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Conversation with Daniel Ellsberg: Evaluating Obama So Far

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His "changes" have made his favorite bankers rich, and will vastly enrich the health industry, without demanding regulation. Hardly surprising on the financial sector, since he appointed as top officials and advisors the very promoters of deregulation that created the crisis. The administration attitude that "What's good for Goldman Sachs is good for the nation" is not the change most people were eager for.

I hear there have been some useful changes in civil rights and the environment (other than a real policy for averting climate catastrophe!) but I don't know the specifics. On the issues I follow closely, it's a another Bush term: at its best, Bush the father, but mostly the son. The rhetoric is different, for sure, but it's so uncoupled from performance that I scarcely listen to the talk any more.

Yes, there still is a dime's worth of difference between the parties--though not a whole lot more than that--but at this point, I wouldn't give a dime for the rhetoric alone. If he backs up his words about a "nuclear -free world" with meaningful steps in that direction, I'll give him credit for it: but he hasn't done so yet, and I really don't expect it. Looking at the Republicans, I can hardly regret my vote and support for him, and I will surely vote for him in 2012. But not because I expect from him the change we need: in the absence of a yet-nonexistent citizens' movement that will change the political environment to which he responds.

Certainly in style, and in some respects in policy, he's far from being a Bush-type Republican. But he's just as far from what we need as he is from McCain and Palin.

A thorough answer but hardly a rave review, I'm afraid. Let's pause here. When we return, Dan will talk more about the Pentagon Papers and how much things are different, or not, today. I hope you'll join us.

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Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of (more...)
 

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