How would this have transformed the political landscape?
What else might this have triggered?
Gore and his people weren’t going to do that because they wouldn’t, even if it means that their wins will be stolen, call on the mass participation of the people. Bush et al, by contrast, didn’t hesitate to call forth their Brooks Brothers rioters to intimidate the Miami vote counters into stopping their counting of ballots.
So these are the two sides of this match. When Nancy Pelosi, before the 2006 election was held, declared, “impeachment is off the table,” she was giving the Bush White House a green light to do anything it wanted, because she was guaranteeing that there would be no repercussions.
If this was professional wrestling, the audience would boo and hiss about how fixed it all was.
Does the fact that Obama’s being attacked mean that he’s our hero?
Obama, despite being the target of vicious, Nazi-lite pundits and thugs, is not the people’s champion. Obama has made it clear and continues to make it clear that he is not doing what he’s doing to undo the fundamental nature of American society. He has praised Reagan as someone who brought people together. He has stated that he likes the foreign policy of George Bush, Sr. and has no problems with Desert Storm. He has openly threatened military attack on Pakistan and Iran. He has refused to call for unconditional and complete withdrawal from Iraq. He has failed miserably to do anything that he has been legally and morally obliged to do: oppose and end torture and the other horrid policies that this White House has called into being.
What is this talk of assassinating Obama, coming from both the GOP, from his fellow Democrat, Hillary Clinton, and assorted other sources, designed to do? It’s
- an attempt to whip up and channel racist sentiment against blacks, stoking the fires of resentment and reaction to create a pogromist-like atmosphere, and
- a warning to Obama that he better tread very carefully and that he better not forget whom he serves and that even if he does get to the White House, that he can be gunned down at any time if he gets out of line.
Those who think and hope that Obama is some kind of stealth candidate, that he actually wants to do something dramatic when he occupies the White House, should take note not only of what Obama has said repeatedly on the record, not only what he has done – and not done - as a Senator and as a Presidential candidate, but also what would happen to him or anyone else who ascends to the presidency under these conditions.
Even if Obama were a liberal of the Edward Kennedy variety – which he isn’t – what situation would he find himself in as the Chief Executive of the sole remaining superpower, the biggest and strongest imperialist empire to ever stalk the earth?
Edward Kennedy had two of his brothers assassinated, and neither of them were radicals, not even remotely.
It has come down to this: the 2008 Democratic candidate for president (and his replacement waiting anxiously in the wings) are at best the late 1980s GOP president. The Democratic Party today is GOP-lite.
Is this what you want? Is that all there is?
Another Path is Possible and Urgently Needed
In the 1960s wearing long hair or flashing the peace sign were ubiquitous symbols of people’s opposition to what the government was doing and what the government stood for. They were declarations by individuals that they were against all of that and for a different way of being and seeing the world.
