--- On Tue, 1/20/09, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Frank: BHO should welcome their hatred
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 1:56 PM
> On Jan 20, 2009, at 2:46 PM, shag wrote:
>
> > If I've understood you correctly, I do have to
> wonder why Obama should be
> > aware of what a leftist/leftish critique of his
> activities is. I could see
> > him being aware of what various democrats and liberals
> think, but I can't
> > see him being particularly aware of how Marxists think
> and, if he is, my
> > guess is that he'd get it quite wrong. I don't
> know, I just think that
> > it's fairly easy to be a very smart person and go
> through life being
> > completely in the dark about leftist/leftish critique
> of politics in the
> > u.s -- or elsewhere for that matter.
>
> I ain't read it, but in one of his "books,"
> Obama reports on having gone to a Socialist Scholars
> Conference in New York while he was at Columbia.
BHO is no dummy and odds are he is reasonably aware of main currents in left politics. He was a communitory organizer, means he was surrounded for years with lefties of various varieties. He was an acadenic at U of C, not the leftist place in the world or even Shytown, but there are enough lefties of one kind or another around even U of C LS to keep him apprised of the picture. He has some sort of relation with Bill Ayers. He went to black nationalist liberation theology church for decades. And he is extremely bright and reads a lot.
So I am quite sure he could set out, in a lawyerlike hypothetical fashion, an impressive left critique of his positions and actions. Actually, I think he probably understands better than any other Prez we have had what a critique like that would be. But he rejects this critique, whether out of principle or raw ambition. What did you expect? If he ran on Kuchinich's platform he would not be Prez now.
Why do you say "books," in scare quotes, Doug? I'm no fan of BHO, but I read substantial parts of the first one and thought it was actually precent decent of its kind. Unlike some other politicians, he has had to write for a living, and unlike some writers with ideas he can actually telklk a story with characters.
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