Tom Daschle is a good choice for HHS. He authored a book slamming the health-care industry in America and the insurance companies in particular. A good man on point for health-care reform.

You've got to love the boldness of this statement in the article:

"But we do hope that before it's all over we can get at least one authentic progressive appointment," said Tim Carpenter, national director of the Progressive Democrats of America."

Wow, such big dreams, Tim. Where do I sign up for the PDA? You've really inspired me.

Get off your knees, Democrats. Barack is the monster you all helped to create. The writing is on the wall, and you've got the George Bush III administration in the making.

Here's another monstrous quote from the article:

"On Iraq, he [Obama] says he's just trying to make sure any U.S. pullout doesn't ignite 'any resurgence of terrorism in Iraq that could threaten our interests.'"

Good god. Terrorism in Iraq that's threatening "our interests"? Why that's George Bush II's kind of talk. And it's nonsense, too.

Wake up, Dems! You've elected a neoconservative. And don't just sit there with that hopeful grin on your face. Get out there, and take the pitchfork and staves too. Ignore those who say wait. You've waited eight fricking years to be f**ked over again. Don't be a sheep. Start scribbling away to the Obama campaign right now. And I hope to see you all in the streets real soon.

-TIA

one thing is clear, if people can see through the "bigness" of america ....the USA is now, by historical terms, economic terms, definable as a FAILED STATE. it probably has been for some time now...except that the effects have not yet been so SEVERE as to literally cause people to know fear for their futures much more than they already are...americans are concerned about JOBS...but that is only the beginning.

the more obama or leadership tack to what THEY call "the center" (which is really a "gentle" way of selling RIGHTWING) -- the more the morass will increase and spread to the point that one day people will never be able to get out of it, as the country descends into a fullblown fascist state that is really corrupt, FEAR laden, and even brutal.

whatever the merits are of Democracy -- democracy in the USA has descended into a quasi- fascist display of ":election time" theatre run by corporatism helped by state institutions that , in reality, work hand in hand , in order to keep people subjugated and "in their place"..no matter how americans think it is "our country". they are OWNED by their masters.

and the leaders that are doing "what they can" to bail out organizations and industries - are only going to fail because the entire foundation - the idolatry of the "free market" on which the masters depend, is ITSELF a failure despite its "prosperous" PHASES .

it really should be looked at from the other side:

the "prosperous" times in america (albeit it has allowed it to be gigantic in its power) are really the ABERRATIONS -- the REAL PATTERN is that of CRISES UPON CRISES -- which , in every turn, brings out an INCREASING GAP of wealth and power between the masters and people.

they are trying to salvage something -- the "free market" capitalist ideology, even so far as nationalizing (although they won't SAY IT OUT, goodness, no-- people might notice the ones that REALLY get saved are the RULING CLASS ANYWAY with a few tokens thrown to the workers to pacify them for the moment and pretend a solution was made) -- that is UNSALVAGEABLE even as it careens the planet towards unimagined crisis we have not seen yet.

THIS -- i lay down COMPLETELY on the feet of capitalism.

the USA today is already a Failed State. it can't survive as a democracy or even as a "Number one" nation....more than 20 years, imo. even ten is probably closer ..and the reason is, the "govern from the center" is the kind of governing that HAS LED to the RIGHTWING morass that brought all this about...as well as already a kind of governing that is TOO LATE by at least 2 decades.

--------i hope i am wrong and that better times are coming with obama and a renewale of vision and hope and GOODNESS from americans and that the country has not yet been SO CORRUPTED as it seems to be.

but i can't help that nagging feeling , a very uneasy feeling of how things are moving....it's like the writing on the wall...

many years ago ...BEFORE the 2000 florida debacle that crowned George Bush - - i was telling friends of mine who laughed at me:

i told them - i don't know much - but from what i observe...this bush is UP TO NO GOOD. he WANTS WAR in some way ..and he is a man who is only waiting for a justification , something BIG enough to make himself a "hero"...and i told them, imo, that lies will be told, groups of people behind the scene will become better known who are behind wars, illegalities, etc....and LO and Behold -- when 9/11 happened, tragically so, even as i was crying for the people that perished and suffered...i never forgot that THAT was what george bush and his ilk were WAITING FOR...and i also told them , "that wall street that is so wonderful? ....that's just a bunch of criminals and thieves with fancy resumes who make things up ...make up wealth that is PHANTOM VALUE...and that's really worth LESS than half what they claim....one day that will implode and collapse like you havene't seen yet...and its effects will be global..." EXACTLY as we are seeing with the collapse of wall street and now its WAVES of DESTRUCTION spreading outwards..and they kept laughing because i supposedly didn't know a thing about economics, blah, blah, blah.

----------

well -- i was right -- i hope i am WRONG about the next coming years. but i don't see anything DIFFERENT in essence. the Careening cartwhile is crazily driving straight to the cliff , just the same......by Governing "from the center"....as they ALWAYS claimed. ..while maintaing and increasing the power of a system that is inherently PREDATORY.

sooner or later it will eat itself UP. that's what the United States of America really has become. a PREDATOR STATE. and it is a failed state because there is NO freakin' way other regions will allow it to go on forever like that, being predatory UPON THEM - so that eventually the USA will have to CONSUME ITSELF, unless it changes right down to its core from what it has followed all these generations:

the Rightward capitalist state that really belongs to the age of dinosaurs.

Any chance that in appointing these criminally war minded folk, he is only "keeping his enemies close"?

faint hope, clutching straw etc

Sophie Scholl-The Final Days

White House Doggerel (in search of many more stanzas):

Obama's drama's wearing thin,
despite the birthday suit he's in.
And really he deserves much worse
than to be ridiculed in verse.

With the arrest of Barky's bud Blagojevich -- who should be singing by about noon tomorrow -- and the overdue disenchantment of such media masters as former shill-in-chief Frank Rich, maybe we can be spared the inauguration of The One? Here's hoping.

As for Blagojevich: if it was okay for mob-friendly Obama to buy the nomination of the formerly-Democratic Party (and the presidency along with it), isn't it okay for Blagojevich to sell one Senate seat?

Where are those who told us with such ferocity in these forums: it's not what Obama does that's important, it's what he says? Remember them? They didn't care about Obama's voting record in the Senate, they only cared that he made them feel good with his campaign speeches.

I told them that Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush also got elected because they made people feel good. It's called "marketing," and consumer products are sold every day using the same techniques.

Now their good feeling is being replaced with a sick-to-your-stomach feeling.

Maybe next time voters will realize that actions are more important than words, and record is more important than rhetoric.

Obama's 'transition' to stability is no change we can believe in.

Left Out?; Obama's Plan Unveiled?

The 'left' is out of any chance of influencing policy from the looks of the transition team's cabinet choices so far, and unfortunately it is in portions of the left that we have the only perspective on 'only priced goods have value' and such. We who breath might keep perspective on that, air being free and all. Metered air with a choice of vendors would not improve distribution, nor life in general. Free-Marketism is as foolish a religion as any other.

The foxes of deregulation are being put in charge of the financial henhouse. Wasn't Larry Summers at the World Bank when the worst restructuring re-bankrupt so many developing countries, forcing them to part with their raw materials at firesale prices? How can a guy ironically sign a memo suggesting that the developing countries are under-polluted, and that illness and death there would be less costly because of low wages, without some perspective on the limits of markets in assessing personal worth and environmental capital, and thus in guiding policy?

My only hope is that the phrase 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer' is guiding the Obama team, and that 'you break it, you own it' is being applied to the financial realm now; that those most responsible for this situation will be taught, in place, to fix what they have wrought. I only wish there were grounds for this hope being real.

Now Nader has to call for Carter not to be snubbed again, and the USA is spending good public money after bad, corporate losses; and not for corporate ownership and control but for naught.

Isn't the Obama team's call, that we can not lay blame for the financial mess, just a call to surrender the intellect, which is not liberation, but its opposite?

Impeach Obama. You heard it here first. Laugh if you must at the thought of impeachment before a swearing in, but its never too early to start to replace an impostor with the real thing. 'Run Left, Govern Right' is not what I voted for.

Howard Zinn, Ralph Nader, Amory Lovins, Robert Reich, Norman Solomon, and Hazel Henderson should be in that cabinet. I should have voted for Nader. (Here in Mass. it wouldn't have mattered anyway.) Where's Henry George when you need him?

Humph,

Brian Cady

Obama still has Commerce, Energy and Interior I think. I am hopeful. He has 42 days before taking office. A bit soon to keel-haul him. He was elected to lead all of America, sadly this includes a hundred million or so tobacco chewing deer shooting Chevrolet Pick-Up driving rednecks and their wives and children. And he is their president. However he is a decent man. And this will be evidenced, but not before he has had maybe a year in office. Obama is wading into quick-sand.
Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq and Israel-Palestine. Those are the areas of course where he could show us, the world and God his heart.

Saneliberal. Someone and their cousin declare themselves as a entity like " Democrats for Progress" and we're supposed to read their opinion as if it MATTERS! I have never heard of the sources you quote as unhappy with Obama already - Progressive Democrats of America, OpenLeft Blogger, Campaign for America's Future - and see no reason to believe that 1) they speak for anyone other than themselves, and 2) that they completed high school. I do care what noted progressives in major media are saying and they are keeping their powder dry. Just cause you gave yourself a self-important name doesn't mean I should consider you important.

No surprises here.

As a candidate, Obama defined and separated himself from his challengers by highlighting his opposition to the war in Iraq from the start.
----------------------
That's not what I recall.

I recall Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel (at the early Democratic debates before they were censored by NBC and AARP) pointing out repeatedly that both Obama and Hillary have voted to fund the Iraq occupation to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.

If that makes you anti-war then your logic must be very flawed.

I also recall Obama being invited to debate Ralph Nader at the "Third Party Debate" and not showing up.

The only "separation" Obama had on the issue of the Iraq war was in measurable physical distance from the candidates who actually opposed the war.

The inexperienced fighter thinks the fight is about "blows".

The experienced fighter knows the fight is won or lost before the first blow is thrown.

I still think Obama may surprise many - he's being handed the largest flaming bag of crap since FDR - I agree completely that "The problem is a military imperialistic government . . . over consumption . . . . and . . the corporate elite"; but I'm NOT going to write off Obama because he's not doing what you and other "progressives" would do in his place. He may be smarter than you. Then again, he may be a total shill for the "corporate elite" and be smarter than me (not that hard). But if I wanted to get a firm hold on this "military imperialist government" to then turn it in an increasingly progressive direction, WHILE it's a flaming bag of crap, Obama's choices so far make sense. The President's cabinet serve at the pleasure of the President. He can fire and hire any time he likes.

Also, interesting that some suggest that even though his staff appointees represent the status quo, it is Obama's policies that will be implemented. At the same time Obama is back-peddling on his policies.

It was a sure fire thing that this is what we would get with Clinton. Folks supported Obama because there was a greater possibility that he would present an alternative, but even now he parses what the real definition of "change" is. What a dissapointment he is...Do you think he sees the writing on the wall?

To hell with Obama. The most important struggle in the country is what 250 workers at Republic Doors in Chicago are doing. They're declaring to the labor movement as a whole that it's time to stand with the independent energy of labor, or be bowled over by it. You can damn well bet Obama and every other hack politico will endorse it. They'd better. This is what pressure really is. The working class says to the United States, move it or lose it. Shut it down. Shut it down. Shut it down. Shut it down. Shut it down.

Of course he's a lying corporative scumbag. Upon what evidence did you expect anything different???

I'm not impressed by Juan Cole's words, and from what I recall he did some war drumming during the run-up politics to the launch of the war on Iraq in March 2003; even if he didn't only write in these terms, I still found that he sometimes did, and that's not tolerable, IMO. The way he did that war drumming, as I saw it, was in his flames about or against Saddam Hussein and it was definitely NOT an appropriate time to be attacking the Iraqi President in such manners when the U.S. elites were threatening to conduct and then launched war of totally criminal aggression against [all] of Iraq; except for the Kurds in the north, given they, their political leadership in that region of Iraq, that is, were strongly with the U.S. and have been throughout all of this war, so far, or most of it.

And I don't really care much for what David Corn thinks, and don't particularly know enough of Frank Rich's writings to be able to say more than I've sometimes agreed with him, as I've sometimes agreed with also Corn, Cole, and others.

BUT that's okay, for what we need to do is to seek information in order to be better informed so that we can then, ourselves, more competently think and make decisions, again, for ourselves, on our own; after becoming adequately informed. We mustn't let others make up our minds, but seeking information, qualitative analysis, ... so that we are then well informed is necessary. I appreciate people expressing their views, emotions, ..., like passion for victims of oppression, etcetera; but what I need to really make decisions is [information]. I'm also emotional, but have to think with the head, the mind, instead of letting others lead me as if I'm blind.

I agree with Tarsini, though only in theory, wherein he says that people upset about how Obama's proceding are perhaps being a little too hasty. In theory, he's right, for we all know Obama has not taken seat in the Presidential office yet. But that's the theoretical, whereas the reality-based, practical ... is different; starkly different. We mustn't allow theoretically valid views obstruct our vision when realities make those views theoretical, only. F.e., carefully read the following article, and I also read some of the resources referred to in this piece; and those are also recommended.

"Kosovo: A European Narco State",
by Tom Burghardt, Antifascist Calling blog, Dec 7 2008

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11323

The title of that important article may seem a little unrelated to this CD page, but is not.

The U.S. president does NOT rule. I do not trust Obama, never did, only thought he said spoke better in some respects than Bush, McCain, and Billary did, but only momentarily, for he mostly spoke in terms and in tone that told me to NOT trust him; my streets instincts considerably guiding me, let's say. Zbigniew Brzezinski will surely be seriously influential on Obama's team of foreign policy "advisers" or assistant directors, and he's spoken well against Israel's threats to strike Iran recently, but he's also author of the "The Grand Chessboard: ..." in which he strongly emphasizes the need to ... basically ... conquer Asia for its natural resources, minimally the vast amount of energy resources there; having also played a key role in causing Russia to invade Afghanistan, for Russia's a U.S. elites' target in that region of Earth. After all, it was a superpower and he definitely knew this, as also did others.

Obama's cabinet, the foreign policy team, is surely like some critical thinkers have been writing and that is that they are of the Iraq Study Group faction, the ISG headed by James Baker, of the GHW Bush faction, which was quite definitely against striking Iran, and which emphasized focus on Iraq's energy resources; Dahr Jamail having done an interview on the ISG's report and finding around 63 specific references to the "need" to secure Iraq's oil resources for ... for ... the West's Big Oil cies and related elites.

The two factions, neocons, the "crazies", vs the GHW Bush faction, often called that anyway, both have goals to be achieved only through wars, for it's the only way the goals can be achieved. It's that they work in different ways; but while both work in extremely criminal, hegemonic, deceitful, ... ways.

The U.S. President is NOT going to be the real decision maker.

Obama has indicated that he MAY (rather than WILL) revoke Bush’s ban on stem cell research; which not only deprived hope from thousands of victims with incurable or terminal disorders, but also defied the will of the majorities of the populace and congress.

In view of urgent needs to reverse the immeasurable destruction from so many of Bush’s unprecedented environmental and social abuses, such ambiguity is not a good sign and cannot be tolerated. Obama was propelled to the presidency because of the gravity of these abuses--and his promises to nullify them. He must be made to understand that his voters will rebel against him if this is a prelude to his mode of operation.

Missing Cindy Sheehan? Commondreams doesn't publish her anymore, but here she is: www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21406.htm. Much better site.

A lot of commenters are missing, too, all critics of the Democratic Party. Are they banned?

I don't usually bother with sites that are nothing but shills for the Democrats, so I'm going to go away, too, for the time being. It's been nice, but this site is just too conservative for me.

Oregoncharles

Time for some practical steps, rather than mere p*ssing-and-moaning:

1. Progressives have to show the Democratic establishment that they WILL walk if Obama fails to show more willingness to listen to their concerns. One way that they can do that is to start switching their party registrations - preferably to the GREEN PARTY, but at least to Independent.

2. They should also make it clear that they won't be sending any MONEY to the Democratic Party unless they have a clear place at the table.

3. If he's not naming progressives to meaningful policy positions, Obama should at the very minimum be meeting with progressive leaders. Here's a petition to encourage him to start doing just that, namely by meeting with Ralph Nader:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/obama-meet-w-nader.html

Welcome to the real world. Your democracy is an illusion, you can only vote for those who have sold their souls to the ruling elite who control the money and media and determine who are the nominees and ultimate winners. Kind of like Irans democracy where the Supreme Leader approves who can run for President.

Nothing will change. I've been a fan of the progressive movement due to their sense of justice, peace, and equility of opprotunity. But I've always felt that there is something wrong with the foundation of our society.

The foundation of our economy is broken, has been for a long time. The problem is the banking system and, specifically, the tool that runs it, the federal reserve.

I lost all faith in Obama when he ran right back to Washington to bail out the banks.

I'm actually tired of explaining why the way money is created is at the root of most of the economic problems in our country, and the world. I'm tired of being called a right wing nutjob by socialists because I agree with the libertarians on the issue of banking and the federal reserve. Socialists and progressives have attacked "unregulated free market" capitalism when they don't realize it was never a free market, it was crony capitalism with the financial establishment determining who gets what. Stop calling me a right wing nut job because I voted for Ron Paul... I voted for him because he made the most sense economically and he was for ending our empire, the two most important issues in my opinion.

You progressives need to wake up to the federal reserve issue. It is the foundation of the problems we face. With Obama nothing will change. Just like Clinton, it will actually get worse.

Call my economics crazy, but we can't afford this crap. During Obama's first term we will wake up one day to the collapse of the dollar. Then we will find out what it's really like to live in hard times. I'm ranting. I give up. I'm moving to grenada.

Yah, well, the programs are going to cost a lot. And the 'conomy-- she no good. So what to do? Print unlimited money? Or cut major expenses?

Can't cut major expenses because they're too important? How about the stupid ones then-- the ones that offer no way to go forward or achieve anything in the world ever?

And will all the allegedly brilliant people just elected or appointed prove just as stupid as the incompetent louts who preceded them? Yes indeed if they don't, with urgency, eliminate the major programs that truly thinking persons everywhere know without any doubt whatsoever are STUPID and HYPER-STUPID!

Eliminate (A)the Iraqi expense and (B)the Afghan expense; and (C)start paying some American expenses.

Never complain tomorrow when you can complain today.

No, seriously, I find the just-wait-and-see attitude far more troubling than present criticism. Certainly, no one can say with 100% surety that Obama and his administration will or will not do something, so all so-called complaints are not equal, but they are all part of a process.

I found Obama's remarks on introducing his "security team", for example, a gross and almost troglodytic example of U.S. exceptionalism fantasy, playing to the infantile nostalgia that keeps the murderous machine going. Who the hell is anyone to tell me to ignore it; and, more to the point, why would any "progressive" in his or her right mind ignore it? He didn't *have* to say it. Huge swaths of blatant but untouchable reality follow Obama around (among some people) like an invisibility shield.

Also, I don't buy the thing that Obama had to chose some the architects of the economic debacle as the team to address it. I do believe, however, that the economic mess will be the an all-purpose excuse to put our concerns on the back burner for a few years. I will be happy to be proven wrong, of course.

But even if I'm entirely wrong about Obama and he turns out to be a brilliant progressive playing his cards close to the chest, we still should be writing and speaking our concerns. We have a role, too...an important role. Obama is not the whole shebang.

Some of these comments remind me of me 35 years ago (I'm now 66). Marched against the Vietnam war. Embraced the term, "feminist." Shed my bra for a while. I don't regret any of it and, given the times, would do it again. But, I also saw the world in black and white; lots of idealism, little realism.

If Obama were inhereting the world, especially economically speaking, that Clinton left us in 2000, I would agree with much of the complaining. But he's not. We are faced with a catastrophic financial meltdown--which has already stolen at least half my retirement income--and 2 wars. If Obama doesn't stop AND reverse the economic bleeding in the US (and increasingly in Canada and elsewhere) it really doesn't matter how "progressive" his appointments are, or aren't.

The questions we should be raising and the markers we should be establishing are these: Will the new administration begin to impose the same standards on Wall Street that Congress is about to impose on the "Detroit 3"? Will Labour Union bashing stop? Is public policy aimed at benefitting the middle class and poor? Will the HMOs and insurance companies be allowed to hijack health care reform or will Obama and co. stare them down? Indeed, will health care policy be deferred because "there are more pressing issues"? THAT will be a HUGE red flag.

Also important: listed to the LANGUAGE that is being used, first by Obama, but also by his administration and staff. Language reflects attitudes, and attitudes shape public policy.

Get real and get your priorities straight--or at least understand what the priorities of the next president MUST be if we are to survive and our grandchildren are to thrive.

James A. Swanson, Los Altos, CA
www.bushleagueofnations.com [for FREE download of entire book]

We must keep our friends close, our enemy closer, and our Democratic leaders closest.

I want to trust Obama, but I’m alarmed he has appointed so many business-as-usual politicians. Time will tell if he has the strength and will to withstand their toxic influence.

Also, Big Media, Big Oil, Big Insurance, Big Pharma and the Military Industrial Complex—and their lobbyists—have not left town.

Obama’s pick of Army General Eric Shinseki to head the Department of Veterans Affairs is his only pick that I am completely enthusiastic about.

Progressive transformation of America must be driven from the grassroots up, not from the “top down” by centrist career politicians.

Electing Obama was the easy part. The tough work begins today, and again tomorrow, and again each day thereafter.

We must stay engaged, take names, kick butt, and never give up. Let’s redouble our efforts.

We know what to expect from GOP Neanderthals in Congress. They are thus “reliable.” As for our Democratic leaders in the White House and Congress, we trust them at our peril.

Yes, we must keep our friends close, our enemy closer, and our Democratic leaders closest.

Jim Swanson, Los Altos, CA
www.bushleagueofnations.com [for FREE download of entire book]

I continue to be surprised about assertions that President Elect Obama has, since the election, “hedged his call for a quick drawdown in Iraq” as stated in the article above. What I gather about his intentions today hardly differs from my understanding of his thinking when I reviewed his website during the primaries. And, early in the year, Samantha Power frequently outlined the campaign’s thinking on the matter at events while she was promoting her book "Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World."

At the time, Ms. Power had been working for a year as part of a large, impressive team looking in great detail at the complexities and implications of Iraq policy options. What stood out then, and what I see little written about today, is the depth, thoughtfulness, and compassion implicit in the policy plans. The question of people’s dignity and humanity was explicitly a driving principle in the equation, whether on engaging various religious and political factions or dealing with the issue of refugees. Such principled thinking has clearly shaped policy, including steps and resources to improve the health crisis and a viable humanitarian action plan for resettling the more than five million Iraqis who are displaced or refugees.

I believe that a lack of depth in framing these policy debates plays into our tendency to see issues through a simplistic either/or view—or vice verse—and puts us in an oppositional relationship with natural allies (as reflected in many of the comments here). I hope for a more nuanced conversation (and certainly less gloating and I-told-you-so's) that would allow us to learn from one another and collaborate to fulfill the visions we share. Ghandi's oft-referenced quote to "be the change you wish to see" is neither naive nor trite—it is a practical truth that is worth living by.

PS - I’d like to say that I find the “Aikido” martial art analogy offered by SuBastion as a spot-on description of what we are watching as the transition unfolds. Likewise for copperiverkid’s notion that Senator Obama holds a “Creole” sensibility and worldview, one very suited to the world we live in and that includes the blend of heart and savvy that informed the successful Freedom and Civil Rights struggles in this country.

We progressives can be such whiners! We're not content to topple the Republican machine - we want to have a presidential cabinet made up of Susan Sarandon, Barbra Streisand and Michael Moore. Barack is appointing people with the experience he lacks who can advise him and make it possible for him to create an exceptional administration. We don't have time for flower garlands and bongs in the White House - we need to get the economy under control. Barack talked about a lot of things in the many months BEFORE our economy collapsed - has it dawned on any of you that the priorities have to change due to the present emergency? I AM concerned about dragging our feet in getting out of Iraq - but give the man a chance, for God's sake! He hasn't even taken office yet! He's not a Karl Rove tool! Get a grip, people!

As to Obama being a better president than Bush, heck, someone picked at random out of the phone book would likely be a better president than Bush. It is hard to conceive of anyone being worse than Bush.

What we would like to really see though is a president that would care more than the average about health care, the environment, non-polluting energy, jobs, the current shooting wars and, last but not least, the class war that is being waged by the uber rich against everyone else.

Signed: Lawlessone [for more irreverence, see resistence-is-possible.blogspot.com]

Maybe once Obama got a serious look, behind the scenes, of the shattered economy, the failed occupations, the tattered military, and a bankrupt treasury, he freaked. "Help me Hillory! what do I do now". "Bobby Gates, stay please, I don't know what to do!?" "Bill, who do you recommend for the economic mess?". He spoke of a new vision for America, then shit his pants and ran for mommy.

Instead of having the balls to truly chart a new course, he has so far chosen the same navigators and crew that helped steer the ship strait into the shoals in the first place. I doubt they have a clear way out. They are blinded by the ways of old. Progressives will just have to wait, and rebuild after the wreckage.

Good comments. A tide of skepticism grows. To be honest, I haven't been the only one who's held back on criticizing Obama because I was scared of a McCain victory. With Obama's true colors unfurling, it's clear he lied. The only question is whether or not he can accomplish some of what he'd said he'd do.

Obama's effectiveness in Washington will be a bigger determinant of his success than his scorecard with progressives. To get change accomplished, it'll take the cooperation of the DC bureaucracy as well as progressives. In this regard we can't abandon him now, much less before he's even taken office.

I talked about Obama's use of compromise and reconciliation, two tools that Bush ritually ignored, in my most recent article on OpEdNews, "Road to Change goes through Washington."

Obama can't change anything by himself, so his election is just a first step. Don't let inconsistencies undermine support for change, or get apathetic about the changes that lie ahead. We need to stay informed and participate.

One thing no one is talking about is that McCain did receive +45% of the popular vote... Our country has been born and raised to be the way they are. The government can only do what we put up with, but we put up with a whole lot:

"Find out what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong that will be imposed on them."
--Frederick Douglass

The Christian Right has huge sway in this country and the Republicans have that behind them. Obama is nowhere near perfect, and I am content to wait and see what comes of his time. We progressives are not only too few in this country, but too fragmented. McKinney and Nader... think logically and you will understand that divided the left has no power, and united we still have very little power.

This recession will keep getting worse until the working man sees his savings disappear, his health insurance vanish, and his wages evaporate. Then real change will come. Obama is the establishments attempt to quell the people with thoughts of hope when this recession becomes a full-blown depression. Until mass protests fill the streets, the only thing we can hope for is that Obama remembers where he came from and does the right thing for us all.

"On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal," he went on. "First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have [reined] in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government."
--Andrew Lahde

Zionists and 'decorated' military men - they can all work for Blackwater after #44 is finished.

Give the guy a chance. What are you doing to help Obama ? Change is coming from the bottom up in Appalachia I can assure you! http://www.wisecountyissues.com

They say time changes things, but actually you have to change them yourself -Andy Warhol

In places like Canada voters are allowed to choose a candidate from five different political parties. We on the other hand are quite restricted and are only allowed two choices --- two sides of the same coin. That's not much of a choice/representation.

Ten days ago I published on my weblog a piece called "Obama Apologetics: from Lesser Evil to Give the Guy a Chance." http://sunstateactivist.org/ssablog/?p=101 My point there was that the lesser evil fallacy used by progressives to justify an "un-progressive" voting choice was being replaced by apologists' anger at progressives for pre-maturely criticizing Obama before he had even had a single day in office for them to criticize. Reading through the posts here, it's obvious that "lesser evilism" (you think Obama is bad? What if you were getting McCain and Palin?) is still alive and "well" although apologists are beginning to line up under the fallback banner of Obama-just-really-needs-a-chance. (He's a poker player who has some progressive cards he hasn't yet revealed etc, etc.)

Choosing a president is like betting on a horse.

Why do we need a president or any other politician when we can have direct online democracy by referendum?

A referendum would end bailouts. Who would be against that?

Now that the danger of a McCain/Palin reign is past there's nothing wrong with doing whatever is necessary to try to turn the Obama administration in a more progressive direction.

To the third-party supporters who want to say I told you so - feel free. But try to remember that the alternative was never your candidate. The alternative was McCain.

Even Zinn and Chomsky didn't want that.

We've got our first black President-elect, let's do what we can to steer him left. As Jim Hightower wrote, "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos."

The Bush junta ultimately defeated itself precisely because every official was given a litmus test to determine how loyal they would be to the ideology & to the chief executives when they would come into conflict with the citizenry & the Bill of Rights.

One of the most fundmaental changes being implemented is the abolition of that practice. Everyone always mentions Summers & Gaithner among the major appointments, but those of Christina Romer and Melody Barnes, made at the same time, are largely passed over. Obama is not drawing from a single stacked deck, and unlike both Bush and Clinton, has is not one who is going to be passing off authority to subordinates & advisors.

"Aides say he backed off the windfall profits tax because oil prices have dropped below $80 a barrel. Obama also defended hedging on the Bush tax cuts."

So if a windfall profits tax is passed now, no one gets hurt. And when oil goes unnecessarily high because of speculation, the tax will work to soften the damage to the working guy.

But, you must know by now that Mr. Obama is as war hawk and corporate shill who has made suckers out of all the progressives.

The real "left" has had any illusions about Obama... ever.
Progressives, PDA , forever support the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party is fully controlled by the corporate and capitalist elite. That is, full support of the Project for the New American Century. That is unending wars, unending support for tax breaks for the wealthy, destruction of living standards for working people. etc. ad nauseum.

The delusions of the "Progressives" forever perpetrate the rule of corporate capitalist interests to loot the economy, the government and the people to forever maximize their wealth and profit.

Delusions of Progressives:
1. It is delusional o run single individual (Nader, Obama, Kucinich,etc.) to reform an entire corrupt system of economics and politics based on maintaining bankrupt capitalism. Now it must be considered "insane" as it has been tried several times now, and each time this PDA agenda FAILS TO BRING ABOUT CHANGE.
A political party independent of the Democrats, corporate control, that involves a labor movement free of "business partner" ideology is essential.

2. The capitalist economy cannot be "reformed". Vast profits are reaped from war, from polluting the planet, for maintaining total control of mass media.
The corruption of the food supply, destruction of the health care and educational systems, destruction of essential public services will continue under corporate capitalism.

The "Left" is anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-global warming, and for a socialist economic system the fills the survival needs of the vast majority of humanity - working people - and not the few billionaires.

FYI read http://www.wsws.org

All this was so incredibly predictable.

Z-zzzzzzzz

DAMN! The VERY same people who kept telling me and like-minded progressives to shut up, quit dreaming pipe dreams, get on the bandwagon, etc. are now beginning to see the light! Well, too little too late.

And to copperiverkid and hamson et.al. who bitch about any negativity uttered in the same sentence with Saint Obama's name, I'd like to point out that your (D) party talking point has morphed from "do you really wanna see McCain/Palin in office?" to "Can't you at least wait until the man is in office?" with an occasional "Wait and see. He's just holding his cards close to his chest cuz he's a good poker player." I can see it now: Obama's last day in office and you'll be spouting: "Well, he tried, but yadda yadda yadda. And now, in 2016, with this being the most important election in our lifetime, is NOT the time to be playing wishful thinking with 3d or 4th party candidates or "fringe" candidates like Kucinich." Just the same old tired DNC-written refrain.

I'm thinking of starting a 12-step group for recovering Democrats, except I happen to believe 12-step groups are just as much a cult as any church (and that includes the (D) party); but trust me, folks. There IS life after the DNC. Try a (D)-free life. You'll like it. Just say "No."

"no gods, no masters" --m. sanger

Anybody who does prison reform or death penalty abolition work in Arizona can tell you about Homeland Security appointee Janet Napolitano. Although infinitely more responsible than the parade of mental and moral defectives who have held gubernatorial office in our fair state, she nevertheless presides over one of the most brutal and entrenched prison systems in the country. As a former prosecutor she is an enthusiastic supporter of the death penalty. Her colleagues have been investigated for illegal and aggressive prosecutions which have railroaded suspects onto death row. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, another popular native son, outright tortures and kills people in Maricopa County (Harpers 2001 article titled The Toughest Sheriff in America). From the high profile police presence one notices driving into the state from any direction to the surreal paranoia of our militarized southern border, where a menagerie of vigilantes, guardsmen and border patrol thugs with police dogs set up roadblocks to intercept impoverished Mexican women sneaking into the US to change our motel sheets, you know you are not in Kansas any more.

Napolitano has a likable manner, and is admired by many liberals for being an improvement over Ev Meacham, Fife Symington and Dracula. But I've always had the disturbing feeling that her decisive style really does go through to her core - that she does not examine her convictions or think things through very carefully. This shoot-from-the-hip morality, coupled with a real belief in "bad guys" and the simplistic idea that rounding them up and getting rid of them is the solution to complex social problems, is something she has in common with George Bush. It works well when she is right, but when she is wrong (as in her draconian and ham fisted approach to undocumented immigration) she legitimizes a culture of racism and militancy that is growing dangerously ugly across our country.

Gee, all I can say is:

SUCKERS

Way before the election, you were rationally told, and irrationally screamed at to look at the facts of Come-From-Nowhere Mr. Obama and see that he was just another war candidate.

You were delusional and could not be reach, but you voted.

Now it is time for you to just Shut Up and Row.

Trance-Phat~Cat'$ MeOW?

http://flickr.com/photos/your_waitress/2631184401/

That Obama was touted by the Propaganda System should be all one needs to know about how he will govern and his team's creds and positions--It's all about Continuity, not Change. A very large segment of the populace is alienated and voted for Obama on the premise he would mitigate the reasons for their alienation. Instead, he is providing the reasons for that segment to grow and become even more alienated. 10% of the populace now uses Food Stamps--the most EVER. REAL unemployment is well over 15%, with underemployment now well over 25%. With the ACTUAL labor force being somewhat over 210 Millon, over 50 Million are underemployed; over 30 Million have NO jobs, which is about equal to the total populace needing Food Stamps: 31 Million. Together, that's over 80 Million within 310 Million--well OVER 25% of US poplulation with no or not enough work to survive in our dysfunctional economy. These REAL numbers are not lost on those mounting sit-in strikes and the soon-to-occur worker takeovers of factories a la Argentina's experience. The Revolution looks like it will start in the Rust Belt, even if Big Auto gets a bailout. On this Obama's attempt to diffuse this rise is forcing him to be honest when he says the economy will get worse. But the Class War has been going on too long for such rhetoric to have any force. The country demands that actions be equal to words as the crisis deepens, which of course isn't happening; rather, it's just the same old posturing and spin that no longer is capable of convincing people that things are really different than they seem. It seems the only people in the USA incapable of understanding this reside in DC--Depravity Central.

Obama must be treated as a politico with NO capital--much like BushCo. I think ObamaInc is an appropriate parallel. And the Pelosites and Riedsters are NO different from the Neocons, as they've proven on many occasions. Mordechai is correct; Obama is the new Emperor. And like EVERY Emperor, he must be fought by those who love Freedom and Liberty, and be treated as the enemy until proven otherwise.

Obama can still turn it around:

Nader for Car Czar
Kucinich-Peace Czar
Bill Ayers --Education Czar
Micheal Moore- Media Czar

Me-chief of staff

Dr Wu, the last of the big-time thinkers

We elected one puppet to replace another.

Come on, people. Consider the alternative ! Go to the TeamSarah website if you really want to find something to gripe about. And cast your mind for a moment into the alternative universe where the Palin/McCain ticket actually won. What would things look like right now ? Because i can guarantee you that McCain had not thought past election night at all.

Obama is a creole (an honorable word). By nature he understands the necessity of playing to more than one faction. He is in this on many different levels already. Why don't you all go to change.gov and voice your concerns there ? I have and have gotten responses from his internet staff.

He is also an accomplished poker player. Who is holding two hands -- the visible, establishment hand which given the current state of affairs is probably necessary in order to slow down the coming inevitable implosion, and also the mostly invisible, foundational hand of the populace. This is the hand which you can access at change.gov.

When the chips are down, which hand do you think he is going to play ? I am betting on the one he is not showing yet.

I know a lot of you make a living by speculating but can't you give a bit of a rest. how can anyone be disappointed with the policy and actions of a President who has not taken office yet???

To those of you who want to predict the future from the actions of appointees made in the past - if the past always predicts the future - how did Boston ever finally win the world series, or any athlete work themselves out of a slump.

Maybe political writers never change themselves, learn or are 100% predictable.

I'll wait until at least January 22, before I start complaining - grin.

The noise of "Liberals Voice(ing) Concerns About Obama" is getting painful. My advice is to close mouths and open ears and eyes.

For me, Obama's performance on Meet The Press was cathartic. For the first time in a very long time, we will have a man in office whose good words and sound ideas seem to be coming from his own brain. That, of and by itself, is enough for me right now.

Now, perhaps a bit of wishful thinking. Is anyone aware of the basics of the martial art of Aikido? Confronting ones enemy head on with force is often counterproductive - a better way is to turn, and match your opponents force and speed - join with it, become one with it, and then take control of it, so that it can be turned and used to accomplish your own ends.

Obama may indeed be as smart as we hope he is. Clinton came into office and charged head first into a failed health care reform and the "gays in the military" debacle. Obama's so-called "Team of Rivals" strategy could be a work of art - martial art, that is. Today he has zero power - will have no power at all for a bit more than one month and ten days still. I'm watching him match speed and force right now - with smarts and grace - I can wait until January 21st, when he actually has the power, to see him turn and throw.

The idea that a pullout (of Iraq) might result in " resurgence of terrorism that would be against our interests" is scarey in two ways for me. One is the myth of "leaving might make violence worse" silliness (so when would we ever leave as occupiers?). The other scarey concept is "our (American)interests" and military in Iraq, in the same sentence.

In other countries the presidential candidate informs voters beforehand about who he will be hiring. Not so in the "democratic" United States. We get to know AFTER we (suckers) vote.

Obomber bowed down to AIPAC and went to the Wailing Wall in Israel and hired Zionists and right-wing warmongers. I should have voted for Nader or McKinney as I really wanted to. I learn the hard way, I guess. I'm changing my party affiliation. Rethuglicans and Dempublicans are two sides of the same war-party, imperialist coin. This was the last time I will vote for one of the two major parties.

I feel bad for him. He has way to many people to please. And the left continue to forget how ‎Government works. We are raising hell over Obama and he hasn't served a single day, yet, we let GWB ‎serve 8 years. ‎

‎"It's the government stupid", unless we change the entire system don't expect Obama to make it with ‎out playing the Government Game. No Liberal's have a chance at accomplishing anything because we ‎have so many centrist and right-wingers in congress. So appointing a liberal won't have much effect at ‎all. Matter of fact an entire liberal Cabinet wouldn't have much effect. Because our country is actually ‎run by centrist and right-wingers. From the media, to big business, to most of the 535 in congress. We ‎can't expect a liberal to win the game playing with conservative rules. Of course Obama is no liberal but ‎even if he was, I don't think he would have even been nominated. So that's my 2 cents I guess.‎

Dont bite the hand that feeds you?
lol

Nader said power concedes nothing.
The left groups demanded nothing from Obama.
He threw them crumbs and they scrambled for the rotten ones.

Did the right settle for crumbs?
Nope, they wanted a religious fanatic and if it wasnt for the economy we'd have McCain and Palin.

We had such high hopes when Mr. Obama was elected. Now we have a very guarded attitude as those hopes are being dashed slowly, perhaps inexorably, by our new president's choices. I fear there will be little change for the better once he takes office.

Can't say you weren't warned! To even qualify as a candidate for president one has to be so thoroughly indebted to the status quo that, by the time he or she is elected, there is no choice: Do as you are told or be removed. The whole electoral system is rotten to the core - we should've all boycotted the election.

Wait until he takes office, then "hold his feet to the fire"? Put him on the hot seat now! And crank up the pressure with a national strike. We shouldn't hesitate to shut the economy down, since it isn't working for us anyway.

Obama is now The Emperor. There are lots of people who are winking at him, grinning, telling him to dip his hand into the cookie jar or go into the walk-in closet and try on the fancy uniform with all the gold braid, the shiny black knee-high riding boots and the high peaked cap, then posture in front of the mirror. "Try it out, Barack." Having read his first book, all I can hope for is that he truly doesn't forget where he came from.