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Barack Obama Accused of Selling Out on Iraq by Picking Hawks to Run His Foreign Policy
Barack Obama has been accused of selling out his promises of change in US foreign policy by putting national security policy in the hands of establishment figures who supported the Iraq war.
Mr Obama has moved quickly in the last 48 hours to get his cabinet team in place, unveiling a raft of heavyweight appointments, in addition to Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State.
CHANGE?
The likelihood that Mr Obama will retain George W Bush's Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, has raised doubts. But his preference for General James Jones, a former NATO commander who backed John McCain, as his National Security Adviser and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, a supporter of the war, to run the Homeland Security department has dismayed many of his earliest supporters.
The likelihood that Mr Obama will retain George W Bush's Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, has reinforced the notion that he will not aggressively pursue the radical withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq over the next 16 months and engagement with rogue states that he has pledged.
Chris Bowers of the influential OpenLeft.com blog complained: "That is, over all, a center-right foreign policy team. I feel incredibly frustrated. Progressives are being entirely left out of Obama's major appointments so far."
Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos site, the in-house talking shop for the anti-war Left, warned that Democrats risk sounding "tone deaf" to the views of "the American electorate that voted in overwhelming numbers for change from the discredited Bush policies."
A spokesman for the President-elect was forced to confirm that Mr Obama holds to his previous views. "His position on Iraq has not changed and will not change."
But the growing disillusionment underlines the fine line Mr Obama must walk between appearing to reach out to former opponents and keeping his grassroot supporters happy.
Mr Obama seems conscious of the need to move fast, to reassure a watching world that he will be ready to hit the ground running on foreign and economic policy.
He will wait until Friday before formally announcing his national security team, but he will on Monday formally unveil his economic team, with New York Federal Reserve bank chairman Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary and the New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson, in the Commerce portfolio.
On Friday night, Mr Obama and his wife Michelle revealed that they will send their two daughters Malia and Sasha to the private Sidwell Friends school in Washington, once attended by Chelsea Clinton.
That announcement ended two weeks of speculation in the capital, where excitement is growing over the arrival of the Obama family in time for the inauguration on Jan 20. City officials now expect four million people to turn out to see history made. Hotels are sold out, house rental prices for the week are rising into five figures and others are buying space for their tents on people's lawns. If every visitor descended simultaneously on the National Mall, each would have just one square foot of space.
But the huge enthusiasm of Obama supporters might dissipate if they believe he is crafting a government more likely to pursue "politics as usual", rather than his often-promised "change we need".
There is growing concern among a new generation of anti-war foreign policy analysts in Washington, many of whom stuck their necks out to support Mr Obama early in the White House race, that they will be frozen out of his administration.
Mrs Clinton is expected to appoint her own top team at the State Department, drawn from more conservative thinkers.
A Democratic foreign policy expert told one Washington website: "They were the ones courageous enough to stand up early against Iraq, which is why many supported Obama in the first place." Their fear, he added, is that they will not now secure the mid-level posts which will enable them to reach the top of the Washington career ladder in future.
Suspicion of Mr Obama's moves has been compounded, for some liberals, by the revelation that Mr Obama has for several months been taking advice from Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser to the first President Bush.
His return to prominence in Washington represents a resurgence of the old school conservative realists, who were largely eclipsed during this Bush administration by the neoconservatives.
They place US national interests above the quest to defend human rights or to spread democracy. Progressives and liberals see Mr Scowcroft's hand in the move to retain Mr Gates, an old friend, at the Pentagon and also in the expected elevation of Gen. Jones.
Others are troubled by an announcement on Friday night that Mr Obama will retain the White House political office, an institution recently associated with George Bush's adviser Karl Rove, who has been blamed for running government as a permanent and highly partisan election campaign.
During the campaign, Mr Obama pledged to end "politics as usual" and the "perpetual campaign".
But a spokesman for the Transition team said: "An Obama White House will be focused on meeting the next challenge, not winning the next election."
166 Comments so far
Show AllHe isnt even in office yet. its ludacris to accuse the man of selling out. These articles are really beginning to get ridiculous....
"He isnt even in office yet. its ludacris to accuse the man of selling out. These articles are really beginning to get ridiculous...."
Not at all. He's now making the choices that will shape the rest of his administration, and all he's picking are a lot of conservative Republicans and DLC righties--the very people who were rejected quite soundly at every level of that long, long election season we finished a few weeks ago.
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Left Hook! The Blog
http://claslib2.tripod.com/pow/
Really?
If you truly believe that Obama is going to take back those cabinet posts once he is in office, and appoint credible choices, please contact me about the beachfront property I am selling in...Kansas, Toto.
"Chris Bowers of the influential OpenLeft.com blog complained: 'That is, over all, a center-right foreign policy team. I feel incredibly frustrated. Progressives are being entirely left out of Obama's major appointments so far.'"
And that's not just in foreign policy. The liberals elected him, and he is systematically locking them out of pretty much everything. It's shameful, and a complete waste of what could have been an important administration.
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Left Hook! The Blog
http://claslib2.tripod.com/pow/
Nothing quite as satisfying as giving the finger to the folks who voted for you, apparently.
"Nothing quite as satisfying as giving the finger to the folks who voted for you, apparently."
That's all you can call what he's been doing, whatever pleasure he can be said to have derived from it. His picks have been almost uniformly wretched, but, even in wheelin'-and-dealin' Washington, offering Hillary Clinton the State Department post seems almost unconscionable. Following it up with a Gates renomination at Defense should probably result in riots.
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Left Hook! The Blog
http://claslib2.tripod.com/pow/
This "keep your enemies closer" thing surpasses the ridiculous.
Conservatives are lousy at governing because they don't believe in government. They are all little dictators in search of a big dictator.
It's looking like Obama is bending over for the oligarchy.
He needs to talk to Senator Gravel about the National Initiative for Democracy.
I voted for Obama. Like so many others, I held my nose but I voted for him on the 2 in a million chance he might actually be something truly different. If he's not, circumstances are such that we'll all know very quickly.
Similarly here, though my vote was a little more hopeful.
I realize that he has a broad base to bring along and must make concessions - he is not merely bending over for the oligarchy. There is much to mend in this country, and I think he knows that it's his job to facilitate that after what the neo-fascists have done.
Is he truly different? Possibly - though, I don't think anyone can predict how soon we'll know. We will find out as he is tested, as Biden predicted.
If he can hold this nation together and repair some of the damage, our votes will not have been in vain.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
You should have voted for someone else. I know I wouldn't want your vote if it required your holding your nose to do so.
Nader's catch phrase: I hate to say i told you so, but I told you so.
I find that no-one who says they hate to say "I told you so," hates to say it. Most just love it!
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Unfortunately, the next four years are going be real eye openers for those starry eyed Kool-Aid Kids. Sad.
"Unfortunately, the next four years are going be real eye openers for those starry eyed Kool-Aid Kids."
There weren't a lot of "starry eyed Kool-Aid Kids" in Obama's camp. I wasn't a part of it, but even I recognized that as a ludicrous caricature. Obama's actions, to date, have been remarkable to even those of us with a much more realistic view of American politics. It's just been blatant slaps in the face of those who elected him, one after another, and he has yet to throw them a single bone of any substance.
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Left Hook! The Blog
http://claslib2.tripod.com/pow/
Yes, but loyal Dem voters love the slaps. They think they are signs of affection. Progressives, like social workers, want to tell them it's wrong, but doing so gets you a verbal tongue lashing.
Abused loyal Dem voters are standing by their man.
-TIA
"Progressives, like social workers, want to tell them it's wrong..."
The real problem is that progressives like to tell everyone they're wrong.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
That is the only hope you have. Your hope that this new President will fail. You are filled with so much hate.
As can be seen from that tiny handful of defenders who are still showing up here, they never understood what was going on to begin with. This thing is much larger than anything which can be addressed through a mere shift in titular office holding. The system itself is fowl beyond all measure, and that can be seen even in the way this story is written. The source says that Obama stands by his earlier stance on Iraq, which was one of redeployment and extension of the war in Afghanistan. But that, of course, doesn't get a mention here. Military industrial media complex indeed.
"As can be seen from that tiny handful of defenders who are still showing up here, they never understood what was going on to begin with."
Will anyone who voted for Obama who doesn't know what's going on please raise your hand?
I see no hands. What I see are people who understand that our choice was narrow and we made the best choice available in a fowl system. I don't like it, but I made the best choice like millions of others.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama may consider delaying a campaign promise - to roll back tax cuts on high-income Americans - as part of his economic recovery strategy, two aides said on Sunday.
But then Obama is making the best choices out of the Likud's selections.
Vote Greens next time - if there is a next time?
Axelrod on Economy: We Have to 'Do Something Big'
Paying off the National Debt would be something big!
The "keep your enemies close" argument works pretty well for me. I live in an area with lots of rattlesnakes and scorpions. When I see them I scoop them up and put them in my house. So far I've only lost my right arm and a couple of toes, and it's difficult falling asleep sometimes, but at least I can keep an eye on them and I know what they're up to.
Interestingly, Obama is revealing himself to be a neo-conservative Manchurian Candidate.
It almost seems that the right's berserk accusations of socialist leanings and terrorist ties were part of a orchestrated media campaign to lull the left into thinking Obama might actually be progressive or at the very least a liberal. The needs to defend Democrats against the right has resulted in the left overlooking once again the Democrats almost complete collaboration in this corporate dominionist game.
If Obama thus turns out to be this Manchurian Candidate, he will be far more dangerous than Bush ever was. He will put a highly charismatic face on the failing American plan to extend its imperial hegemony for another century. His speeches that basically upheld these themes of American exceptionalism and arrogance that whitewashed American colonial history should have been a clear indication of this tendency.
Re: "It almost seems that the right's berserk accusations of socialist leanings and terrorist ties were part of a orchestrated media campaign to lull the left into thinking Obama might actually be progressive or at the very least a liberal."
BINGO! We have a winner. That's about the most cogent (albeit cynical) analysis of the media's role in the election I've seen among several comment threads this past week. You indeed have an eye for the deceit that defines the limits of our bi-winged corporate mono-party. By the time the media had winnowed Kucinich, Gravel and Edwards out of the primary race the People had already lost this election to Wail Street and the Brasshat Brigade.
Yet the one thing that no one has yet commented on regarding this particular article is the fact that the Telegraph UK is a notorious right-wing propaganda outlet in its own right! Thus, the article we are all getting up our righteous rigor mortised arms over is perhaps a mere pratfall; all about some cunning correspondent/creep agitating the Left into making even more mawkish and mundane mistakes.
"No matter how cynical I get, it's hard to keep up." --Lily Tomlin
That Common Dreams could put this article at the head of its main page seems like a sea change in what we saw on CD almost throughout the presidential campaign: a series of postings some of which were critical of Obama, but nearly all of which advocated for his election on a "lesser evil" ground. Obama "fawning" would not be too strong a term for much of this material. With the accumulation of unbroken disappointments in Obama's actions: his selection of a Vice-Presidental running mate, a Chief of Staff, a Secretary of State, economic advisers (Larry Summers along with a slew of other "Chicago school" economists), his active support of the bailout, etc. etc.---can his supporters any longer accuse his detractors as guilty of expecting "perfection" or 100% support of their own views? That "dream" is gone, and those who write for and those who post on CD may hopefully be released from these accusations when they are merely doing a citizen's job of critical examination of the actions of our leaders.
"That "dream" is gone, and those who write for and those who post on CD may hopefully be released from these accusations when they are merely doing a citizen's job of critical examination of the actions of our leaders."
I'm all for "critical" examination. What I'm tired of is cynical examination. It's hard to breathe here at times for the miasma of cynicism.
Cynicism hurts. Let's stop it...please.
P.S. Your dream may be gone - mine isn't.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
I'd love to be educated about the difference between criticism and cynicism, so that I can avoid committing the latter. Cynicism is a common label for those of us who think we are exercising our critical faculties. So please advise, maybe I'll learn something about my communication style.
Criticism is to take into consideration the good and bad and judge accordingly: e.g. "That Common Dreams could put this article at the head of its main page seems like a sea change in what we saw on CD almost throughout the presidential campaign: a series of postings some of which were critical of Obama, but nearly all of which advocated for his election on a "lesser evil" ground."
Cynicism is the belief that none other than your viewpoint is good, and thus, being deeply distrustful of the rest of us who don't share your viewpoint: e.g. "Obama "fawning" would not be too strong a term for much of this material.", "That "dream" is gone...", etc.
Your statements imply that you KNOW the intent of those who don't share your viewpoint, and therefore, anyone who is not critical of Obama is fawning. For many of us, that is simply not true. It is cynical.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Ted,
Re: "Cynicism is the belief that none other than your viewpoint is good..."
Huh? The online Oxford Dictionary give us an either/or:
"1) a person who has little faith in the integrity or sincerity of others. OR 2) a sceptic."
Pardon me for saying so, but I find myself much in agreement with the thinking Left who know we are getting screwed and are therefore "sceptical" about Barack Obama's sincerity in his campaign posturing and pronouncement. Actions speak louder than words and I take no view as to my superiority in the matter. There's plenty of people just like me who are sceptics. And none of us that I can detect suffer from the delusion that any one of us alone is the superior judge of fact.
So, if you'd prefer, use the term sceptic, or even better in my book, let's call Barack Obama's actions what they truly are... a betrayal.
It's important for Common Dreams editors to put this article at the head of its main page. Attempting to bury it as just part of a list reduces its import. I always like to know what we're up against, and even though I feel outrage and deep disappointment, at least I know.
It's the news, folks, and cabinet appointments right now are where it's at.
I'd be more than happy to see Wesley Clark, a Phi Beta Kappa intelligence, and against the Iraq Invasion/Attack,... as Secretary of Defense. He's certainly got the brains, the resume and the experience, but I can dream. However, I think he is now persona non grata for his various anti-big-corporation positions and his is another voice in the wilderness as so many progressive-thinking people/leaders are.
But, as someone already said, and I've said before, let's give Obama a chance and see what he is up to and how he handles this group he has chosen and is still choosing.
Wait and see. We made a choice, and we may find out that once again we had the wool pulled over our eyes big-time ... or not. The bright note is that it just can't be as bad as GW's administration, although I hope and pray I don't have to eat dem wurds ... rhymes with ...
/cm
Ooooh, darn that evidence!
"Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos site, the in-house talking shop for the anti-war Left,"
This is inaccurate. Daily Kos for months has focused on being a 'talking shop' and fund raiser to get more Democrats into office. He repeatedly belittled the efforts of Nader and Cindy Sheehan.
I hope that his eyes open before the next election cycle.
"Mr Obama will retain the White House political office"
locust's law - nobody gives up power voluntarily.
Markos is a pitiful little man who has problems seeing the forest for the trees.
He believes that political action and activism should be contained to sitting behind ones computer and complaining about or analyzing people who actually get out in the streets and refuse to drink the Blue Kool-Aid.
I predict that his influence and the influence of his right-leaning, pro-war blog will diminish as more people come out of their comas and see what Markos has wrought by his silly and thoughtless partisanship.
Ralph Nader is an American hero and has been written about in history and political science books. Ralph Nader will have schools and parks named after him long after Markos Moulitsas has deservedly been forgotten.
Cindy
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to every one striking at the root" HD Thoreau
For the record, I couldn't care less about what Markos says about my "efforts."
Just like I don't care what other partisan shills like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly say about my efforts. They are all just hacks for their respective parties without a shred of intellectual integrity.
Markos praised me when I was speaking out against Bush and the Republicans, but now I am "insane" because I am saying the same things, only against the Democrats and Republicans.
Not only no intellectual integrity, but no intellectual honesty.
Cindy
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to every one striking at the root" HD Thoreau
He can always appoint GW bush as his spiritual advisor and put Dick Cheney in charge of the Enviroment.
PK
I am shocked, I say, shocked!
The Democrats have proven over and over that they listen to their constituents.
Does anyone remember the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney after the Democratic Congress refused to give them and the telecom companies immunity from prosecution for spying on us? And, remember, Obama was going to vote yes on the FISA modernization act, but his supporters went crazy and he changed his vote to reflect the will of the American people!
And does anyone remember when Nancy Pelosi and her Congress refused to fund George Bush's wars and the troops came home to a well-deserved rest and the VA was totally funded? Remember when Congress passed HR 676 which gave us all single-payer health care?
How about when Congress defied the Bush regime and the oil companies by refusing to allow the offshore drilling ban to expire? And Obama's picks for his financial team will insure that the people will be helped with our finances.
Oh yeah, none of this happened did it?
I will take Nader's mantra: I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so!
And my new one: Don't blame me because I warned you and I voted for Cynthia McKinney.
Let's go people! Don't allow this to happen again.
Cindy
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to every one striking at the root" HD Thoreau
Don't blame me because I warned you and I voted for Cynthia McKinney also.
Yea!!!
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to every one striking at the root" HD Thoreau
I had been pleading with those two Lekud senators to stop with the abuse of Arafat and the Palestineans for months before their actions brought down the Twin Towers. I see that they have been punished by being forced to eat plumbs like Homeland Security and Secretary of State. Go figure.
A branch cut off from the adjacent branch must of necessity be cut off from the whole. - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Cindy Sheehan is totally right!
To get our ideal candidates elected, there would have to be a bloody revolution, or one in public opinion.
That's the sad reality and we can't be sure that once our candidates got in they would stay true to our beliefs as they fall under threat of murder, defamation, bribery, coercion or awed into conforming with the Washington conscensus.
http://ni4d.us/
Hello Cindy, it's nice to know that you're well.
I am surprised that most people are shocked by what is evolving here. Obama has shown his true colors a long time ago but it seems no one took a hint. Can a pregnant woman lay claim to virginity!? How is it then that the right-wing leading, neocon-sounding new kid on the block claim to be leftist, liberal or progressive!? He didn't even need to. People have been so swept up by his soaring rhetoric of change and hope that he didn't have to do much more to convince them.
Now that the dust is beginning to settle somewhat and people are rubbing their eyes, what they are going to see will have them stunned into paralysis. The American people(and indeed the World this time) have been duped again. After the tragedy of the 2000 elections and arguably the most significant even in modern history - 9/11 attacks, and then eight years of misery, we are faced with a situation that could potentially be worse: A neocon President under the guise of change and a Democratic label. This new type of coup has been carried out to the T. Get the population to elect someone who vaguely opposes the policies of the Bush Administration but promises change but in fact whose own policies represent nothing even remotely resembling change. So, this overwhelming mandate for change has in fact been an overwhelming mandate to " stay the course " and even build upon the highly unpopular policies of the past eight years. This is a recipe for disaster. Obama is risking alot in order to payback those who have backed him. Perhaps he thinks that Progresives, left-wingers and liberals are nothing more than pacifists. Somehow, I think things will be different this time.
The REAL change will come from the people this time and the result will be a one-term Presidency.
Re: "Can a pregnant woman lay claim to virginity!?"
Well, no, but she can four PR guys to write a New Testament to that effect.
Dear OverLord08
I agree.
I said before the election that whomever won would be a one term president.
I hope to the goddess that I am proven wrong and Obama will usher in the Age of Aquarius, but I don't think I am wrong.
Cindy
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to every one striking at the root" HD Thoreau
"And my new one: Don't blame me because I warned you and I voted for Cynthia McKinney."
I like that. It's only a matter of time before I'll have to use it. Thanks.
I have lived in Spain for over six years.......And, as I saw it, Senator Obama was the only hope between Clinton and McCain.......Yes, Dennis Kucinich would have been my choice but he was marginalized by the Corporate Media just as you and the Tillmon Family were......And, don´t forget the marginalization of the New Jersey Widows especially since it is obvious that World Trade Center #7 was demolished with explosives and nobody has been demanding an "Independent Investigation....
But back to Senator Obama......When I talk to people about his appointments they talk about "Hope" and that nobody could be as bad as George W. Bush.....First, you have to be able to admit that George W was never in charge.
So when the New York Times announces that Hillary Clinton will be the next Secretary of State and then Henry Kissinger chimes in with, "Senator Clinton will be a wonderful choice for Secretary of State."......Wait a second, The Clintons have amassed a personal fortune of over 150 million dollars and Bill´s Foundation has taken in over 500 million dollars......Where did the money come from? Maybe it came from the Chinese thanking him for the missle technology. Maybe it came from Israel thanking him for his help supplying them with atomic weapons. Maybe it came from the ISI of Pakistan thanking him for allowing ISI agents to enter the United States (Remember Sandy Berger stealing documents out of the National archives. "Able Danger Group" was formed during the Clinton Administration.)
No, the New York Times sends messages, "It is time for Donald Rumsfeld to go." That was said just before the 2006 election and was gone right after it.
You mean to tell me that all of this is not about: Oil, Power, Money....
I just learned that Conoco had formed an alliance with Lukoil of Russia who is trying to buy Repsol in Spain.........and guess who one of Conoco´s consultants is?
Richard Armitage, one of the men credited with organizing the Invasion of Iraq...
Thank you Conoco for taking care of Richard.
Look at all the countries and companies that took care of Bill.
As long as the American Media is controlled by the "Think Tanks" and "Corporate America", the American People will be continually misinformed and misled. Whatever "False Flag Event" they have planned for the United States, will just give them the incentive to continue with their "Project for a New American Century" and a couple of Obama´s advisers supports "That Group".
I just had "Hope" !!!!!!!!
If McCain had won, I was seriously thinking about moving to an island off Spain.
Cindy,
I love you and sent you money, and if I could have voted for you, I would have.
Please, I'm begging you - don't lead the "don't blame me" cheer. It is divisive and destructive, and yes, cynical.
Obama is not Nader, but Nader is not the president, and neither is McCain. I will take Obama as he is and I will try to do what I can to improve things, as you are. However, I will not join the "told you so" brigade and split the Left further than it already is. The problems facing our country and our world are far greater than simple ideological schisms - they will require all of us. We ignore this at our peril!
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Dear Ted
Thank you for your love and support.
I don't mean to sound "cynical" as you put it, but I have worked intimately in politics since my son was killed. Not as long as most people, but most people have not worked as intensely as I.
I am sorry, but Obama is just another tool of the corporate-military Empire as Bush was. I am sorry for so many reasons.
I hope there will be people who also refuse to be coma-tized by empty rhetoric delivered with oratorical skill. We need to be here to pick up the pieces and organize for true change.
xo
Cindy
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to every one striking at the root" HD Thoreau
Cindy,
I couldn't agree more that the corporate-military Empire is in control. It has been for a long time and Obama is not going to change that.
What I am asking as that we stop splitting ourselves into further divisions. The Left has been pummeled for too long. Unfortunately, we tend to pummel ourselves as badly as others pummel us. I am asking that we stop doing that and realize that the political system is broken, then work together to fix it.
I am deeply sorry about your son's death. A cousin of mine was killed in Iraq about six months ago. While I am not trying to equate the two, I am trying to show that events touch us all.
By all means, let's hold Obama's feet to the fire and "strike at the root." Let's just make sure we don't hack down the whole forest for the sick tree. We need to come together and work with each other. The Left will always be marginal players as long as we keep withholding our support from anything but the perfect situations. That will never happen. We must take the best that's offered and work to improve that.
Best,
Ted
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Ted,
"The Left will always be marginal players as long as we keep withholding our support from anything but the perfect situations. That will never happen. We must take the best that's offered and work to improve that."
The Left will always be marginal players as long as we keep GIVING our support to corporate candidates. As far as taking "the best that's offered", offered by whom? The MSM? The Dems? We failed to nominate the best the Dems had to offer. As for coming together, for you that seems to mean those of us who reject Obama's politics should cease our objections and "come together" with your position. Why not cease your defense of Obama's politics and "come together" with ours? I don't think anyone disagrees with the concept of "coming together", the discussion is about what we should come together around.
Hi Cindy,
You may not recognize the name, but we met at the Truth With Consequences Conferenece in Santa Cruz last January. I was a huge fan of your SF campaign, though I did give up my California Green Party/SF registration when I moved to Bend a decade ago.
I like what you are writing here. As far as I'm concerned the Democratic Party has been effectively seized by the corporations. I've tried to work inside the party for the past 7 years and it is looking bleaker than ever to a New Left radical like me. The FDR coalition is dead and gone. All that's left of the Democratic Party is a shell corporation name and a mindless murder of fundraising crows.
Ray Duray, Bend, OR