election holds no significance. "It does not matter whether it is (Barak) Obama or (John) McCain," who wins the election, said Diyauddin Abdullah, a dealer in electronics goods. They proved to be right. Obama got elected, yes they are pushing the Puppet Government in Iraq to give the US a legal basis to keep its troop for three years. Obama Campaigned for Change but by letting Liberian stay as Chairman of Homeland Security, Jim Jones, a McCain Friend as his Security Advisor, by Keeping Gate on Defense, and by voting for FISA he is in wrong track for America and for Iraq .
"The American troops killed my mother in the middle of the night as we were fleeing the assault in 2004. "American policy is fixed. Obama also can't change it. America has its own agenda," he added. Obama’s would not get American out of Iraq, The US want to force Iraqis to accept, extend and legalize its occupation. The so-called UN mandate ends on December 2008 and without the Puppet Government’s approval the US has no more legal basis to stay in Iraq. It is Iraqi’s resistance which would force the occupation to end, not Obama. Obama, now talks about a responsible withdrawal not ending the war, not 2 Division every month.
Abdullah's shop on the main Al-Abbas street of Fallujah bears the signs of two major battles that broke out between rebels and US forces in April and in November 2004.
The shop's metal shutter and the ceiling are peppered with bullet holes and the floor above the shop which was pounded by the military has caved in. Nothing has been repaired. Fallujah which was once a beautiful vacation spot is worse than the slums of Iraq, in Sadr City.
In fact, every other building on that street bears similar scars: walls riddled with bullets, caved-in roofs and some four-story blocks have been totally razed to the ground with debris still waiting to be cleared. Piles of garbage and pools of clogged water are seen at every corner.
The old Hospital of Fallujah which bore the worst sign of massacre lies in ruin , but a new private hospital, a pink building is under construction, near an a new public garden. American occupiers tried to raze the whole history and give a lesson to Iraqi resistance; but we never forget the Massacre in Fallujah. Until we force the occupiers out of Iraq and get back our county our wounds never heal.
.
Anti-American sentiment and distrust for Washington runs deep even among senior Iraqi officials in Fallujah. Even the hand picked Mayor of Fallujah Saad Awwad Rashid, declares
"I want to see the Americans leave as early as possible,"
People hate Americans, especially when they come to arbitrary arrests, including of women. I want the Americans to go out of Iraq. It does not matter who wins US elections.” It is of no interest to us." we want Americans out of our country no matter what. Obama is not going to do it. We would force them out by Civil disobedience and passive resistance!
After the Massacre of 2004 in Fallujah, the Sunnis of Fallujah, have to carry special identity cards to move in and out of the city. They have no patience towards Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki or the security deal he is negotiating with Washington.
"Obama is not going to do it." No the people of America must mean what they said when we voted Obama in on an end to the war in Iraq.
Drift is right.
Why do we have to organize protests against Obama? Has Moveon been infiltrated with Republicans? He hasn't even taken office. Give him a chance!
Besides, I'm ready and willing (as are many others) to protest any anti-Obama protests. Now is the time for unity, not dissent. Start protesting Obama and we'll wind up with McCain in 2012 (if he's still alive, if not, Palin 2012).
You'll make a good little German.
Actually, if you agree with Drift, who talks about FDR, you would be in favor of mass protests. That's the way it was back then, and that's what it took.
You say that protests will lead to a McCain/Palin administration. History proved you wrong already. Plenty of protests during the Bush years led to an Obama administration. Obama campaigned to the left and then turned to the right when he got the nomination.
Look, Move-On is a tepid Democratic Leadership Council-friendly funding arm. Even Move-On is attempting mild persuasion on Obama - and rather ineffective persuasion at that. But it seems that's even too much for your tastes.
I'm not getting your point. Sit back, relax and let Obama govern without input? Is that your idea? I don't see what positive action you are proposing. If you don't care what Obama does, why gripe here.
-TIA
How's about we progressives actually give him a chance to govern before we go ahead write his post mortem as the 3rd Clinton Administration?
The man was a US Senator, a state legislator, and a community organizer. Fact is, this is his first gig as an exectutive. Who's he supposed to hire from his background of contacts that have any executive experience? Of course he's going to draw from previous Clinton Administration appointees. Where else is he going to look, former Carter Administration personnel? Would that be the ones not on life support?
The question is will he really lead? Will he govern? Does he have the moxy to actually enact all the change he's promised? Fact is we don't know yet... you know, BECAUSE HE HASN'T TAKEN OFFICE YET.
Should we continue to press him for progressive change? Absolutely. Should we expect the 2nd coming of FDR? Well, perhaps. But remember, FDR actually reached out to the American people and told them (paraphrasing), "You want change? Well, make me do it, then." And noone in their wildest dreams thought FDR would be as radically progressive as he turned out to be back in 1932 when he was first elected.
So, make Obama do it, then.
And don't forget there was another president from Illinois who peopled his cabinet with adversaries.
Abe Lincoln.
"So, make Obama do it, then." Actually if our voice is loud and clear because we mean it, lets give him that good faith chance to do what he has promised de facto. If he does not, he is not a candidate for change by any means. What he will be then, I don't know and Bush lite doesn't begin to describe the problem.
Re: "And don't forget there was another president from Illinois who peopled his cabinet with adversaries."
I'm afraid the Obama Presidency is being fashioned to be more akin to the other Illinoisan in the White House, the disasterous Ulysses S. Grant Administration. A non-corrupted individual in charge of some of the most perfidious secretaries and ministers in the land.
Why wait? I say impeach Obama now! Just kidding, of course, but I hope you get my point, holding his feet to the fire needs to be done NOW, not after his staff has been set in stony disregard for the needs of the People.
Sorry, Ray. Not buying it. US Grant was a warrior. He came out of nowhere to rise in the ranks during the ugliest, bloodiest chapter in our nation's history. When it was over he was a national hero, and parlayed that celebrity into attaining the presidency. But he had absolutely no business whatsoever being in the White House, and his Administration degenerated into graft.
Obama's background could not be any different. This guy's been preparing for higher office at least since he was in Harvard Law. The fact that he's possibly the savviest political operator of our time may not necessarily endear him to the crowd here at CD, but it at least serves to draw a sharp contrast beween his acumen and Grant's incompetence.
People who know Barack Obama's work, know he's not a progressive. Find Frances Fox Piven's article on CD way down the page, "Obama Needs a Movement for Change". See Howard Zinn's short transcript of interview on www.indypendent.org (The Indypendent is an independent media paper in NYC.) That didn't keep many of us from voting for him because he's better than McCain and he has potential (like FDR did). It's where we go from here. I like bottom up organizing:local, state and national. There are enough issues to work on: pick which you feel most strongly about and what you can work on. There's too much ignoring of local issues at times. It's all connected.
"There's too much ignoring of local issues at times. It's all connected."
Words of wisdom NYCartist.
Change is coming ! It's up to us to let Washington DC know we are tired of what they call prosperity in Appalachia. I feel hope with Obama at the helm.
http://www.wisecountyissues.com
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/timmullins
...so waste no time in making your little sign. Now where's my camera.
"Obama is an ambitious, power hungry opportunist." Well said, Josh Miles.
His supporters have been suckered, because they are uncritical, delusional and childlike.
"His supporters have been suckered, because they are uncritical, delusional and childlike."
But in the end, this very fact can easily become the catalyst for change.
"...uncritical, delusional and childlike." True. I agree that it will most likely take a continuing road of degradation to wake up more and more people. This is exactly why we should not suspend our sensibilities to "play nice" with those stupified with the promise of HOPE. I think this MoveOn.org campaign is exactly pandering to those "uncritical, delusional and childlike" qualiies. It will be an introduction to molding the uncritical for transition into Obama's and Emanuel's BIG BROTHER projects such as the National Domestic Security Force. George Soros is one of the big players in the global New World Order. He is not a counterweight to the neocon fascists; he is a functionary in the same system. Keep banging on the pots and pans, rather than getting caught up in this cute little distraction of MoveOn.org.
I agree with this sentiment, thanks.
There is nothing in Obama's record to indicate that he ever was a progressive. Obama is an ambitious, power hungry opportunist. He voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act. He supported the bailout. He's a supporter of criminal war in Afghanistan. He has pledged to increase the already obscene "defense" budget and to increase the size of the military. He voted in favor of the FISA amendment. He has never missed an opportunity to vote in favor of funding for the Iraq war--the war that he was supposedly opposed to from the start. He has made it clear that he will support Israel's oppression of the Palestinians.
Perhaps if these people spent more time looking at his record as a senator and less time gushing about his speeches, they wouldn't be so shocked to learn that he is in fact not a progressive but just another member of the Washington establishment.
But shock brings change where often nothing else can.
Kudos to MO! But paleeze... do not focus on party affiliations, ok? We're looking at a Clinton reunion right now, and one with all hawks and no doves. One with unfailing support for the Iraq war, and for outsourcing jobs for corporate profit, and for proudly slaughtering third world peasants. I have come to the point where the Democrats repulse me more than the Republicans do. Most of them should be in prison! They are such blatant hypocrites that it makes me sick. I will continue to withhold judgment on Obama, but it is getting harder every day. I had thought that much of his campaign rhetoric was just that. But he is proving himself to be just another typical politician. Albeit, if he is, then he's also a master of deception. Why hasn't he picked the likes of Nader, Kucinich, Paul, and Feingold? Even Huckabee has more merit than many of those he's chosen to date. And now we have the head of the NY bank of the Federal Reserve as Treasury Secretary. As reflected in the 6% jump on Wall Street- three cheers for the Empire! Let the printing press drum roll begin. Real change? To be sure, re: the sickos that have run the country for the last 8 years. But in relation to the beltway? Paleeze!!! MO and all Americans who want real change MUST keep the pressure on him. And if he fails to at least genuinely attempt to deliver, then it is truly time for a REAL revolution. And not simply sign-holding!
There is no randomness. It is only our ignorance
djprof,
I find myself in agreement with your sentiments:
"And if he fails to at least genuinely attempt to deliver, then it is truly time for a REAL revolution. And not simply sign-holding! - There is no randomness. It is only our ignorance"
Sadly, the predictions and analysis are all in. Barack Obama is going to betray us, the People.
Here's a very convincing article to this effect: LINK
...and that betrayal once enacted and once realized may be the catalyst for change that we are all talking about.
We win, we win, no matter what as long as we stay true to what we believe and mean to act on it no matter who, including Obama, betrays that dream for the betterment of humanity.
Ralph Nader on The Third Clinton Administration at counterpunch.org
"While the liberal intelligentsia was swooning over Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, I counseled “prepare to be disappointed.” His record as a Illinois state and U.S. Senator, together with the many progressive and long overdue courses of action he opposed during his campaign, rendered such a prediction unfortunate but obvious."
Now this same intelligentsia is beginning to howl over Obama’s transition team and early choices to run his Administration. Having defeated Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Primaries, he now is busily installing Bill Clinton’s old guard. Thirty one out of forty seven people that he has named so far for transition or appointments have ties to the Clinton Administration, according to Politico. One Clintonite is quoted in the Washington Post as saying – “This isn’t lightly flavored with Clintons. This is all Clintons, all the time.”
Seems logical that this was the price to put Hillary and her delegates on his side, deals were made and that is the power of the corruption in Washington, who of us who is awake should be surprised, or even fazed in our determination by any of this? It is all to be expected and must be allowed to play out as it will. In the end our alliance to change cannot be shaken.
Yes, it was "all to be expected", but I question the notion of allowing it "to play out as it will". We've watched it all playing out for quite some time now. The Dems did a really stand up job of letting it "play out" the last eight years. When will people understand that this is not our government, neither before Nov. 4, nor after.
perhaps not until we are all starving in the streets.....thus what motivates real change, hunger.