You'd never know it from watching television, but there are many thousands of people in the United States who take peace, justice, environmental protection, and government of the people so seriously that they don't censor themselves whenever the president is a Democrat.
While many others are still debating whether it would be appropriate to criticize or protest President Obama after a mere three and a half years of disaster, the people I have in mind have been openly and honestly resisting the latest Wall Street war monger since before he was elected.
Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank have collected 56 essays from prior to, from early on in, and from quite recently during the Obama presidency. The collection, just published as Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, has a consistent approach to its topic. The authors, including Kevin Alexander Gray, Jeremy Scahill, Chris Floyd, Sibel Edmonds, Franklin Spinney, Kathy Kelly, Marjorie Cohn, Chase Madar, Michael Hudson, Medea Benjamin, Charles Davis, Ray McGovern, Dave Lindorff, Bill Quigley, Tariq Ali, Andy Worthington, Linn Washington, Jr., and many more, don't agree on everything. A few try to urge serious progressive plans on Obama that they would never have proposed that Bush champion, not even rhetorically, not even for laughs. The book is not organized by topic; it's a random, if chronological, ride through a catalog of catastrophes. But it's united by the theme of horrendously bad government in the age of Obama. It ignores the mythology and treats Obama based on his actual performance.
Reducing the charges against Obama developed in detail in this book to a Declaration of Independence-like list of grievances might look something like this:
Obama has taken massive funding from Wall Street, appointed Wall Streeters to top positions, and followed their lead, to the benefit of banksters and the detriment of the rest of us. Obama, despite promises the contrary, has put lobbyists in positions of power in his administration. Senator Obama's corporatist vote for the Class Action Fairness Act was in line with the rest of his performance as senator and later president.
Obama has taken massive funding from war profiteers and worked in their interest, empowering a collection of war hawks from the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton eras, and including no opponent of militarism in any high office.
Obama abandoned the people of Gaza to their fate beneath Israeli bombs.
Obama bailed out AIG, but not you or me.
Obama delayed de-escalation in Iraq and tried every way he could to avoid complete withdrawal.
Obama has expanded secrecy, sought retribution against whistleblowers, expanded warrentless spying, protected confessed torturers, revived military commissions, and expanded the military.
Obama has made anti-environmentalist corporate tools the heads of the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture.
Obama's administration facilitated and accepted a military coup in Honduras.
Obama has continued and expanded upon aggressively inhumane immigration policies.
Obama championed corporate health coverage over Medicare for All.
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