Not the fact that the torture of Terror War
"detainees" goes on and on under Obama -- and is now aimed more and more at American citizens.
No,
none of that bothers our fightin' progressives -- or at least, not for
more than a blog post or two. Instead, it is the political fate of the
most powerful man in the world that really gets their pulses racing with
earnest, obsessive concern. It is the question of whether this
third-rate murderer of innocent villagers in Central Asia gets to spend
six more years managing the bloodthirsty power structure, or just two
more years. And whether the far right clique of imperial courtiers wins
the White House and then dismantles Social Security -- or whether Barack
Obama and his clique of courtiers dismantle Social Security first as
part of their "grand bargain" with their fellow trough-feeders. Oh, what
mighty, weighty straws these are which spur our progressives to the
field!
True, a handful of progressives lambast Obama now --
without, it must be said, ever apologizing for their misjudgment in
insisting that we vote for him in the first place. But even some of the
Obama's most vociferous critics on the left are making it clear that no
matter what happens -- no matter how many more crimes the Terror War
Continuer lays at America's door -- they will, in the end, stand
squarely by his side when the battle trumpet sounds. John Caruso has
just found a jaw-dropping example of this progressive-compulsive
disorder, with which he makes much antic hay:
What do you do when Democrats ignore everything you want (on those rare occasions when they're not actively doing the exact opposite of what you want), and dismiss you as the sanctimonious purist f*cking retards of the professional left for not applauding their betrayals loudly enough? Declare that you'll support them unconditionally, of course:NORMAN SOLOMON: Obviously, on the one hand, when November comes along we want to stop right-wing Republicans, so we're going to vote Democrat.
I wanted to hear more about this seemingly counterintuitive strategy, so I got in touch with Solomon and asked him a few questions:
JC: Norman, you, Jeff Cohen and others have started Roots Action, a group which pledges to "take action independent of both party leaderships." Can you explain just what this independence means to you?
NORMAN SOLOMON: Obviously, on the one hand, when November comes along we want to stop right-wing Republicans, so we're going to vote Democrat.
JC: I see, I see. Now, in an essay titled "A Time for Action -- Not Servility", you and Cohen have said that Roots Action's first action will be to send a petition to President Obama calling for an end to the Afghanistan war. Assuming Obama ignores this just as he's ignored dozens of other toothless petitions directed at him, how will you demonstrate your lack of servility?
NS: Obviously, on the one hand, when November comes along we want to stop right-wing Republicans, so we're going to vote Democrat.
JC: Huh, ok. You know, it's nearly two years until the next "November" that you're talking about--isn't there a possibility that the Democrats might do something so despicable between now and then that you'd change your mind? Let's try out a hypothetical here: suppose Obama announces a plan to terminate social security and use all the accumulated assets to invade Yemen, give lavish bonuses to corporate CEOs, throw all anti-war activists into an expanded Guantanamo, and then to celebrate he comes to your house and personally drinks the blood of your adorable pet schnauzer. What would you do in that scenario?
NS: Obviously, on the one hand, when November comes along we want to stop right-wing Republicans, so we're going to vote Democrat...
They will not, and evidently cannot, break faith with their
fundamentalist belief in the inherent goodness of the power structure --
as long as this structure is managed by politicians from the Democratic
Party. The actual, demonstrable content of this management -- war,
murder, torture, repression, injustice, inequality, corruption --
doesn't seem to matter. All that really matters is that these atrocities
are carried out under the proper factional label, by gasbags and
gloryhogs occasionally making the proper noises in their empty speeches.
That's what progressivism, liberalism, dissent, the "left" has come to
in America.
Like I said, I was born in a long-gone age; I just can't fathom this fawning modern mindset.
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