Barack Obama will be re-elected not as a vindication of his policies but because the Republicans are incapable of providing a reasonable challenge to his flawed performance. On the central issue of our time -- reining in the greed of the multinational corporations, led by the financial sector and the defense industry -- a Republican presidential victor, with the possible exception of the now-sidelined Ron Paul, would do far less to challenge the kleptocracy of corporate-dominated governance.
As compared to front-runner Mitt Romney, who wants to derail even Obama's tepid efforts at regulating Wall Street, and who seeks ever more wasteful increases in military spending, the incumbent president appears relatively enlightened, but that is cold comfort.
Not only has Obama been a savior of the banking conglomerates that so generously financed his campaign, but he also has proved to be equally as solicitous of the needs of the military-industrial complex. He entered his re-election year by signing a $662 billion defense authorization bill that strips away some of our most fundamental liberties and keeps military spending at Cold War levels, and by approving a $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
Those two actions represent an obvious contradiction, since the attack on American soil that kept defense spending so high in the post-9/11 decade was carried out by 15 Saudis and four other men directed by Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi primarily using funding from his native land. Now Saudi Arabia is to be protected as a holdout against the democratic impulse of the Arab Spring because it is our ally against Iran, a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11. Saudi Arabia, it should be recalled, was one of only three nations, along with the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, to recognize the Taliban government that harbored bin Laden before 9/11.
This is the same Saudi monarchy that rushed its forces into Bahrain last March to crush a popular uprising. But that doesn't trouble the Obama administration; for two years it has been aggressively pushing the Saudi arms deal, which includes $30 billion in fighter jets built by Boeing. Forget human rights or the other good stuff Democrats love to prattle on about. As White House spokesman Josh Earnest put it:
This agreement reinforces the strong and enduring relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia and demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a strong Saudi defense capability as a key component to regional security.The rationale for the first big arms deal with the tyrannical Saudi monarchy since 1992 is that a better-armed Sunni theocracy is needed to counter the threat from the Shiite theocracy in Iran. Once again the U.S. is stoking religious-based fratricide just as we did in Iraq. Only this time we are on the side of Saudi Sunnis oppressing Shiites both at home and in neighboring Bahrain. That oppression -- along with a U.S. invasion that replaced Tehran's sworn enemy in Sunni-led Baghdad with a Shiite leadership that had long been nurtured by Iran's ayatollahs -- is what enhances the regional influence of Iran.
If Iran ever does pose a regional military threat because of its nuclear program or any other reason, real or concocted, it will be NATO forces that will take out the threat, not the Saudis, who will still be polishing their latest-model F-15s as icons of a weird conception of modernism.
The real reason for this deal is that it is the only sort of jobs program that Democrats are capable of pushing through an obstructive Congress. The administration boasts that the arms package will result in 50,000 jobs in 44 states, underscoring the warning from Dwight Eisenhower, the last progressive Republican president, about the power of a military-industrial complex that has tentacles in every congressional district. As Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, an Armed Services Committee member who championed this sale, put it:
The F-15 is a world class aircraft built by hardworking folks right here in St. Louis. I am thrilled for all of the skilled men and women on the F-15 line that this important, big order that I have stood side-by-side with them in working to secure is finally happening.
That's the win-win of government-generated profits and jobs on which the Democrats are counting to defeat the Republicans, both through campaign contributions from the more rational among the wealthy and the votes of ordinary people who, despite being seriously hurt in this economy, have nowhere else to turn.
Winslow T. Wheeler: Descent Into Ignominy: The Heritage Foundation Then and Now
We are selling 30 billion dollars worth of planes and other war goodies to Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, we are threatening Iran, in a good part because decreasing Iran's oil output/sales will increase the price of oil and bring $$$ to the Saudis.
He may yet pull out a victory if enough independents and dems help him at least get nominated.
As I like to say to people: the choice is clear. Of all the candidates, Obama is the only one who combines two qualities: (1) being clearly electable and (2) having more than a trace quantity of his soul left.
The fact that we're STILL coddling Saudi Arabia, even AFTER everything that has happened over the last 15 years, while SIMULTANEOUSLY demonized Iran, a country that has done NOTHING to us in at least 30 years, is a perfect indication of the contradictory madness which grips Washington's foreign policy/military elite.
The military-industrial complex owns Washington, lock, stock and barrel...I don't think Obama, or any President even has a say in what transpires with respect to it anymore...there is an inbred, bipartisan bureaucracy centered in the Pentagon, the State Department, K Street, and in Congress that keeps the money flowing no matter who's in charge.
That's the REAL vampire squid, apologies to Matt Taibbi.
Great article, Mr. Scheer.
I continue to refer to REAL W.M.D.'s, (as opposed to the prolifer's, {Bush, Blasir, Condi-S-leeza, etc.} imaginary w.m.d.'s, with their 'NOT' imaginary trillion dollar, million+ homacides cost), as abortificients because that is precisely what they are.
I'd like to ask Mr. Ratzinger & his closeted-cardinal, (Mr. George) how drastic a fall in mass attendence is anticipated, on the 'day after', to borrow a movie-title...
What doesn't seem to happen in the process: tens of thousands of Saudi nationals becoming trained sufficiently in the operation and employment of the weaponry so as to become a potent military force in the region. Some wise heads in the royal hierarchy have concluded that to do so would be to train up, inadvertently, the rebels who might one day topple the House of Saud.
The reason for this particular deal at this particular time? Two-fold-- one it underscores our commitment to and support of the regime at a time of great regional political flux, and two, as Mr. Scheer puts it: "The real reason for this deal is that it is the only sort of jobs program that Democrats are capable of pushing through an obstructive Congress."
http://www.cdi.org/program/issue/document.cfm?DocumentID=4194&IssueID=86&StartRow=1&Li
stRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=73&issueID=86
Fueling the Arms Race in the Middle East (2008)
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the
United Arab Emirates – stand ready to receive $20 billion dollars worth of U.S.-made military
equipment Israel $30 billion worth of U.S.-made military equipment
http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/09/psl-us-arms-sales-soar-during-capitalist-econo
mic-downturn/
Congressional Research Service report: U.S. arms deals have risen by nearly $12.5 billion from
2007, increasing from $25.4 billion to $37.8 billion. According to the report, “Conventional Arms
Transfers to Developing Nations, 2001-2008,” U.S. transfers represent over two-thirds of global
armament sales, making the United States the world’s largest arms dealer.
Almost $30 billion of U.S. arms sales went to client states like Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United
Arab Emirates and Taiwan.
I will NOT be voting for Barack Obama again. I refuse to reward somone who intentionally missrepresented himself in order to serve and protect the 1%. I refuse to participate in electing and reelecting corrupt politicians.
Independent voters are now the largest block of voters in the country. I will advocate for genuine Independent and Third Party candidates and I WILL vote for them.
Independent and Third Party candidnate are no longer spoilers... they now can WIN elections because of the large number of Independent voters. THAT is what political party promoters are afraid of.
The corrupt Democrats and corrupt Republicans have ruined our nation and they can no longer be allowed to run the country.
The Military Industrial Complex is so big and so large and the people in it have so much power that no President is going to do anything to scale down the size of this monster. Obama lives in the political world. That's the real world where power brokers, big money, and the very wealthy with the help of the Citizens United ruling run everything in this country.
Obama could take on the Military Industrial Complex but then again he probably wants to serve a second term. So what, realistically, do you expect him to do? Buy himself a cross and some nails?
Read JFK and the Unspeakable--Why He Died and Why It Matters. It will open a person's eyes.
9/11 will be uderstood for what it is.