In the February, 2007, issue of Z Magazine, Paul Street has some sage advice for us voters: don't judge the contents by its packaging. Barack Obama is encased in a very attractive carton at the political supermarket. You must open it for a full accounting of value; buying a glitzy but unfamiliar product can be risky to a family's shrinking disposable income in our tight economy.
Paul Street warns that less than a year into his U.S. Senate win, Obama sought to parlay an inspiring keynote address at 2004's Democratic Convention into a sprint for the roses--known in political circles as a White House residency.
Obama did the requisite high-impact rounds of TV shows. Beginning November, '05, he graced "The Tonight Show," "Meet the Press," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," as well as being featured on top slicks' covers--Men's Vogue,Marie Claire, Time, Vanity Fair, Washington Life. He wooed the religious right, appeared in Iowa, a premier caucus state, and penned
a lofty paean to himself entitled, The Audacity of Hope. Paul Street desrcibes the book to whit: {a book}"...that fairly screamed presidential ambition beneath false humility and ponderous power-worshiping prose. He received the praise, money, positive media attention, and public recognition that a serious presidential run requires."
Street further informs us that Ken Silverstein's analysis of Obama's fortunes in the November, 2006, issue of Harper's Magazine is less than lauditory. His piece, "Barack Obama Inc.: Birth of a Washington Machine," exposes the presidential hopeful's worldly side. Silverstein wrote, "Big donors would not be helping out Obama if they didn't see him as a 'player'...What's the dollar value of a starry-eyed idealist?"
The Paul Street expose is deep background on a candidate who has
managed to escape serious vetting generally by the mainstream media.
Street quotes David Sirota in his essay. Sirota's points distill in a few
sentences, the Obama mystique--a unique blend of "the abillity to mix charisma and deference to the establishment"--a reason..."that publications and think tanks have heaped praise on Obama and want him to run for President." And in he same piece, Sirota--described as a populist and independent thinker by fellow journalists such as the late, great Molly Ivins-- observed in 2006, "Obama is interested in fighting only for those changes that fit within the existing boundaries of what's considered mainstream in Washington instead of using his platform to redefine those boundaries."
Sirota's statement is a fairly serious indictment of Obama's hollow
program for change and is echoed by many political writers, including
some Black journalists who called his stand on the Iraq War "mushy-mouthed." To get the full picture, read the Z Magazine essay by
Paul Street online.
To summarize, shall we simply point out that Barack Obama's carefully-marketed persona should be scrutinized for possible product tampering? Candidly speaking, what you buy isn't necessarily what you get in a political transaction.
Paul Street is an urban social policy researcher in Iowa. He is an independent writer, speaker and historian, well-versed in social politics. He should know a little about the former Illinois legislator and current senator from the state, Barack Obama.
I do have writing credits in a major newspaper--long ago.
Currently, I write for online political boards with a
definite liberal bias. Proud parent, grandparent and
aspiring poet and novelist. I never stopped aspiring.
Finally managed to earn a BA degree in communications/ American lit. Love romantic fiction that also stretches
the intellectual muscles. And am mad about romantic
Russian composers. I take life seriously but tend to
look at it with a healthy skepticism which sometimes
translates into satire. Satire is usually the only
genre that captures faithfully our theater of the absurd.
