Plan Colombia allocates billions of dollars in military aid (monetary and arms) to the country's right-wing government. Originally meant for defoliation of coca crops (which have devastated the peasant economy and legal enterprises such as sugar and coffee), according to investigative reporting, Plan Colombia funds are closely linked to violent repression of trade unionists. Colombia is now the top site for murders of trade unionists in the world.
Certainly Kerry's loss did not come as a surprise. He offered few positive alternatives, other than being the "anybody" in "Anybody But Bush." His economic prescriptions were tepid, and his stances on foreign policy issues such as war and Empire reflected those of the neocons.
When all the hype about the "youth vote," "e-activism," "buses to Ohio," and "house DVD parties" cleared so tragically and so pathetically on Election Day 2004 -- and with devout Kerry-Edwards supporters battling denial -- the only forces on the left remaining were the Anti-Anybody-But-Bush crew. Indeed the anti-ABBers had been vindicated.
The Bleak Democratic Future
However, many on the liberal-to-left spectrum still aren't learning. Barack Obama has done his best to resurrect the lies of a progressive Democratic Party. Nicholas Kristof, days after the November disaster of 2004, urged that it is "time to get religion" for progressives and Democrats. Chat room and bulletin board rumbling suggests a drive for a Hillary Clinton Presidential DLC run in 2008. The Democratic future was, and is, indeed bleak.
Meanwhile, the Democrats continued self-destructive tendencies and betrayal of loyal constituencies, enthusiastically nominating pro-war, anti-choice, Nevada extremist Harry Reid for the party's Senate leader. Reid, a conservative Mormon, received slightly under a 30% rating from NARAL, the largest pro-choice advocacy group in the US.
Reid's nomination came after months of cheap Nader-baiting, in which Democrats and liberals characterized Ralph Nader's run as a threat to abortion rights. Comparable wrath directed against the anti-choice Reid nomination did not exist, even though Reid's elevation to one of the most influential Senate positions, and the highest post held by a Democrat in the country, will determine the strength, or rather the weakness of Democratic opposition to federal judicial appointments.
The most morally reprehensible action came later after the election with the nomination of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General. Much of the mainstream press and Democrats described John Ashcroft's replacement as "moderate." But Gonzales wrote the infamous memos essentially authorizing the Bush Administration to flout international human rights law as defined in the Geneva Convention.
So what did the liberals do? The ACLU would not "take an official position." Pro-war Democrat Charles Schumer opined: "It's encouraging that the president has chosen someone less polarizing." And Patrick Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee chimed in tellingly: "I like him."
Some may continue to recommend "reforming the Democratic Party from within." Many Nader bashers and ABBers adopted such a line in 2004, claiming that if Nader would only run as a Democratic candidate for the party's Presidential nomination, he could do oh-so-much to influence its direction. Yet the examples of Dean and Kucinich have shown us what happens when one makes such attempts -- relentless attacks, backstabbing, and silencing. Reformism within the Democratic Party is a hopeless endeavor.
A little about the new Democratic hope. Like the majority of his colleagues, Obama has done very little to change the face of American politics. He has voted for war spending, appeased the pro-Israel lobby, and helped build the erroneous case against Iran, saying nothing about Israel's plentiful arsenal of nuclear warheads. In short, Barack Obama is not an ally to those of us who oppose the ambiguous War on Terror.
"I want you to know that today I'll be speaking from my heart, and as a true friend of Israel," Obama announced a day after he locked up his party's nomination to a crowd of pro-Israel zealots. "[W]hen I visit with AIPAC, I am among friends, Good friends. Friends who share my strong commitment to make sure that the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today, tomorrow, and forever."
Yet here we are again, like 2004, with "progressives" and other lefties ogling a hope-filled candidacy. But it's not just Obama's war support that should raise our hackles.
Obama supports the death penalty, opposes single-payer health care, supports looking into nuclear energy, opposes a carbon pollution tax, supports sending more troops to Afghanistan, and will not end the vast array of federal subsidies to corporations, including those to the oil and gas cartel.
And as the United States economy slides into a deep recession, Barack Obama is promising more of the same, despite his criticism of John McCain's economic plan. But behind the curtains of Obama's strategy team is the same set of economic troglodyte intellectuals that led us in to our current financial disaster.
Obama's advisory team includes Harvard economist Jeffrey Liebman, a former Clinton adviser, who believes we ought to privatize social security. Then we have the renowned David Cutler, another Harvardite, who believes our economy can be boosted through an increase in privatized health care costs. Writing for New England Journal of Medicine in 2006, Cutler explained, "The rising cost ... of health care has been the source of a lot of saber rattling in the media and the public square, without anyone seriously analyzing the benefits gained."
