[lbo-talk] Waterboarding etc.

Sheldon Baker humanist.observer at gmail.com
Fri Jan 23 21:31:14 PST 2009


On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 1:57 PM, John Gulick <john_gulick at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
> JG responds:
>>
> If you have a problem with the factual content of my posts, then indicate
> where and how. It's certainly plausible that I've made erroneous claims;
> I don't follow this stuff 24-7. But to me it seems counterproductive to
> issue a rebuke when what I'm doing is refusing to pass Obama a blank check.
>
John, Actually, I don't have any specific problem with your facts or arguments. I suppose I was reacting to your accusation that Hanly was setting aside his skepticim simply because he noted that Obama maybe reversing some of the worst policies of the Bush administration.

And I suppose I was also reacting to many other accumulated cases of what I consider holier than thou attitude on the list that occasionally grate on my nerves, which is unfair to you.

Apologies.

While I wholeheartedly agree that the left needs to criticize Obama, we also need to defend him from the far-right. And to do that, I would think we would at least need to acknowledge what little he does that goes in the direction we desire. I mean don't get me wrong, the revolution can't come soon enough, but in the meantime......

And I might add that although they are going to take their sweet time actually closing GITMO down, they are also immediately closing down these kangaroo court proceedings, although I haven't read the fine print on that one either.

I might also remind comrades on the list that even some small reversals of the most reactionary policies of Bush that Obama might do can have real world positive consequences for people. For example I heard somewhere that Obama plans to discontinue the draconian ICE mass round ups of undocumented workers that have occurred in the past couple of years. Thats not amnesty, but its better than getting arrested in a raid, separated from your family, and deported before you can take off your meat slaughtering gear. Not many people on this list I suspect actually have to worry about that kind of repression.

And haven't the Dems just passed the expansion of SCHIP? No its not singlle payer, but I personally could have used that help a couple of years ago when I was uninsured and paying out of pocket for my youngin's insurance and medical bills.

What I object to is this snide attitude towards the masses who have voted for Obama and Democrats without recognizing how they understand our social-political reality. The fact of the matter is, they got no other fuckin alternative that will make much of an immediate difference.

FYI, for what voting is worth, which isn't much, I have voted for Nader in every pres. election since 1996. So no, I am not one of those who see in Obama "the change we have been waiting for" tm. But I am glad he won instead of that other jackass who kept on calling me friend.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list