Brighter Day

The Obama campaign has offered progressives a much-needed shot of optimism and joy. And if we should manage to prevail Tuesday, many of us are going to feel like taking a well-deserved break from activism. And we can't afford to do that.

In 1992, so many of us felt that once we'd elected a Democratic president, someone else could carry out our agenda for us, and we all saw how well that went, when Bill Clinton went on to pass NAFTA, lose the House and Senate, and then go on to expand the Death Penalty, give away the digital spectrum, allow more media consolidation, end "Welfare as we know it," etc.

Now, in 2008. there are big battles ahead over the soul of our nation; over whether to continue letting insurance companies mismanage health care; over whether working people should get a share of the big Wall Street Bailout; over whether 'clean' coal and nukes should be a prominent part of the energy independence equation. The list goes on and on.

If America should elect Barack Obama, we have to be the 'wind at his back.' We have to make sure that our voices are at least as loud as those of the big campaign donors. "Eternal vigilance is the price of Freedom!"

But in the meantime, let's bask in all that joy for a bit longer. Here is political rapper Wil b. presenting our homage to the breath of fresh air that this campaign has been and our hopes for what an Obama presidency can be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI0sD7b_ohw&fmt=18

Comments

[DModel]

Dear Senator Obama

I hope that you succeed in your campaign to become president. I was particularly impressed with your commitment to international law as revealed on your website when you affirmed that "As President, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions." America"s flagrant and blatant dismissal of both American and international law is a foreboding and ominous step backward in the march towards a just and law-biding world.

As President, you need to commit yourself to abiding by the United Nations Charter. No Member State shall take aggressive action against any other state without the approval of the Security Council or in the case of an act of self-defence, against an attack, without referring the matter to the Security Council for resolution.

The "war on terror" is a nebulous, misleading concept which does not implicate any specific country as an enemy posing a substantial and immediate threat.

I hope that you will extend your commitment to international law to the United Nations Charter and recognize that obedience to the rule of law is indivisible. In other words, you can not choose which laws to obey and which laws to ignore otherwise the concept of the rule of law is meaningless.

Yours truly:

David Model

State of Darkness: US Complicity in Genocide since 1945.
http://www.stateofdarkness.com