Tags for This Article:

Obama-Barack (4501)  Iraq War (2251)  Clinton-Hillary (1100)  2008 Election Presidential Primary (1042)  Taxes (355)  Presidential Library (14) 

Populum Tag Cloud
       Control Panel
Fine tune your search to access content
Articles
Diaries Products
Events All
All time
Last 6 mos
Last month
Last week
Last 24 hrs
From:
Month  Day   Year

To:
Month  Day   Year
Alphabet
Popularity
Count ON
Count OFF
This Level
Sub-levels

 

 

 

Tag(s): ; ; ; ; ;
Add to My Group
March 8, 2008 at 15:09:43

The New Phase for Obama, Clinton and the Rest of Us

by Tom Hayden     Page 2 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

 
Tell A Friend

View Ratings | Rate It  

Anyone with the brain of a plant can see the US heading right into these traps and quagmires. Read Barbara Tuchman’s March of Folly and it will become clear that only a stunning jolt might force a reversal of course. That “jolt”, hopefully, will come from a popular and unavoidable demand for peace rather than another military fiasco.

Obama, if he truly aspires to audacity, now is the time to point out that this is the disastrous and predictable future that will result from the policies proposed by those who claim to have superior “experience” and “expertise” in foreign policy. For precedent, he could stand in Springfield, Illinois, and remind the nation that it was another political novice from Illinois, young Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the Mexican-American war and went on to become quite a commander-in-chief.

 1  |  2

 

http://www.tomhayden.com

After forty years of activism, politics and writing, Tom Hayden still is a leading voice for ending the war in Iraq, erasing sweatshops, saving the environment, and reforming politics through greater citizen participation. Currently he is writing and advocating for US Congressional hearings on exiting Iraq. A more comprehensive bio, going back to the sixties, when he co-founded SDS and protested in the deep south

Contact Author
Contact Editor
View Other Articles by Author

 

Bookmark this page: (what's this?)

NETSCAPE      DIGG THIS      Add This Page to Mr Wong!           NEWSVINE      DEl.ICIO.US      Looksmart Furl      My Web      Tag!RawSugar      Blink List     (More...)
Comments: Expand   Shrink   Hide  
2 comments

Born in Philadelphia, grew up on a farm, which my parents lost in the Great Depression. I suppose my political inclination began when I watched Dad ride our horse across snow-covered fields to vote for FDR. Married, three great sons, divorced. Still learning.
L.M. ArndtBorn in Philadelphia, grew up on a farm, which my parents lost in the Great Depression. I suppose my political inclination began when I watched Dad ride our horse across snow-covered fields to vote for FDR. Married, three great sons, divorced. Still learning.

Where the Obama campaign needs to go

Be serious! Nobody cares about Hillary's tax returns. Everybody hates having to fill out those forms and cough up the money, which is then promptly wasted on private contractors in Iraq or payments to suit-and-tie "farmers" or raids on medical-marijuana dispensaries. And nobody cares whether or not Hillary lied about NAFTA. She's a politician. Politicians lie. She's also a Clinton.

The U.S. occupation of Iraq, a.k.a. "the Iraq War," is old news, the surge along with paying Iraqis to "be good" has cooled that hellhole a bit, and the whole mess is "over there." What's right here, right now, today, is an economy that's in crisis; a mortgage meltdown that is so bad that entire cities are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy; an unfair and ineffective "health-care" system that siphons money from people's pockets straight to the bottom line of insurance companies; trade policies that result in a $60 Billion MONTHLY trade deficit and continuing job losses. In other words, bread-and-butter issues.

Obama's "Yes We Can" needs to tackle those issues, maybe to simply point out what those billions we're squandering in Iraq could do if applied to our own infrastructure, to a concerted effort toward reindustrialization through solar power, wind power, investments in our own infrastructure, to hefty subsidies for students attending college.

Why is the U.S. so far behind Europe and Japan in rail travel? Why don't we have high-speed maglev service? Why are we not retrofitting the factories now endlessly turning out military vehicles, military equipment, and bombs into building low-emission buses for cheap and efficient public transit? Why are we turning our colleges and universities over to corporations to exploit as research sites? Why are we lagging behind in new technologies that can facilitate business efficiencies such as teleconferencing?

Maybe what Obama needs to do is invite Americans into the conversation. What do Americans want from a real health-care (not health-care "coverage") system? What does small business need from the government? What do small farmers need? How and where can we create the jobs for our willing and eager workers? How do we level the playing field that at this point permits the exploitation of foreign workers and job losses for our own?

Why does the objection that "We can't afford it?" apply to child-health programs, to universal health care, to the rebuilding of New Orleans, to funding of AmTrak, to a decent minimum wage, to after-school programs, to repair and maintenance of our schools, parks, playgrounds, bridges, libraries, hospitals, water and sewer departments – and not to unlimited expenditures on the occupation of a foreign nation that in no way ever posed a serious threat to us?

by L.M. Arndt (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 45 comments) on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 8:43:29 PM
 


Margaret Bassett is an 86-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbrums. She hopes to hold out for one more presidential election. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboa...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Margaret BassettMargaret Bassett is an 86-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbrums. She hopes to hold out for one more presidential election. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboa...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Some things don't change, some do

Forty years ago this summer, I remember the Catholic Church in Chicago (Halsted, I believe) where you SDSers were in the spotlight. Things are really tamer now, methinks. Talking about tax returns and legislative maneuverings.

One thing remains the same. It's Power, Baby. Not Black. Or even White. But Of The Pocketbook. Al Gore, bless his heart, gave us the deciding vote for NAFTA. At least the Mexicans whom it ran out of Mexico know how to do lawns and plant trees, which is a plus for the environment.

Something good has happened. Hillary graduated from Goldwater cheerleading into bigger jobs. And I don't see much evidence that fathers and sons (call it children and parents) are on opposite side of the fence over a misbegotten incursion. We all can be united at the gas pump. And speaking of 1968, Democrats aren't as befuddled. Best I know, Americans want to get out of Iraq with alacrity and civility, and here at home they'd like to get some attention.

It's amusing that old Hillary is getting comeuppance from an upstart. I guess they both know when it's time to answer a phone. What I'd like to know is whether they're tuned into a bunch of livewires under 30.

by Margaret Bassett (31 articles, 1959 quicklinks, 30 diaries, 1278 comments) on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 9:10:53 PM
 

 

2 comments

 

Tell A Friend

 


Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2008

Blog Ads

 

 

 

 

Most Popular Articles
in the Last 2 Days
(by Recommend Emails)

Keith Olbermann Broke Up With Me! by Shannyn Moore

Special Message for Tibetans Living In and Outside of Tibet Posted by Stephen Fox

Study Confirms Genetically Modified Crops Threaten Human Fertility and Health Safety Posted by sadelaine

SO SAY THE BANKERS: Learn to Love the 'AMERO' by Patrick Henningsen

Getting Through the Coming Depression by Bernard Weiner

Children dying in Haiti, victims of food crisis exacerbated by four devastating tropical storms Posted by Stephen Fox

Senate testimony by police captain reveals 9 sticks of missing dynamite in 'Omaha Two' bombing case by Michael Richardson

Tim Robbins: An Open Letter to the New York City Board of Elections by Tim Robbins

Obama is Already Stirring Controversy by The Old Codger

Kucinich is Still Rockin' My World Toward Peace by Meryl Ann Butler

Go To Top 50 Most Popular