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Luster is Off Obama's `High Moral Ground'
Back in April, the U.S. government snatched Raymond Azar out of Afghanistan.
His waist, wrists and ankles were shackled, he was stripped naked and photographed, made to wear headphones, blindfolded, hooded and stuffed into an executive jet for the U.S. Azar says his eyeglasses were taken and he was left in an ice cold room, denied food for 30 hours and told he might never see his wife and children again.
The FBI agent who was in charge denies that last accusation. And a spokesperson for the Justice Department says Azar was kept in a comfortable chair in a comfortable room and offered blankets, food and water. As near as I can determine, Azar's other claims are undisputed.
So maybe you wonder what his offenses were. Did he have a hand in some horrific act of sectarian violence in Afghanistan? Was he part of a terror cell plotting to attack some American landmark?
Actually, Azar's crime was that he padded invoices and paid kickbacks.
According to published reports, Raymond Azar is a Lebanese man who worked for a Lebanese construction company with a multimillion Pentagon contract to do reconstruction work in Afghanistan. Recently, Azar pleaded guilty to paying an Army Corp of Engineers officer in exchange for the officer's approval of the inflated bills. He faces as much as five years behind bars.
Serious stuff, to be sure. But serious enough for hoods, blindfolds and shackles? Color me skeptical.
The whole thing carries a thorny echo of the ``extraordinary renditions'' that flourished under President George W. Bush, when a supposed terrorist would be grabbed up, shackled, hooded and shipped off to some Middle Eastern dungeon where interrogators were happy to torture him into saying whatever needed to be said. Many Americans were appalled by that contravention of the nation's values, among them a presidential candidate named Barack Obama who promised an end to ``the practice of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries.''
If that promise was not broken by Azar's experience, it sure was dented. Meaning that, while this was not an extraordinary rendition per se -- Azar wasn't shipped to some other nation for torture -- it was close enough to give pause, especially considering the nature of Azar's crime.
His ``weapon'' was a ledger, for criminy sake! For that it was necessary to treat him like the love child of Osama bin Laden and Hannibal Lecter?
The Department of Justice says it was. ``This was a law enforcement transfer that's consistent with international law,'' says Tracy Schmaler, a DOJ spokesperson. ``These transitions are not unusual when the fugitives are located in countries with which we do not have extradition treaties.''
The FBI, she tells me -- repeatedly -- ``followed standard operating procedure.''
Maybe it did. But I'll tell you something: Barack Obama was elected president in large part on a promise to restore the nation's battered moral authority. He appealed to voters because he seemed to understand what his predecessor did not, i.e., that America must embody ideals bigger than the exigencies and expediencies of the moment.
Somebody should remind him of that. Our ideals are not validated when some guy gets hooded and shackled because he overcharged the government. Our moral authority is not restored when we hide behind the fig leaf of standard operating procedure.
No, this does not match the worst abuses of the Bush era, but it is close enough that it must surely disillusion and dismay those who thought a corner was turned on Jan. 20. It must leave them hoping that faith was not misplaced.
Sometimes a dented promise is worse than no promise at all.
101 Comments so far
Show AllObama represents the end of hope, ironically after campaigning on a promise of hope. Modern American irony. We got what we deserve, I'm afraid. A land of cowards who claim to live in the home of the brave.
"We got what we deserve". That is exactly it. The American public was conned, deceived, fooled and sold out again, but what a shame the rest of us who were not taken in by this super con man, have to be in the insane asylum with the politically gullible!
Here's another commentator who saw through this "super con man" early last year, yet still found reason for hope:
There's no doubt that Obamalust does embody some phantasmic longing for a better world-more peaceful, egalitarian, and humane. He'll deliver little of that-but there's evidence of some admirable popular desires behind the crush. And they will inevitably be disappointed.
As this newsletter has argued for years, there's great political potential in popular disillusionment with Democrats. The phenomenon was first diagnosed by Garry Wills in Nixon Agonistes. As Wills explained it, throughout the 1950s, left-liberals intellectuals thought that the national malaise was the fault of Eisenhower, and a Democrat would cure it. Well, they got JFK and everything still pretty much sucked, which is what gave rise to the rebellions of the 1960s (and all that excess that Obama wants to junk any remnant of). You could argue that the movements of the 1990s that culminated in Seattle were a minor rerun of this. The sense of malaise and alienation is probably stronger now than it was 50 years ago, and includes a lot more of the working class, whom Stanley Greenberg's focus groups find to be really pissed off about the cost of living and the way the rich are lording it over the rest of us.
Never did the possibility of disappointment offer so much hope. That's not what the candidate means by that word, but history can be a great ironist.
http://prorev.com/2008/04/doug-henwoods-obama-reality-check.html
Yep,
People said, "It better work this time"....
It didn't. The fuse has been lit. All hell could break loose at any time.
Sioux Rose
M156: Wow! You have a knack for finding the silver lining in a very dark cloud, and/or making rather tasty lemon-aid from sour lemons. I hope you're right. The astrology was far more favorable to "Renaissance" in the l960's-l970's than now. During the earlier phase most of the outer planets moved through Libra, the sign of justice and gender-based equal rights; and then they moved onto Scorpio, the sign of sexuality, transformation, and a search for the meaning of life extending beyond death. When these outer ambassadors of cosmic intention made it to Sagittarius, universities actually taught comparative religions, true philosophy, and offered a HIGHER education. From l980 until now, all of these didactic cosmic custodians have moved through Capricorn, the sign that connotes the devil card from the tarot. The last of the 3 earth signs, it solidifies matter and finds in material achievement the highest calling. Most schools traded in lofty studies for teaching business, and lots of smart people were encouraged to put personal monetary success before the remotest need to contribute something of worth to the greater society. This sign when emphasized slips in Machiavellian policies and preferences, and its priorities bring to mind the adage, "What profiteth a person to gain the world and lose their soul?"
I believe another communal form of global governance based on a genuine respect for all individuals will begin to emerge when Jupiter-Saturn meet (they unite every 20 years) in Aquarius (2020 AD), soon to be followed by the great transformer, Pluto, entering that sign (2025) for its first visit in 248 years. That could be a phase that mirrors elements from the 60's-70's. However the next 5-7 years are going to be extremely difficult as the forces of the old ways (which I see as minds held hostage to old gods) do battle against the awakened souls who champion a far more just agenda. We are all here to participate, and beliefs do hold power. Some of us are present to hold the light... be the candles of this brief, but impossibly painful new dark age. Capricorn comes at the winter solstice, and there are higher depression rates reported during this phase of the year. The I ching tells us that just when darkness ascends the promise of light returning is made nearest. I don't think these cycles present just another glass of lemon-aid drawn from the proverbial lemons found along our mortal path(s).
The 2 party political system is intellectually and morally bankrupt, and has been for years.
President Obama has disappointed so many in so many ways. Its a shame, but thats the truth.
And it looks like there is far more disappointment to come.
0 has only disappointed those fools who fell for his glibbery.
"consider what he's up against" is intoned.
yeah - international treaties can be a real bitch.
Hi Henry.
I don't get to read cd as much as I did in the past but it is great to see you are still here.
Of course there will be more disappointment to come with regards to the administration of our current President.(He is now my President also) Much more indeed. But...it is the nature of the beast so to speak. It is one thing to be the observer and another to be the observed. (I am thinking of JFK's speech where he talks about the man in the arena)
Perhaps Henry I have just become too pragmatic to call myself a "liberal" anymore. Stability first...Dreams later. I have a wish list also.
Take care in the Lone Star State my Friend.
Thomas Gilbert.
You are right.
Referring to the entitlement programs, President Obama said about a month ago "You ain't seen nothing yet".
President Obama has a problem that Bush did not have; back in 2000 there was still some blood in the turnip. As the chief turnip squeezer for the elite, President Obama is going to need some really creative larceny to get more out of us. But I hear there are great plans. Are you over 70? You don't need that pacemaker, pal. Medicare has been "fund improved" to not cover that $35,000 operation.
Sorry, Bernake has eliminated inflation (no matter how much prices are rising) so there won't be any COLA increases in pensions or social security for the next 3 or 4 years. What a deal! Talk about making money for the government! Hey, maybe they can get more blood out that turnip.
Not only no COLA increases, but with interest rates so low, those same social security recipients are deprived of income from money they saved. We have subsidized the gamblers and the profligate and punished the cautious and the frugal.
Sioux Rose
AGG: I share your cynicism. Well-said.
CASSANDRA: So true about who is being punished versus rewarded. I just got my tax bill today, and some ruling now favors (surprise, surprise!) those with more expensive properties, so that I will pay a disproportionate percentage to essentially bulk up their subsidies. This is the way too many aspects of current U.S. economics work. My daughter noticed it when she moved here, the exorbitant fees on things like electric utility deposits and gas tank refills. I paid the electric on 3 properties around August 5, and got notices demanding payment. I had to set aside about half an hour to go fight with the dummies who processed the payments to PROVE I'd already paid. Had I not driven to my PO Box I would not have known of THEIR billing error, the electric would have been turned off on one or two renters, and I would have been blissfully unaware 1400 miles away. To add insult to injury, I just received the current bills and 2 of them hold late charges! They f--k up the account, and want to charge me. This sh-t gones on so often, and it's such an energy drain to constantly have to do the work for others who are either unconscious, unconscionable, or incompetent. Many consumers probably don't notice these add-on fees.
When we add these "fees" to similar ones used by credit card companies, where our tax dollars are going, how our savings are losing genuine value, and the new "extortion medical 'benefits' plan," it becomes an obscenity in constant motion. I don't think the insurance companies (property) are really solvent these days, and if a big weather event came, I fear they'll use the same rationale used by their medical cousins in finding reasons to deny paying claims. There is no longer any balance between the interests of big business ($) and those of the citizenry. It would take a genetic David crossed with Superman, added to Ralph Nader to turn this insanity around. However, I believe when things get this unbalanced, NATURE and/or the law of karma begin to implode the "thing" from within. Everything has a cycle. The wheel of destiny turns endlessly.
How about all the other crooked and corrupt military contractors who have been bilking the government for years and years? How about the $9 billion in cash that disappeared in Iraq? Why is this guy being singled out?
I had the same thought. I don't remember Halliburton and KBR executives and employees being treated this way in response to accusations and evidence of similar crimes on a far grander scale. Oh yea, the Bush administration did not want to look into such allegations and instead fired the guy who made them. Rule of the country by criminal gangs like the Bush-Cheney gang and the Obama gang is fascinating, but probably not too good for our long-term future.
But, we're getting very close to rock bottom. That's the only place I know of where people are actually forced to sit up and see how things really are. Isn't 4 years of Obama a little much? What can we do with all these lemons?
RichM: Excellent post, I couldn't agree more. Well said!
Thanks, Rich M for saying it like it is. As children, we all drank the KoolAid, but now that we are adults, we should certainly have the blinders off.
Moral Authority and American Exceptionalism are no different than religion. These myths are inculcated in us from an early age, and like religion, when we reach adulthood, we have enormous difficulty recognizing them for the preposterous nonsense they are.
RichM,
Well said!
You are right.
Anyone REALLY paying attention to Obama's Kumbaya speech of conciliation at the 2004 convention in Boston while the rightwing was "swift-boating" Kerry (and while courageous Michael Moore was locked by the DLC in the 'Free-Speech Pen"), could have seen the current scenario in the making. No surprises here.
Right on the mark, RichM. When I was a child I drank Kool Aide. But now I don't. Too bad the same can't be said for the perpetually clueless liberals who voted and had high hopes for Obama.
Pitts sez: "His ``weapon'' was a ledger, for criminy sake! For that it was necessary to treat him like the love child of Osama bin Laden and Hannibal Lecter?"
***
Too bad the guy didn't work for a Wall St. firm ... he would have gotten a promotion and a big fat 'bonus'.
The luster is off?! What a shame! I must have missed that bright shining moment when O's "high moral ground" had luster. In fact, I seem to have missed the moral element of his ground altogether, let alone a transient lusterous aspect.
Perhaps it transpired outshone and thus unnoticed in the high glow and polish of one of those ambiguously "hopeful" election speeches. It certainly hasn't been apparent in the subsequent "change you can believe in" dullness of his presidential actions, nor in his obdurate refusal to pursue any accountability for previous practitioners of total immorality both domestically and globally.
As RichM suggests, it seems extemely doubtful that any reminder would reinvigorate "high moral ground", lusterous or otherwise, that never existed in the first place except as a part of the nation's mythological self-image.
One statement Pitts makes really irks me more than anything- "Serious enough for hoods, blindfolds, and shackles?" As if there is ever any reason for torturing people.
excellent observation!
Oh, come on - these guys have been using the same transportation SOP for years and years - it'll take a while to change, though one can argue that a single traspo SOP is more efficient (sans the whole killing-your-family-and-children thing)... it's like the local cops - you get handcuffed whether you're a bank robber, a parking ticket scofflaw or a grandmother peacefully protesting...
Which is not any defense of BO whatsoever - his luster was long lost the moment the banksters and others who frankly own the place hired him to run it.
The Obama-haters, who are even here on CD, sure are whiners. They seem to think we live in a perfect world and all that would have to be done is Miraculously elect a Nader and all would be set right. Well, remember, Nader took right-wing money, and even so couldn't get 3% of Americans to vote for him, notwithstanding he would have had NO support in Washington and thus a failed presidency (betcha not one of his pledges would have been achieved). Maybe we do get who we deserve, is this the fault of a democracy? Maybe democracy is warped by money, but that is a long-term problem that will take a long time solving. Not overnight. Not one election.
And who else was running? Kucinich could not even get his own party to nominate him. The powermonger couple, the Clintons? They would sell out any principle to maintain their personal power. The fundie-Catholic libertarian Ron Paul, he who thinks there should be NO government, except to oulaw abortion? Hell, no.
So we were left with Obama, Mr. Compromiser. He is not the end, but the beginning, and the people must push him and guide him, as he is surrounded by the dreck of DC, and by "old hands" like Emmanuel and Clinton and the DLC crowd.
NOT to mention the Republirats who crow about wanting Obama to fail, and working with every breath to make him fail. And the corporate MSM is obviously against him, by elevating right-wing crackpots to a level of importance they do not deserve - those who created the curse word Obamacare for example. And they are all over the media - even where you wouldn't expect, like financial news channels (Kudlow).
Obama is only one guy. He needs massive support when he IS going in the progressive direction. Because the advice he gets from Congress and the Career politicians is unbelieveably tainted by thousands of flacks and shills and literally billions of dollars from special corporate interests (see the book THE BIG CON by Jonathan Chait).
We don't need to be constantly reminded of Obama's failings, he is known for compromising too much, just like most spineless Democrats. But he is, just in his own (black American) personage, a peaceful revolution, and progress. Whoever naively thought he was going to be perfect, a Superman to set things right? He was just an opening of light in the dark satanic mill of Republican rule. And the Republicans are still spoiling the party. Turn you wrath on Republicans, the corporations, and the DLC crowd, who really rule the roost. And do very much criticize Obama when he drifts rightward with the DC flow. But try with all our might to guide and support him in every progressive path. And if that is not enough, then form your own party and go for 2012 RIGHT NOW! If you have an overwhelmingly great candidate, many, including myself, would support you.
Because your ONLY real alternative in the last election was the ticket to a house of of horrors, McCain and Palin, you jerks. And a gleeful Neo-Con-federate Republican rule that continued to rub your faces in their feces, continued their downward spiral of the American experiment, continued their looting of the commonweal and the American treasury, continued to escalate their campaigns of wars abroad 'so we don't have to fight them here'... and would scream loudly and happily about how this was "the will of the people" all the way down.
You mean like the 'peaceful revolution' the people of Afghanistan are experiencing at Obama's hand. He's a good liar and that is all he is.
Anyone who uses the suffix "-hater" clearly has nothing interesting to say.
Whining about whiners?
:wink:
"The Obama-haters, who are even here on CD, sure are whiners. They seem to think we live in a perfect world ..."
Well, not exactly. The "whining" disappointment is actually a result of the persistently silly and naive belief, not in a perfect world, nor even in Obama himself, but in a United States of America that truly is a republican democracy where sovereignty resides in the people and where the people's interests are represented by their elected government.
Ordinary human U.S. citizens really should stop their annoying "whining" and just accept the reality that it's corporate persons who constitute "the people" in the U.S. republican democracy. All else, including Lincoln's corny "of, by and for" pronouncement, is "populist" heresy which, in turn, is an intolerable threat to real "U.S. interests" and thus to the global peace and security of the empire's Pax Americana.
Calling people haters and whiners just ain't gonna cut it no more, pal.
We've all heard your sort of incantatory refrain before. Take a breath.
Better yet, address yourself to the matters of policy. Offer some evidence or argument to the contrary instead of the same old tiresome umbrage and straw men.
Oh, and don't be naive jerk when you accuse others of being naive and jerks. Thanks in advance.
This counter-whine is an object lesson in the bankruptcy of identity politics.
You bought the "ticket to a house of horrors" you were desperately trying to avoid. The fact that it was being sold by a Pied Piper of color inside a box labelled "Hope" didn't change the scheduled program.
Obama and Emanuel saw you coming.
· Yr Obd't Servant
FVHorn August 30th, 2009 2:15 pm:
"(betcha not one of his [Nader] pledges would have been achieved)"
How much?
Thanks for the comment. I just had to live through 28 consecutive years of neo-liberal rule and the country is on its knees. This guy has been president for 7 months and you would think he would have solved all the problems caused by these jackal presidents we've had the last three decades. This criticism is over the top.
I think he's showing a lack of spine and I wrote my Senators to tell them that they better start lighting a fire under his ass because their re-election is on the line if they piss off enough progressives. I don't know what else to do at this point. That said, the barrage of "one term", "throw in the towel" posts makes wonder if the RNC hasn't invaded the site. SEVEN FRIGGING MONTHS PEOPLE!
Lefty -- Seriously, what do you expect or hope for in, say, another seven months?
He's continuing neolib policies. Why is that lost on you?
I'm not from the "RNC," but you sound like you are from the DNC. Two sides of the same coin!
Your defense of the status quo is the reason that the radical right will gain ground. Millions of folks are pissed at the government. We are being robbed blind of trillions of dollars and our kids are being sent to die and kill innocent people overseas. These people need a movement to follow. They are sick of the status quo. They know what the "status quo" is. It's having a bucket of shit dumped on your head 24/7.
And if the "liberals" are busy defending the status quo, like "Lefty" here, where else can people go? Hmmm, let's see, let me think, hmmmm, where do you think they'll go?
The radical right will peel them off.
So you go right ahead and write letters to Senator Fatass Corporate Snowjob telling him how angry you are. Unless you enclose a check for $500,000, I doubt he'll take it seriously. In the meantime, while liberals defend Obama and the status quo, more and more people will move to the right, because that is their only alternative to the status quo.
What's 'invaded' this site is a bit of brutal honesty, so UNcommon these days.
Yeah ... (and here I agree) SEVEN FRIGGIN' MONTHS ... of not taking ANY of our deceitful, deadly criminals to task, but rather allying the administration to them.
YOU. STOP MAKING EXCUSES!
It is YOU who sounds like the RNC, and wants everyone to hang on hopin' and prayin' while the pharmaco-insurance-media-military-industrial complex just plows ahead with its agenda, and Dems take on their nearly-perfected role of getting the appalled to just shut up and stop complaining.
You should be ashamed.
No, SORRY.
The 'whiner' is YOU, FV. Just let the biggest crimes of the US history, those of Bush & Cheney, followed shortly by the StickUp of a Bailout, go by without recrimination, will you? No one said it would be easy, but you cannot just let that stuff go by.
Ya' gotta start SOMEwhere. Defending the Constitution, and defending the People's one chance at health care, instead of capitulating to the health insurance lobby would have been places to start.
Especially with health care reform. BY NOT explaining or advocating for Single Payer, this Administration has ACTIVELY participated in the dumbing-down of the population, and aiding the insurance folks in their duplicity.
Obama is getting all the s**t thrown at him over this watered-down, basically useless 'public option' when for the same right-wing Fire and Brimstone he could have mobilized millions around Single Payer, so they would be informed AND prepared to fight for it, if not immediately, soon.
You can't cut him slack for this. You cannot cut him slack for expanding aggression in Pakistan and Afghanistan. If you do, you become a Pentagon apologist yourself.
"If you have an overwhelmingly great candidate, many, including myself, would support you."
FVHorn's idea of a great candidate would be someone who, unlike Ralph Nader, has a secret treaty with the elites and camouflages it behind a fantastic PR front.
I find Obama more freightening than Bush/Cheney. His ability to 'rub your nose' in his breaking of every single campaign promise is truly scarry. Where do these types of people come from? Obama, Palin. Two nobody's who are now somehow somebody. Yikes !!! Hey, I bet Bill and Hillary are wondering the same thing. LOL.
Obama's nickname should be "Rusty", as in the rusty moral nail he stepped on back when he decided to be a politician, who knows how many years ago. Rahm Emanuel, Michelle Obama, Valerie Jarrett and the whole enormous Rogues' Gallery of enablers and hangers-on who butter Rusty's bread and keep his ego inflated will all be in for a Big Surprise, as George Wanker Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronnie Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Richard Deathouse Nixon and Lyndon Bloodthirsty Johnson were before him. Enjoy your Fools' Paradise, Rusty.
"Obama represents the end of hope." –loopless
Let us indeed 'hope,' that this statement is true. Any epiphanic moment that punctures the catastrophic illusions the American people have about American 'Democracy'– as having anything at all to do with moral 'hope' – is something to be wished for. Curiously, as grotesque as it may sound, the unashamedly fascist putsch of the Bush-Cheney disaster had the transparency of ideological candor. The sanctimonious deceit one gets from Obama and the wretched Democratic party is so stale it requires a detoxification.
When full blown fascism is 'officially' announced, (not that it has to be!), perhaps it is best if it arrives unvarnished, without all the happy horse-shit and rhetorical guile. The less hope for America as it now exists, the better. That would perversely be more accurate an appraisal of things as they really are. Obama deserves to be a one-term President, even if what follows dispenses with any pretense of outright malignancy.
Let it come down. All of it. Nothing is worse than false, self indulgent 'hope' based on bilious myths. Perhaps one day, a more ideologically hardened, truly liberatory political consciousness will emerge in America as an antidote to the nativist fascism of fake politics. Is there any 'hope' for that? Not when one knows in advance that any American president will always be only a variant on depravity, capitalist war and imperialism.
–(Jill Bains)
Sioux Rose
AMFORTAS: Powerful, well-articulated post.
Jason Grant Garza here ... ah, the audacity and mendacity of FALSE HOPE dispensed by FALSE LEADERS and enabled by FALSE AGENCIES. When the Obama supporter called me and asked me to vote for Obama because he was different ... I told the young, full of hope individual that the only thing that would CHANGE would be OBAMA after the election. I was told no and how dare me not have HOPE. I told the individual if OBAMA was sooo different that he could put in writing what he was going to do and what consequences he would PAY if he could not do what he put in writing. I clearly stated that if he didn't do this ... his idle chatter would be just that. All my GAY friends told me to believe ... I called them chumps. Please for edification ... type my name into a google search engine and read how San Francisco, the Federal Government (Medicare, etc) all broke the law regarding me. Read how I NOW have a confession admitting fault and guilt however, no restitution, no contrition, no humanity. Call Donald White at the Office of Inspector General (202-619-0088) and ask him. It isn't that my government hasn't screwed or that I didn't do the right thing and all ... what is deceptive and immoral is the "HEAD IN THE SAND" after vindication ... nothing to make me whole and the perps (in government) that comitted the wrong doing have their jobs, will retire and have the good life, and will never take responsibilty (since CONTRITION and RESTITUTION are NOT in THEIR JURSIDICTION.) Type my name into a google search engine and realize that I have been totally screwed by my government telling me they cared ... maybe, that is why I KNEW ABOUT OBAMA ... I have been thru all the government falsely promised and when I busted them ... their total lack of HUMANITY was confirmed ... ask me if anyone has called to remedy and make me "whole." Read and question ... but please learn ... this is what they do to the winner ... what chance do you have? Ah, the audacity of false hope and the deliberate MENDACITY. Interestly enough it was my Federal Court papers that won at the Office of Inspector General ... these are the same papers I gave to the court where the city testilied and I was denied DUE PROCESS (could not speak against the city's expert witness) and NOW have a signed confession admitting fault and guilt however NO ONE IS LOOKING INTO THE LIES in FEDERAL COURT ... ah, a system setup to fail. What is worse after proving I was right is the lack of HUMANITY yet they still tell me they care ... ha, ha, ha. Ask yourself, WHY IS NO ONE LOOKING INTO THE FEDERAL COURT LIES? False hope said by false words from false leaders ... read my story and LEARN the GAME.
Bring America Back !!!!
**The preponderance of the campaign promises which Prez Obama has failed on==in 7 short months; is great enough to prove He never had any real intent to perform, therefore his promises were pure lies and rhetoric.
**His cave-ins and adoption of the Military Industrial Complex of King George the "W". Remember, He was the only candidate left who had voted AGAINST the War as a Senator. !
We therefore had every reasonable basis to believe he would End the Wars instead of proliferating them.
**Unlike John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, Obama never had to repudiate his Vote, so when he promised to clean up the DC Culture of Corruption, it was only reasonable to believe him.
**Contrasted to a previous apocalypse, when Jimmy Carter came to us==in his argyle sweater fireside rocking chair chats===after the National Mess of Nixon's Watergate, his promise to reorganize the Govt and it's ethics, probably was a sincere approach. His Team actually did go to the drawing boards to sketch out a way to do it ! But the sheer immensity and impossibility of doing that, plus wanton incompetence and a 444 day unexpected hostage crisis, assured Carter a one-term Presidential experience. Ronnie Reagan was more than up to the Republican task of upsetting Carter's rocking chair.
**But Obama and his appointed Team have shown not even
step one towards making the Change, Hope, and Promises come true for America !
We've got some super inspirational speeches, trips, and
outright blockades of previous crimes. That's where the
luster was, but it ain't no more !
JUst like Jimmy Carter, and a Republican whose lips we had to read for lies, Team Obama deserves only this one bite at the apple==one term of Office..and we are already in dire
need for a Progressive candidate for Pres. in 2012 !
Obama wasn't in the U.S. Senate at the time of the IWR. Therefore, he could never have voted for or against it.
He made comments, however, indicating that he was against Iraq but of course later had to backpedal on those comments. But those initial comments were how he could brand himself "antiwar." His debate points about ramping up in Afghan belied all of that antiwar garbage he talked about, of course.
Many of the policies under Obama have been WORSE than those of Bush. How anybody can believe this clown is "better" than Bush is astonishing.
"Many of the policies under Obama have been WORSE than those of Bush. How anybody can believe this clown is "better" than Bush is astonishing."
My spidy senses are tingling. You on the RNC payroll? The only thing astonishing is the assertion you just made. Perhaps you should be more specific at this point in time.
'Truthknoller'
Your call for a 'progressive Candida's admirable, but you might just as well wait for your chose of fairy tales characters to run for president. (what am I saying, they have been?
Until the Plutocratic Oligarchy is defeated, replaced with a Democracy, and provisions made to eliminate the possible return of the 'P.O.'---the USA cannot possibly hope to last much longer.
If the election of Barack Obama to the presidency proved anything it finally proved the full level of control the 'P.O.' has and that nothing will truly 'change' until they are eliminated. One of my relatives, an 'Tribal' Woman Elder who has seen much history stated that, 'I do not understand why the 'Whites' are complaining about Mr. Obama, he's done everything they wanted him to do', (ah those 'antique graces'). And she is right.
The FBI and CIA have always been corrupt 'enforcement' instruments of the 'PO'...
They operate in the manner that they do, because they know, that if they simply follow orders and 'do what they are told' they will be 'covered'. This concept of course is directly in opposition to the Nuremberg Accords which state in simple terms 'if you are ordered to commit a crime while in the service of the 'department', you are still guilty of that crime, even when following orders to do it from your 'superiors'. The lack of integrity of these people is a result of them not being expected to 'exhibit' any integrity. In fact they are 'screened' early in their careers for and 'signs' of 'integrity'---and if they reveal this trait they are fired or held back from promotions etc.
What the americans are actually saying to the world is that 'their behavior' is the 'example' and they 'dare anyone else to follow it'.
This is exactly why I think it would and should be a commitment by the 'progressives' in america, to raise the necessary funds, to hire the necessary criminals who would follow the orders of the 'department'; and 'extraordinary rendition' the 'Bush administration members' who participated in these many crimes.
They should then 'set the example' and deliver these international criminals to the proper 'international jurisdictional authorities' for trials.
In other words. Follow the example of the USA, and instead of killing the 'little criminals'-----set the example and give them open and fair trials, and see that they serve the sentences dictated by those courts.
If these many crimes had been committed on USA soil it would essentially be a "national problem". This is not the case by any means.
These President of the USA, his VP, and hundreds or Americans conspired in Washington D.C., the White House, to commit crimes on foreign soil against foreign nationals, and even went to the most insane lengths imaginable to write laws which they believed gave the immunity.
If the american people do not act in a similar manner and assure that these international criminals are brought to justice in the international courts; the USA can expect the world to crush them and destroy them, and assure the world that the USa will never be a 'terrible threat' again. America has proved itself to be a very dangerous nation to the world, they have the ability to change that; they may not have the integrity, the courage, or enough participants to make those changes. If not the world will have no other choice but to destroy them.
And they will have brought this all upon themselves.
If the USA were another nation, the USA would invade the USA to keep the world safe; and they would be justified".
Good Luck America, you really need it.