On Nov 20, 2009, at 1:39 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
> "program for real social, political, or economic change"
>
> [WS:] What does that mean? What specific actions would such a change
> entail?...The only progressive thing a politician can realistically do
> is to refrain from fearmongering, mudslinging, and vile character
> assassination. Obama did just that...
Obama won a landslide victory, carrying his party to overwhelming congressional majorities, because he promised "CHANGE! CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!" Close Guantanamo. No Lobbyists in the White House. Universal Health Care. Renewable Energy instead of coal pollution. Financial reform. Gay rights.
He took office with approval ratings of about 75 percent. There was clear popular repudiation of the banksters, of the Bushits, of the Health-Insurance Corporations. He could, if he had so desired, have advanced with that popular force behind him, programs to reorganize the banking system at bankster, not taxpayer, expense; to enforce the rule of law by prosecuting the Bushits for their flagrant crimes; to expand Medicare starting right away with children; to "stimulate the economy" with massive clean energy investments and public employment on environmental and infrastructure projects. With a stroke of the pen he could have closed the Guantanamo prison and done away with anti-gay discrimination in public employment. He could have won congressional passage for previously-House-approved laws to restore workers' rights to union representation and end the embargo against Cuba. These were the things he promised (or seemed to promise) that got him the nomination and the election. These were the promises that he violated at every chance.
Result: approval ratings below 50 percent after only 10 months in office! And a climate of opinion filled more than ever with the "fearmongering mudthrowing and negativism" that so distress Wojtek. If Obama is not a pathetic failure, if what he has done and not done is what he really intended to do and not to do, then he is indeed a master politician--and a swindler on a scale that puts Madoff to shame.
>> On Nov 19, 2009, at 7:27 PM, Wojtek S wrote:
>>
>> BTW, what I really appreciate in Obama is his refusal to go with the
>>> fearmongering mudthrowing and negativism that is endemic in US
>>> electioneering - he tries to appear to positive emotions. That is
>>> a big
>>> change in this vile political circus.
>>>
>>
>>
>> But the reason for the pathetic failure of Obama is also his
>> refusal to
>> advocate, or even his covert opposition to, any program for real
>> social,
>> political, or economic change. His excuse has been precisely that
>> advancing
>> such programs would be met with opposition even more violent than
>> the stupid
>> foxist outcry against his ineffective compromises and that he would
>> be
>> blamed for the ensuing "fearmongering mudthrowing and negativism."
>> Clinton
>> had much the same excuse. The cowering, whimpering liberals like
>> Obama are
>> in fact the main clowns in "this vile political circus."
>>
>>
>>
>> Shane Mage
>>
>> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
>>> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
>>> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>>>
>>> Herakleitos of Ephesos
>>>