In the most matter-of-fact fashion Glen Ford, editor of the Black Agenda Report, responded to this statement by quipping acidly that, “The U.S. has ‘coddled’ 600,000 Iraqis to death.” Well, of course,m thatw as a few months ago. In May 2007 Senator Obama sings a different tune, and, along with Sen. Clinton, states with unconvincing resolve that “enough is enough”, and that “we cannot give a blank check to continue down this same, disastrous path.” By now at least some of us recognize that Hillary Clinton is nothing more than a careerist establishment politician, a characterization requiring little explanation, but Barak Obama still has the audacity to present himself as a “champion of the people,” claiming to be a man sensitive to the plight of the struggling American worker and the “Middle Class.” Yet a statement in his new book declares without any sense of shame or contradiction that, “Serious concern over the nation’s harsh disparities is consigned to leftist ‘cranks’ and other assorted ‘unreasonable zealots.’” Does this sound like a man in touch with what this country needs to get done?
Senator Obama’s statements lead us to presume that he feels that those who speak out against socio- economic injustice, and 46 million still living without healthcare, are simply whiney babies who don’t appreciate all they have. Obama, basking in the establishment’s embrace, acts as if the working people of this country owed these corporate criminals something; even if it is they, after all, who are collecting the most welfare. Is it too unfair to suggest that, fully in his establishment persona Barack Obama sounds like a right-wing Harvard crank, totally out of touch with his roots as a community organizer in Chicago, and who in his climb to power “inadvertently” erased his memory of what it is like for everyday people? Barack, take a tour of the real Washington DC area, for example, leave the fancy confines of the Beltway, and reacquaint yourself with the reasons why us “cranks” feel distressed about domestic inequities.
A party worth voting forI urge those who haven’t recovered yet from the post traumatic stress disorder of blaming Nader for Gore’s defeat in 2000 to get over it quick, ant not be afraid to get tough on the frontrunners. I am well aware that many think voting for Dennis Kucinich is impractical or an impossible victory, and which may have a similar precipitous effect as the 2000 election. If you won’t cast a vote for a candidate you feel has no chance, please at least consider demanding that the Democratic Party frontrunners themselves abandon the “G.O.P. Lite” centrist formula which lost Kerry and Gore their elections, and make sure they start sounding (and feeling, if that were possible) more like Kucinich. If the mainstream Democrats happen to win and don’t follow through on their promises, they should be reminded that we, the people, will demand they get out of office immediately, or they will have to answer to a politically conscious, and completely disaffected public in no mood for more doubletalk.
I often find myself having flashbacks to 2004 as I watched Ralph Nader walk into a conference room with John Kerry to give last minute advice on how to drive the nail into the coffin of baby Bush’s campaign. As we watched the doors behind them close shut, I thought to myself maybe Nader could appeal to the once anti-war activist, turned Ketchup guru, John Kerry. When the doors reopened my fears had once again been realized, but it was not in the least bit surprising. As Nader walked out of the room trying to mask the disenchantment on his face, and the defeat in his eyes, I knew at that moment that Kerry had cataloged Nader’s advice as “too risky or too left for his liking.”
But Nader knew that if John Kerry didn’t become more than just an “Anybody But Bush” he would not be able to conquer the fear mongering, and “tough on terror” platform of the Republicans. As anticipated, Nader proved to be once again correct. Even though Kerry ostensibly won most of the debates, he did not win the hearts and minds of the people nearly enough, which could have inspired them to go and vote in even greater numbers, armed with a hope for the future, instead of simply being motivated by the near paralyzing fear of another four years of George Bush. The sins of the 2004 election have not been so easily washed away by the ebb and flow of time, there is more blood on our shores now, and the stains of the Kerry defeat have by no means disappeared from the American psyche. Hopefully the 2008 election can draw in more voters than a vote for American Idol.
I was quite confident that Bush would win again a year before the election took place, quite certain in my gut feeling because I had seen the obvious: that the “GOP Lite” formula is a bankrupt centrist ideology with no principles, and which inspires far too few to go out and vote the decadent neocon murderers—or whatever branch of the imperial tree happens to be in office—out of power once and for all…
This time around, I urge readers to mobilize and vote against the “Anybody But Bush” formula for victory. History has been overly gracious and patient with us, and has kindly granted us a bit more room to maneuver, and maybe a small chance to redeem ourselves, even in the wake of eight years of George W. Bush. But history doesn’t stand still, or return to the exact same point in time over and over again, even though things at first glance seem similar. Thus, while, if lucky, we might just survive this regime’s second term, four years of another Reaganite might very well be the curtain call for what is left of our fading republic. not to mention much of the world.
If we are, as some adduce, actors on the stage of history, I suggest we all note that we are approaching the final scene if we don’t adjust our failed formulas. If we don’t follow the path of social justice, as Kucinich has challenged us to do, we won’t be able to whittle away at the apathy and cynicism which infect the hearts and minds of people all over this vast nation. “Anybody But Bush” is not strong enough of a vision to steer us out of harm’s way.
Maybe now that Senator Obama has tasted his own blood again by voting “No” to Bush’s 120 billionaire check, he himself will be ready to draw up a bill to give us real Universal Healthcare, and have a clear exit strategy for Iraq just as Kucinich has already done. We see through you Senators Obama and Clinton, and we will not be fooled this time around. Either get tough or get out of the way and give Edwards and Kucinich a shot. I would feel much more confident having a Kucinich-Edwards ticket than an Obama-Clinton ticket, even if their belated conversions, which may prove illusory, align them, at last, with the majority of their party’s grassroots.
—Paul A. Donovan is Cyrano’s Journal’s Assistant Editor.
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