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Open Letter to Obama: One Year later, Progressives Losing Hope
Dear Mr. President,
Your
administration and your party are in trouble. That is clear from the
elections in Massachusetts and Virginia, from the drop in your approval
rating, from the rise of conservative opposition groups.
This is a time when progressive forces in this country need to mobilize
to prevent a backlash that will take this country further to the right.
But progressives are disappointed and demoralized. Look at me.
In 2008, I was one of millions united for hope and change. As 2010
dawns, "change" looks to me like more of the same. Instead of peace,
we got more war. Instead of healthcare reform, we have an industry win
that requires Americans to buy health insurance without any real cost
controls. On the environment, one of your top priorities, you came
back from Copenhagen with yet another non-binding resolution and more
clean coal, to boot. Instead of helping struggling homeowners and
small businesses during the financial crisis, bank executives were
rewarded and we have yet to see reform. Wall Street firms ended 2009
with record bonus and profits while unemployment remains in double
digits.
Obama, I am losing hope. This is not the change I believe in. The
change I believe in puts people and our planet before industry, it
promotes peace, international law and human rights instead of
militarism. As you are asking Congress to approve the largest Pentagon
budget in history, plus another $33 billion to pay for your Afghan
surge, the prophetic works of Dr. Martin Luther King sound a clarion
call: A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on
military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching
spiritual death.
Obama, we need renewed leadership, we need you to show us—not in words
but in deeds—that you can stand up to corporate interests that are
blocking us from real healthcare, environmental and financial reform.
We need you to show us—not in words but in deeds—that you will stand up
for the Constitution, for due process, for the rule of law. We need you
to show us—not in words but in deeds—that you lead this country out of
endless war to a nation that lives in peace with its neighbors.
In the meantime, I pledge to keep pushing your administration and
Congress, and mobilizing other Americans--not for partisan politics but
for policies of social and environmental uplift.
May 2010 be a year of renewed commitment and movement toward the change we so desperately need.
Sincerely,
Medea Benjamin,
CODEPINK: Women for Peace
Comments
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93 Comments so far
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"Your administration and your party are in trouble."
#5
Give it up Medea. Obama is doing just what his corporate masters want, not what the progressives that got him elected. He sneers at his base. He toadys up to big business and puts insiders on his cabinet. He's a lost cause.
Join us in forming a NEW party with a candidate whose truly committed to progressive causes. Give up expecting Obama to change course. He's steering according to what orders come from the luxury staterooms, not us poor slobs in steerage.
Gary
Hear hear! But I doubt Medea will. Obama won't hear her, or care what she thinks, and she can't hear others telling her Obama never was the progressive of her fantasy life. She's like John Nichols. They both (and so many like them among activist-media liberals) continue bewailing Obama's failure to live up to his progressive promises, which were never made to begin with. They wouldn't listen to what he ACTUALLY said during the campaign, preferring instead the dreamy version of a (half)black man who sort of sounded like an agent of Change, an "electable" echo of Martin Luther King, even if he never sounded for a second like King. But he used the word "change" a lot and said vague things about Hope, too!
But the Audacity of Hope morphed instantly into the Mendacity of Hope, and Change became those nickels and dimes in your pocket after your wallet is empty because you stopped getting a paycheck. Expect Benjamin and Nichols to soldier on regardless, rallying the Democrats to their true selves, as the party of the people. Deep delusions never quite die, and by the time they fade away, it's too late.
Thank you, Ephraim! I thought I was the only American alive who never bought the Obama bullsh*t of "hope." Like "hope" is a platform, for God's sake??
Many of us can't even afford steerage and have been left on an island with no food or water.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street crowd is so wealthy they no longer travel in the luxury staterooms...they have their own ocean going ships complete with helicopters and submarines on board...not to mention travelling in their own jets when they are in a hurry.
When is the Left going to realize that the Demcratic Party left them to tap into corporate money when they created the DLC 25 years ago?
The Left cannot wean the Democratic Party from the corporate money, lobbyed life is too good.
bossyman: The Democratic Party turned to the right more than 40 years ago.
Excellent retort, Jill. Code Pink sent this letter out to its email list wanting folks to sign on to it, but with no way to say why one refuses. Obama does NOT deserve support from the left; rather, he deserves its opposition just as BushCo did--he's earned it.
"Open Letter to Obama: One Year later, Progressives Losing Hope"
Let me fix that title for the author.
"Open Letter to Obama: One Year later, Progressives Lost Hope.
There all fixed now.
I voted for Mckinney in 2008, and Nader three times before that. My soul is intact. After last night victory of Scott Brown, you can expect Obama to mover further right ward: if that is possible, and I think it is.
Nader sells the same product as Obama: False Hope
FOAD--Nader has not once invoked the "hope" mantra. He knows that political gains must be FOUGHT for, not hoped for, and he puts forth that message endlessly.
karlof1: I completely agree with your statement about Ralph Nader.
Nader is only trying to tell people to pay attention to what is going on. He is not peddling any false hope.
"Nader sells the same product as Obama: False Hope"
Nader isn't selling anything, especially false promises, "hope."
He's inspiring people to get to work! We can't let others do the heavy lifting. When we all pitch in, it will be easier to reach our goals. and maybe we can have some fun in the process.
It's clean-up time!
"These things are fun and fun is good!" -- Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat.
I sincerely hope that people are not relying on Obama to fight for justice as this would only confirm that ignorance is truly nonpartisan.
Buck the Bushist blackmail; put the miserepublicans on the black list (for once and ALL)!
"show us-not in words but deeds" but Obama has gotten so far on just words. He is such a good orator and has such command of language and nuance. He has such a sense of how to phrase and imply and even to be ambiguous so that he can hold off criticism. He's even better than Clinton was. If he gives that up, well what's left except a backroom where he grubs for money. Pretty soon even that won't work for him anymore.
Just a note - I myself never thought BO was a "good orator" with "such command of language and nuance". To me he speaks with great self-consciousness and an obvious faux seriousness, tipping his chin up and adopting a direct gaze as if posing for Mt. Rushmore. In this case, it's words not 'deeds' (delivery of the words) - he talks all around real issues like a dog sniffing at the ground in big circles while the bone is lying there in plain view, never touched.
dus7--Many weren't fooled because they know those good at oration are just better at hiding their lies behind oratorical flourishes.
NC-Tom, let me suggest two possible grammatical "corrections" to your last line.
What you meant to write (I think): "There, all fixed now."
Another, homonymic, darker meaning: "They're all fixed now."
Yes you are correct your first correction was what I was thinking, but I do like your second one quite a bit.
It must be much nicer to be killed by a Democratic bomb from that nice Mr Obama than one of those nasty evil Republican bombs.
Nice one.
Yeah, a mother who loses a beloved child can take comfort in that, eh?
Upon seeing all the news from Haiti, I wrote a poem:
BROKEN
We can’t stop earthquakes,
But we can stop bombing.
Little girls’ broken bodies
Don’t know the difference.
Jill got it right on! Thanks for the good common sense Jill.
Did Medea forget to pay attention during the Obama campaign?
I truly wish I had been wrong about Barack Obama, but sadly, I was right! Believe me when I say -- I wanted to be wrong! I was never as enamored with him and his rhetoric as so many of my friends were. And, when Obama opted out of public financing, I began to notice who was funding his campaign. In addition, there was his FISA vote and his bailout vote, etc. -- not to mention his advisors, Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner as well.
In the end, I voted for Nader, although I could have voted for Cynthia McKinney, for whom I have a great deal of respect.
"when Obama opted out of public financing, I began to notice who was funding his campaign. In addition, there was his FISA vote and his bailout vote, etc. -- not to mention his advisors, Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner as well."
Not to mention Obama's war votes; the continued funding for our war on Iraq, and his promises to escalate, expand and extend our war on Afghanistan, which he's certainly done. Also, Kay Johnson, if it's any consolation to you, I wasn't enamoured of Obama, his speeches, or his "Change We Can believe in" or "Yes We Can" Campaigns, because I saw Obama for what he is long before the last POTUS Election; a hypocrite and a phony.
One reason I was drawn to Common Dreams in the first place was because so many of the readers/writers were NOT fooled.
I remember, too, that he always promised to escalate the war in Afghanistan, calling it the "right" war.
Sad, isn't it?
"Sad, isn't it?"
Sad, but not surprising.
One year later, Progressive know you're the tool we hoped you weren't (though I never had high expectations, I held my nose and voted for Obama because he wasn't McCain--THAT won't happen again!).
"THAT won't happen again!"
Really? Are you ready to stop voting for either a Democrat or a Republican? Are you ready to stop looking for a leader as Medea is---but instead stand up and do something yourself?
First we have to face the dreadful state we are in. Our democracy is a sham. We are living under fascism--ruled by the corporations. We need to return to our beginning as a nation and take back our government and restore democracy.
It should be clear to any half awake American that we been had. Our 'leaders' don't heed our advice or care about we the people in any way. It is past time to attempt to take back our governemnt. The first step is to stop voting for the bastards in office now. Kick out the corrupt and elect people who can tell the truth and who will really be our representatives.
Stasis that you can believe in.
This administration - TOTALLY HOPELESS!!!!!
Dear Medea Benjamin,
I sincerely regret to inform you that if you and your associates do not stop sending these fraudulent messages to deceive us into thinking there is, or ever was, anything other than a conniving predator residing within the person of Barack Obama (and the majority of HIS associates), we will be forced to consider you a co-conspirator in this debasement of our community.
Sincerely without hope because of ABUNDANT proof (which, even you have partially outlined above),
A Believer in Truth and Equal Justice
At least Medea has 'hope' however terribly misguided and totally uninformed she is about the workings of OBushma and his enablement of the fascist corporate state.
She needs to ask for a show of hands of those who don't think we actually had a fascist coup by the military and corporate leaders using 9/11 as an means.
But I could be wrong !
The Coup occured in 2000 and was made possible by the Supreme Court. 9/11 merely enabled the agenda, which Obama is fathfully following.
Why are you still talking to him? Do you think her ever cared what you think? He conned you and he is doing what he was paid to do.
Wake up.
Write a letter to yourself, promising to be a responsible voter who researches a candidate before voting for them.
well said Foxx
Wake Up! People (hopefully) are "now" seeing the real Obama and democratic leadership for what they are and always have been-the other party working for the fat cats in the insurance, health and war biz's. same crap, different shape?
One wonders what real type of "change" and "hope" could occur if someone other than a democrat and republican was leading this country if we were all responsible voters as you say and elected someone who didn't have to jump when their corporate masters said so. but instead most of the commenters here who say they've been "fooled" and "lied to" will always vote democrat because, the democrats are the "lessor of the two evils". thats democracy for you.
democrats. fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me?
"Dear Mr. President" actually has less validity, and less chance of success, than "Dear Santa". Kids have parents who care, but we adults only have ourselves. Perhaps we should develop a Dear Santa manifesto of things we want and intend to give ourselves each year until humanity grows up.
Grow up Medea. There is no tooth fairy. You, Medea, who supported this marketing campaign for Empire are the one who has failed those of us who predicted and warned about what was coming. Unfortunately, I guess, we were correct on just about every matter except for the underestimation at how corrupt, the degree of capitulation and the speed with which the Obama administration acted in carrying out the work of Empire.
The bigger question here is WTF is wrong with Medea, Nichols, Greider, Solomon and the never-ending stream of liberal pundits who got EVERYTHING wrong on Obama? In doing so they have done the bidding of Empire as soft-power scribes. How do they even pretend to serve up this pablum with a straight face. Shocked, shocked, I tell you, Obama did exactly what his financial backers demanded and it comes as a surprise to the whiny, forever-in-denial "progressive" pundits!?
Supporting Democrats is a serious political disorder like alcoholism or returning again & again to an abusive spouse who repeatedly lies to you. It's easy to fall off the wagon, to make excuses & rationalizations for it. Even many whose views are developed enough to recognize such truths as the fundamental rottenness of the 2-party system & the complicity of Democrats in all of the Republicans' major crimes, are still unable to draw the logical consequences of these insights. The central point is this: capitalist society permits the Democrats to be one of the 2 allowed parties for a very definite reason. It's not because the Democrats "serve the people." It's because in a subtle but effective way, they help the capitalists keep the populace under control by providing them with the illusion of possible change. TPTB don't want the people "served." They want them managed, or controlled. It is the job, the central social function of the Democrats to always be dangling before the people's noses vague pseudo-hints of possible change, so as to keep them from bolting from bourgeois politics altogether. It is the Democrats' intention to never deliver meaningful change, but rather to keep dangling hints of it alluringly forever. This produces control -- a populace habituated to remain safely within the lines required by ruling class interests.
Maybe the bottom line is whether or not we all seek the same depth of changes in our society. There is no doubt in my mind that whether under the control of Democrats or the Republicans, the number one beneficiary of political decisions, be they foreign policy or domestic, will be large industries/the extremely wealthy - that is, the general protection of the status quo, and the continuation of a capital-before-people mentality, the right of the US to impose its will on sovereign nations for the benefit of its corporations.
If people are comfortable with this reality, if a slightly higher minimum wage and a slightly friendlier attitude toward minorities or some minor (and generally unenforced) efforts toward reducing environmental damage, if changes on that level are good enough, then I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. But if people are seeking significant change, if they want to see the current military occupations end, the power of the military-industrial complex diminish or disappear, and the rights of working people protected, health care for everyon or other changes of that magnitude, then an honest analysis of the Dems' desire/ability to make those changes must be undertaken. And by all analyses I don't see these changes coming through them, ever.
I wish it was a matter of pressuring them, writing letters, lobbying their offices, supporting certain candidates. But it has been shown time and time again that these measures don't work. And this is the question I still don't seem to have a clear answer for - what evidence is there (in this time of high-paid and high-powered corporate lobbyists, manipulated elections, pro-corporate media, etc) that the citizens of this country have any real influence over the politicians in Washington, or even that elections actually represent the will of the American people? I see some placating legislation here and there but when it comes to the big national issues - war, health care, oil dependency, environment, there is little more than rhetoric and half-measures. It's the whole thing about doing the same things over and over and expecting different results....The main arguments I have seen for continuing to focus on the Dems as a force for real change are based on faith, not fact.
As an aside, I have been doing a fair amount of reading about social uprisings, revolts, and revolutions lately. There is one thing I know for sure - people successfully demanding social change is NOT some impossible dream. It has happened throughout history, all over the globe. It is common, it is necessary, and, as far as I am concerned IT IS TIME.
"The bigger question here is WTF is wrong with Medea, Nichols, Greider, Solomon and the never-ending stream of liberal pundits who got EVERYTHING wrong on Obama?" -- mcoyote
You ask a very good question! Personally, with Obama's inauguration, I kept HOPING that I would be wrong in my assessment of him and his campaign.
"You, Medea, who supported this marketing campaign for Empire are the one who has failed those of us who predicted and warned about what was coming." -- mcoyote
I agree! I could add several so-called progressive and liberal organizations to the list, as well as pundits/writers/reporters and others who failed to pull back the curtain!
The bigger question here is WTF is wrong with Medea, Nichols, Greider, Solomon and the never-ending stream of liberal pundits who got EVERYTHING wrong on Obama?
The people mentioned here are, it seems to me, like Obama, fundamentally straight arrows, squares. There is something flawed in their natures that won't let them give up once and for all on the Democrats. Perhaps it's the flakey, looney optimism of people who don't prepare for their retirement because they think when they turn 65 they'll win the lotto. How long will it take for these people to realize the Democrats will not rescue this nation from anything?
While it's touching that little Medea has put together a well-written letter to Santa Claus asking for nice stuff, it's unlikely that she is going to receive any of the presents she asks for.
This is because the letters Obama Claus receives from multinationals - requesting the exact opposite of what little Medea asks for - ususally include a few billion dollars in milk and cookies for him and the elves.
This was so myopic, I had to write to her:
Ms. Benjamin,
I would like to direct you to the comments section directly below your piece on commondreams.org. There are many trenchant observations being made thereabouts, and I am sure that your level of political consciousness may undergo edification / modification if you decide to comb through them.
While I appreciate your 'orientation' as a peace activist, your political blindness is regrettable. That you were unable to discern the foundational ideologues behind Barack Obama (and, therefore anticipate any subsequent political mandates) is particularly noteworthy.
To be a peace activist with some clout, it is helpful to identify burgeoning war-mongers. Please, for the sake of peace, take a look around. No more slumbering. And no more pandering to the so-called "progressive" Democrat peanut gallery! There never was any 'change' to believe in (except for the silver roundels in the corporatist pockets, of course.)
I could have written that "Letter" myself. Well done! I am a 60yr old female that worked to get Obama into Office. All that I have seen is no leadership and total giveaways to the Corporations. It is distressingly obvious just who runs our Country. (The Corporations). No wonder that those of us who voted for CHANGE are disheartened. I always thought that Jimmy Carter was an honest man who went to Washington and just did not have the political connections to change things. Obama began with keeping Bush's policies and people and it hasn't gotten better since.
pooka, I just saw Harvey .... again. I love your name here. We could all benefit from the pooka!
Medea, I have a sense that you are quite young and possibly with a limited understanding of history.
Obama is a scam artist. He ran as a trojan horse to maintain corporate control of government. That is what he is doing now. It is no aberration, it's the reason he was promoted.
Don't be discouraged, many people infinitely more experienced and mature than you were scammed also. If you learn from your miscalculations you will have a better chance of creating real change.
Think about working for change outside of the corporate-controlled duopoly of US politics. Maybe you are young enouh that you will be able to experience the fruits of your exquiste desire for a more just world.
Yes. Medea is like so many well meaning Americans that have been conned and taken advantage of by Obomba. The most egregious thing to me, is that he has sold out 300 years of his people's struggle. Some of us, like iowapinko, saw this a long time ago and so voted third party. Maybe now that Medea is beginning to realize the Obomba scam, she will have a better chance of working for 'REAL" change that she can believe in again.