Is Who Becomes the Next President All That Matters?
BERLIN, MAY 13, 2008: I know. I know. How this is the most important election in history, and why the next occupant of the White House will not only be answering the red phone at 3 AM but possibly be saving these not always United States from the decline that even TIME Magazine has announced the country is facing.
Yet, as I travel outside the country, I can't help but feel, or is it fear, that this logic leaves out some rather important considerations.
Like the fact that the US cannot unilaterally impose its will on the world anymore as our dollar falls and our credibility falls with it. Even a strategy of negotiation as opposed to confrontation is not a recipe for success because in a multi-polar world, other countries and power blocs like the Russians, the Chinese, the EU, The Persian Gulf and OPEC have their own interests. They will listen to our proposals but may reject them if they are at variance with their own needs.
We just don't have the power to impose our will even as we still suffer from "the USA is number one" syndrome and think that we can kick ass and take names if anyone stands in our way.
Whoever becomes president may not have the power he or she assumes goes with the office. (In fact, after the fact, in their memoirs, most presidents complain they often felt powerless, besieged by lobbyists, party factions and reticent bureaucrats at every turn. They see themselves constrained by institutional obstacles at every turn.)
In many ways, Mao was right, the occupant of the oval office is a paper tiger.
In this new world, if we want others to do our bidding, we can't threaten to obliterate them or strut around like Mighty Mouse when so many in the world see us as the Mouse that Roared.
So many of our problems today are global, and shared by others. Globalization has assured that. We are all impacted by global threats like climate change, escalating food prices, world hunger, endemic poverty, and pandemic disease that the White House can't wave a magic wand to cure. Sadly, most Americans are not educated about these issues and the press downplays them.
Even when we cause problems, like the mortgage collapse, markets worldwide feel the pain in an internationally entangled financial system where we are dependent on monies from China. Meanwhile others invest in the US to keep their own profits up and compete with our companies on our home ground.
Sure, we are a militarily powerful but apparently not powerful or smart enough to subdue Iraq or Afghanistan after five years. Our warriors on terror have yet to capture Bin Laden or even neutralize the Taliban. The truth is the Democratic candidates don't think they can tell the military what to do and so have withdrawal plans that will take years. That's the reality.
The military industrial complex often has a mind of its own
And so does Wall Street which won't take marching orders from any president. Both Clinton and Bush turned to Goldman Sachs to run the Treasury and it's not clear if their former execs were ambassadors to The Street or from the Street. Financial power trumps political power in a country dominated by a corporate system.
Who can impose an excess profits tax on Big Oil? Who will dare?
In fact, look at the credit crisis. It started with the mortgage meltdown of August 2007. At least one million families have lost their homes. Another two and half million are threatened. The New York Times reports that even their storage spaces are now being auctioned off because many folks can't afford the monthly charges. The ONION jokes that a family burned their stimulus check because they can't afford heat. Sometimes fiction like this gets to the heart of "faction
Times' Business columnist Gretchen Morgenson notes that in all these months of obvious economic calamity, NOTHING meaningful has been done by our government to help people in need, writing, "as the great American credit crash continues to reverberate, we still have nothing that resembles an intelligent and comprehensive plan for dealing with mass foreclosures and the economic consequences associated with the debacle."
Why? There is a ideological clash of course. That's obvious. An administration that has foreclosed on the American Dream cares as much about our homeowners as it did about the victims of Katrina.
But beyond that, they don't know what to do; they have no "fix." There may not be one. We are dealing not with a political debate but a structural crisis of American capitalism in an era of waning Empire. We can throw money at these problems as we probably should but they are all intricate and subject to pressure politics. When The Senate run by Democrats tried to bring relief to distressed homeowners, their final bill was shameful with more giveaways to home builders and lenders than mortgagees.
So, let's temper our expectations about what the candidate of our choice can actually get done a system of many checks but very little balance. The presidency is a bully pulpit. The president can lead but Congress need not follow. Sure, change is needed, and badly, but the changes being proposed -- like a summer time tax break at the pump won't do much about the deeper energy crisis. Many of the proposals being debated are tinkering with deeply flawed policies. They aim to bail the water out of the Titanic while it is sinking
Unfortunately, our scandal obsessed "Gotcha" media is useless in explaining or investigating these deeper problems. Its focus us only on the horse race. Cable news is increasingly a pundit heavy distraction machine, where opinionizing has replaced reporting, and, yes, still a Weapon of Mass Deception as one film I made years ago argued.
Please think about this, and what's not being covered. Sorry to rain on the parade as the primaries roll on and the excitement builds like in a sports event.
Who is the next president matters, matters deeply, but is that all that matters?
News Dissector Danny Schechter blogs for Medachannel.org. He directed In Debt We Trust (indebtwetrust.org) and has finished a book on the financial crisis called PLUNDER. Comments to Dissector@mediachannel.org
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There is most-certainly something that you can do: you can lead.
The President has a dual-role: commander-in-chief and CEO. He does not have the kingly powers that the current occupant would like to claim that he does. Some might argue that this is powerlessness, but I don't think so. Plenty of Presidents have been very good leaders, and many of them did so in quiet.
For example: a good leader is willing to know when and how to go against the "vox populi." But in doing so, he or she has first done careful research and has plotted a course... "THIS is the way that we should go now, and this is why. Come and follow me."
Today, in all three of the heavily-monied front-line "so called candidates," we see a lack of leadership is quite untypical of these individuals. (Something, we can see, has them hog-tied.) They are mouthing words that come from teleprompters and that are fed by opinion polls. That's not leadership.
While I agree that even the sainted Obama isn't going to be able to fix anything with a wave of his golden tongue (or that apathetic Americans are going to suddenly wake up from their collective coma and spring into action on their own), I have to laugh at the notion that America is going to fall apart.
I laugh because I have read the same pundits who extol over Europe now and recall when they insisted that "Old Europe" was sinking into permanent decline and would soon lose any last toehold on a place in the sphere of influence. I remember them attending the funeral of the USSR and assuring us that Russia would not arise from the dead. I can't forget when Japan was declared to be the Asian country that would overwhelm us economically and buy us lock, stock and barrel. Nations have cycles, and one as rich in resources as ours is will not become a Monaco or Luxembourg, especially since, like the schoolyard bully, we still have a huge arsenal of deadly weaponry, the presence of which is a strong incentive for others to give us a hand. Besides, the fortunes of too many other countries are too linked to ours to allow us to collapse--that globalization thing works both ways.
The collapse of any world economic system is obviously in no one's best interests. But neither is a belligerent nation that's armed to the teeth with bombs designed to destroy cities in one blast. This is one planet, and we all are very much the same. The way to get someone to "lend you a hand" is to "lend them a hand." Do unto others and all-of-that.
It really works.
I believe that what we are seeing is a very shrewd and very effective non-military counter to the belligerent nation that the US has allowed itself to become. I hope that it will compel the common-man in this country to push the "Pause" button on this damnable movie and stare at it with suddenly-clear eyes and ask himself, "Is THIS what We want?"
Answer for me: "Hell, No."
"But ooh, this is the way it has to be! You can't do anything about it, you know ..."
Answer for me (borrowed from an Allied general in WW2): "Nuts!"
One thing is certain. No matter who is in the White House, change is coming! We can either make it or we can wait for it to happen to us. If we make the changes we willcontrol the outcome. If we wait for it we will have ceded all control.
One thing is certain. No matter who is in the White House, change is coming! We can either make it or we can wait for it to happen to us. If we make the changes we will control the outcome. If we wait for it we will have ceded all control and we may face an unprecedented disaster. There are many possibilities, the collapse of capitalism, global warming destroying our ability to feed our population, or even uprisings that place our governance in jeopardy. We must begin to putting our economy on a firmer footing. As it is we have built a house of cards that has already begun falling around us. That is just the first step. Or we can just wait.
(sorry about that. I wasn't finished when I clicked on the wrong button)
Well, since it's the person in charge of our country who has caused all the failures and troubles facing us now, it would seem that your statements play up rather than diminish the importance of who is president.
The history of the United States of America has been quite unique in that, always, in the worst of times, an extraordinary man has come forward and saved the nation.
(1) Washington: our independence realized with the defeat of the British.
(2) Alexander Hamiliton: brilliant enough to insist the national debt be paid in full else prosperity be hampered.
(3) Lincoln: saved the union
(4) Teddy Roosevelt: busted the trust and monopolies. They stayed tamed until our present time.
(5) Franklin Roosevelt: forced the New Deal on the Depression and stabilized the banks.
(6) LBJ: As great as Roosevelt, he ended legal discrimination, launched a largely sucessful War On Poverty and Medicare. Vietnam made him an historical mixed blessing.
(7) Gerald Ford: He cared more about what was good for the nation instead of his presidency when he pardoned Richard Nixon.
(8) Jimmy Carter: Accomplished what no President ever could__got Egypt to make peace with Israel, buying the entire world time enough to avert a nuclear war until the fall of the Soviet Union.
The last of the Presidents have been immersed in policies to bring on the collapse of the prosperity and security of the United States of America in favor of restoring to power the very forces crippled by the Roosevelts.
Now appears Barack Obama and John McCain. One of these men are on schedule to restore the American Dream.
9) Ronald Reagan, who defeated the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War. Hello??? I suppose bringing down an evil government who murdered 40-50 million people and enslaved hundreds of millions doesn't add up in your calculus?
BTW, I would also add to FDR's legacy leading the defeat of Fascism, too, just to be fair about it.
Frankly, I would also add the first Democratic president to your list, my hero, Andy Jackson. He was the ONLY president to ever pay off the national debt! He was also the only president who took on the banking system and defeated dishonest money. Sure we wish we had someone today with the guts and brains of Old Hickory!
Reagan? get real. The wheels were falling off the entire USSR before he even got into office. Why? The people in power got greedy. May want to also metion Reagan busted unions, put hundreds of thousands of disabled people out on the street, and ignored the constitution trading money for guns, and backing illegal foreign regimes. All Reagan ever did was guest host the country for eight years. Let them eat jelly beans.
Ronald Reagan probably contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union, but to grant him whole credit for bringing down 70 years of communism is absurd. Even you can't believe that.
FDR ignored the first fight against fascism, in Spain (1936-39), helping to plunge the entire world into war. And I wouldn't exactly say the US won the peace.
What you say is lucid and sobering. Who becomes President matters, all the same.
I imagine Hillary Clinton reading what you wrote, thinking, as she does, "What's in this for me?"
I imagine John McCain reading it, his lips moving as he reads, thinking, "What is he saying?"
And I imagine Barack Obama reading it, his brow furrowed, and thinking, "I need to show this to Brzezinski, Rice and Power and see what they think about it."
The president is nothing but a figurehead. It doesn't matter who holds that position. Look at the system behind the president. The system doesn't change every four years. On the contrary, the system is exactly the same from president to president, for decades now.
I agree with you ger. What we have is government of the corporation, by the corporation, and for the corporation, and a corporate media to tell us all bedtime stories. Sometimes scary stories. But don't worry. They've got plenty of pills, bombs, wiretaps and "intensive questioning" techniques to keep us safe.
gerontion-
I believe you are correct. The president of this country is a figurehead. However, not even a few of the previous 42 had such a fawning, rubber-stamping congress to further an agenda that makes it a sin to not wear a lapel pin or wrap yourself in an American flag made in Communist China.
The Magna Carta and The Constitution of the United States are scraps of paper to this crowd.
Best way to fix the mess this nation is to elect a congress that believes the 300 million citizens are more important than any president. - The oath they all take is ".. protect and defend the Constitution".
How many of them actually live up to that promise?
Yes! Finally we're getting it. We have to be very careful who we vote for in elections other than the Presidency. Right now our lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are nothing more than a bunch of greedy, what's in it for me, pandering fools. Obviously the Republicans are worse than the Democrats, but not by much. If we want to save the country, this is where we need to start.
What will change is the current administration, who have undermined our democracy at every conceivable level, in every conceivable, and some unimaginable way.
They must be ousted, entirely. Like cockroaches, and the places they hide exposed.
Our fall in the global community was based on arrogance and stupidity, going after parties not responsible for the attacks of 911. That was a criminal act, just like the Oklahoma city bombing, but it was George Bush that decided to make it an international call to arms against, not only the terrorists responsible, but all terrorism.
Well, that was already an ongoing war. But like the war on crime, it would never ever ever see a victor. Criminal behaviour and terrorism will always exist, as long as free will and unrest exists. It was a ridiculous declaration we allowed him to make.
To those who scoff at change, you need only look at the Clinton administration, when we had a surplus, and international standing of respect for proof that its possible. If things can turn bad, they can turn good as well, for everyone other than you abysmally fatalistic individuals who only wish death and destruction for everybody.
You have to have to want to change, thats the first step. Things don't change for the better by themselves. It takes work and desire.
Don't you realize that if Senator Obama is elected, everything will magically Change? And Life will be Perfect? Just because....He Exists?
Haven't you been paying attention?
Obama never said he would attempt to do anything by himself! He has been continuously stressing that we have to do it together. He inspires crowds to shout : "Ye, we can". "Yes, we can".
Can we? I think each of us CAN something.
"The Big Oil" ? --Thank you. Too hot for me. But by all mens, someone has to do it.
For now I am trying TO ACT (beginning with words ,in hope to convince some people to become my co-workers-partners--but ACTION is what I focus on ) in the real estate area. There is much work for honest , informed whisle-blowers, detailed oriented bookkeepers, researchers and investigative reporters.
I share Danny Schechter's opinion that TV viewers and newspaper readers must be shown the right issues in the right way and I am convinced the HuffingtonPost is the best for this task which needs courage.
It seems to me that many of those who make the life of us--the other America Edwards is talking about--hell are clueless on what reality is, they never lowered themselves to this level.
Certainly the media have done nothing to make someone who travels in a private plane understand the life of John Doe who rides a cheap bike.
We must tell them and show them. But we must do more: If we want CHANGE we have to work for it ourselves. Or.. we will live tomorrow in the unchanged world of yesterday and today.
Danny -
I love you so! I bow down to you sir.
"Who can impose an excess profits tax on Big Oil? Who will dare?"
Believe that many of us would dare... and dare to split them up... and dare to remove the connection between acquisition, refinery and distribution... and dare to remove incentives for converting productive land into ethanol factories... and dare to eliminate all subsidies and tax breaks for oil, gas, coal and nuclear... and dare to pump massive amounts of money into alternative energy production at the homeowner level... and dare to end American occupation in Iraq now to pay for it all... and dare to end drilling in environmentally sensitive areas... and dare to substantially decrease carbon levels caused by pollution... and dare to demand higher gas milage standards for autos... and dare to demand higher levels of responsibility for cleanup... and dare to prosecute all those who have been found to have contributed to war crimes in the name of CheneyOilCo.
You think Obama is going to do all of that? Go after his cousin, Cheney? Where do you think Rezko got his money from? Big Oil! Google "Operation Board Games".
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