Repudiations
Jan 5th, 2008 at 12:01 pm by Susie
Mahabarb on the Iowa results - and the bobblehead responses. She sums up thusly:
The truth is, our greatest fear is that Barack Obama will turn out to be another Hillary Clinton — all centrist caution and status quo bias.
And that’s what troubles me. If the only problem you have with the current system is that the present practitioners aren’t as competent as we would like them to be, any of the corporatist nominees should be quite enough to make you happy.
I see our country at a crossroads. And if we nominate a charismatic figure who, perhaps unwittingly, cultivates a cult of personality around himself - someone whose “trust me” demeanor turns him into a blank slate onto which we project our hopes and dreams - well, remember how well that worked when Republicans nominated a certain “compassionate conservative”?
I’m not merely hoping for a win. I want someone who will chase the moneychangers from the temple of democracy.
If you’re not an idiot (or a member of the corporate media), you understand that even if we don’t yet have soldiers with machine guns patrolling the streets or national ID cards, it’s not quite as unthinkable as it was in 2000, is it? Even the New York Times now admits there’s something screwy with the voting machines (hey, congrats for finally seeing that parade and running to the front!), and people aren’t quite as quick to roll their eyes when you use the word “fascism.”
Our Supreme Court was the instrument that put this right-wing regime in place, and their right-wing tilt has been further solidified. The courts and government agencies have been carefully purged of career professionals, with extremists put in their place. The laws have been turned inside out with executive orders, the administration ignores them at will, and the Democratic congress just sits and gapes.
This regime has started a war for no moral reason, but to further its political ends and to allow cronies to make obscene and illegal profits. The United States of America is now famous for rationalizing torture and corrupting habeas corpus rights.
They have, for all practical purposes, deregulated industry and as a result, the air we breathe, the food we eat and the land we live in is more dangerous than ever. (Not to mention putting us on the brink of a depression.) The poorest and most vulnerable among us are in desperate straits.
So when I hear a Democratic candidate attack other Democrats using right-wing talking points, I most assuredly do not see that candidate as our nation’s savior. If he or she isn’t boiling mad at what’s been done - at what we’ve allowed to occur - then he or she is part of the problem and shouldn’t be president.
The country needs to elect a black president someday soon. Then we can get past race as an issue. Obama may be the one.
My hesitation due to his slim resume is he will be a lousy president because I can’t forget the two worst mayors Philly ever had were Wilosn Goode and John Street- they were both educated and smart but in office were utter failures-and I voted for Goode the first time he ran. This might sound racial but I don’t think it is- I would not have the same hesitation towards Colin Powell or Condi.
I didn’t just see you compare Obama to dubya.
[...] of the problem Susie: I see our country at a crossroads. And if we nominate a charismatic figure who, perhaps [...]
Wilson Goode and John Street may have paper credentials, but both are pedestrian politicians with neither vision nor gut-level belief in themselves or the people they serve.
Both worshiped more at the Church of Corporate Greed than in the crumbling schools and neighborhoods of genuine need. They took their constituents for granted and let them down.
White mayors have done the same, it’s true, but sad to say they’ve had the one thing Black mayors have lacked: real clout. Without that essential political currency, Goode and Street are just two more crooks and liars.
Joe Clark, Bill Green and Ed Rendell, not a saint among them — yet in their time, smart, credentialed, connected and White, three of the best (White, Black or Hispanic) mayors in the country.
Michael Nutter might just crack the code in Philly. Which democrat can do that for the country?
No, I didn’t. I compared how voters projected their desires onto Bush, just as they’re doing with Obama.
Time to leave the cult of personality behind. NONE of these morons are our saviour. ALL of them will fuck shit up. Somehow we have to decide who will fuck shit up least. I’m picking Edwards but…………..