Alexander Cockburn
Rebellion
November 9, 2008
Original: CounterPunch
Translation: S. *
followed
A climate of intolerance? "Bad vibrations in a McCain-Palin rally? Always alert to the threat of brownshirts , progressives read media reports from Ohio and Wisconsin with a slight chill. Where have been the last few months? Try you discuss in a typical progressive house and give an opinion against Obama and in favor of Nader. A couple of friends of a lifetime left of me whisper in their homes and workplaces have ceased to talk openly about Obama and only dare to do it, sotto voce, in public parks.
last few days I've been flipping through the press, trying to find even one positive reason to vote for Obama. I insist on positive, since the candidate himself has made this expression a matter of attraction. Why vote for Obama, as opposed to voting against the team that make Palin and Joe the Plumber?
Obama invokes change. But never before has a reformist candidate has been so caught by the neck by the dead hand of the past. Is it possible to confront America's problems without talking about the military budget, already out of control? The Pentagon is spending more today than at any other time since the end of World War II. In constant dollars, the 635,000 million allocated in fiscal year 2007 are 5% higher than the previous highest figure in 1952. Depending on how you do the counting, the Empire has between 700 and 1,000 bases overseas, Obama wants to expand the number of military personnel by 90,000 units, is committed to increasing the U.S. war in Afghanistan, also attacking the sovereign territory of Pakistan if this country obstructs any unilateral U.S. mission to kill Osama bin Laden, is also committed to bringing the war against terror in a hundred countries, by creating a new international repressive infrastructure designed to attack terrorist networks. A Fresh Start? What is the difference with Bush's pledge to Congress on September 20, 2001, to conduct a "war on terror" against "every terrorist group of global reach" and against "any nation that continues hosting or supporting terrorism?
Obama advocates progressive conform to the idea that had this to say to get elected . After eight years of Bush, Americans are receptive to a reassessment of their country's imperial role, but Obama has missed this opportunity. If elected (1) is a prisoner of his promise that during his watch Afghanistan will not be lost, or will cease to white man's burden .
Whatever drawdown of troops in Iraq after Obama's victory will be only a short interval between the fanfare and noise of its offerings. Should Obama win, the most immediate consequence will most likely be brusque imperial reassertion. And Joe Biden the model faded poster of Israeli intransigence and Cold War hysteria, is stridently announcing the courage the new government will be tested in its first six months by the Russians and their acolytes.
After eight years of relentless attacks on constitutional liberties by Bush and Cheney, public and judicial enthusiasm for tyranny has waned. But Obama has chosen to be the part of Bush and Cheney. In February, for the sake of a progressive profile in the primaries, Obama spoke out against eavesdropping. Its support for the freedoms went beyond the second quarter, and finished him with a vote for such eavesdropping. The man who voted to confirm the Patriot Act declared that "the ability to pursue and reach people willing to attack the United States is a vital tool of counterterrorism."
Every politician, good or bad, is an opportunist ambitious. But beneath this first level, those who go to make their mark in history constructive have a background of consistency and fidelity to any central idea. For Obama, this idea is the ultimate distillation of identity politics: the idea of \u200b\u200bhis blackness. Those who claim that if he were white would be the easy road to the White House do not understand without their most prominent physical characteristic Obama would be considered a simple second-tier senator with no credentials to impress anybody. As a political organizer of their own advancement, Obama is a wonder. But I have not managed to find a single high intention which was true if it meant some risk to his career. Reaching for my optimism is available, I guess we can say that has not had occasion to offend two important constituencies and adjust his attitude, still decent, immigration and labor law reform. "Public financing of his campaign? Commitment first adopted and then betrayed, as in the case of illegal wiretapping. His campaign treasury is now a huge boat, if it had been raised by a boisterous Republican campaign theme would be progressive.
In substantive terms, the Obama campaign has been the negation of almost every decent progressive principle, a denial that has not generated the least protest of any progressive who intend to hold you liable. The Michael Moores remain silent. Abroad, Obama means imperial revival, but has shown submission to the Israeli lobby has promoted more rooted in the Cold War reflexes. In the country, has bowed before the bankers and Wall Street, oil companies, the coal, the nuclear lobby and large agro-industrial combined. Has not felt any fear at the time of offending progressives, not rested at the time of appeasing the powerful.
So, no, we're at an exciting time or discharge of U.S. policies, as was possible after years of Bush. If you want a memory of something that can be considered exciting, I suggest you go to the website of the Nader-Gonzalez campaign and read its platform, especially with regard to participation and initiative. Or read excerpts from the Libertarian Bob Barr's platform on foreign policy and rights constitutional. At this time, Cynthia McKinney is doing wacky claims about 5,000 post-Katrina performances, otherwise the include too.
Do you want to really be on the same side as Alan Dershowitz, Colin Powell and Christopher Hitchens?
(1) This article was written in late October (N. of T.).
* S. Still belonged to the groups of Rebellion and Cubadebate. This article may be reprinted provided that they respect his integrity and mention the name of the author and the translator, and the source.
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