You're born in difficult circumstances.
You're raised to respect the world and value education.
You rise through determination and hard work.
You achieve things uncommon to a person of your background.
You excel at virtually everything you do and turn your energies towards the betterment of your fellows.
You lay your eyes on a prize considered unreachable.
You attain that prize.
You walk through the door of a once thought-to-be unobtainable office.
And there you are met by men who tell you that the reality of what you hoped for is far different from what you thought.
And what you will really be doing, now that you've been allowed to get there.
And the hope stirred in the people who helped you achieve your and their dreams begins to be mixed with frustration and bile.
And the men who control the office and all the power emanating from it grin smugly at the naivete of the people.
And you have no choice but to become the very thing you sought to change.
And the dream of Democracy only functions on the lowest of levels while the realities of global corporate dominion continue to crush individual imagination and hopes for a better, saner future.
And minds warped by greed, emboldened by a sleeping citizenry, will not stop, for they have no moral compass, no compassion to serve as guardian against corruption of the soul.
And now, those forces of greed are having their way in the glaring daylight and no one---not an able, deserving president, not a freedom-loving nation, descended from immigrants, descended from slaves, descended from the land---can stop them.
The time has come, it seems, for free people to fight the forces of greed which threaten to swamp liberty and destroy the land, to fight them and to never stop. The way has never been more clear.
That the man chosen, with all his superior abilities and attributes, is as vulnerable as those who believe in him, should not be the focus of rage. It should be squarely upon the forces stopping him from achieving all he---and we---can.
You see them. And so do we.
Follow Steven Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@TheStevenWeber
That reminds me of what Laura Bush said about why Jr. (she doesn't call him that, I do) got along so well with Cheney & Rummy: on the ranch, he solves every problem with a chain saw, just like they solve every problem with bombs. So anyway, I'm thinking of George Dubya trying to "clean up a sh*t hole overnight" using a chain saw and it's getting all over him, so thanks for the image! That sack of sh*t deserves it.
Tap: "I love hearing the RW attack Obama for his Chicago style politics, that is so f-ing laughable. Obama is exactly the opposite. I have family in Chicago ..."
Well, I don't, but just knowing what the RW think they mean by "Chicago style politics," yeah, f-ing laughable is right. He's like the perfect statesman from, I don't know, Plato's Republic or something! Funny too, that THEY would complain about "style" of governance after the tyranny of King George, Jr. and Darth Cheney.
http://movieclips.com/watch/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-two-towers-2002/healing-the-king/
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“Everybody always breaks it down between idealist and realist,†said Rahm Emanuel... “If you had to put [Obama] in a category, he’s probably more realpolitik, like Bush 41...he knows that personal relationships are important, but you’ve got to be cold-blooded about the self-interests of your nation.â€
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/world/14prexy.html
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Realpolitik is a theory of politics that focuses on considerations of power, not ideals, morals, or principles. Realist philosophy embraced by Obama rationalizes abandoning morals, which provide the foundation for making basic distinctions between right and wrong.
http://watchingamerica.com/News/15119/the-philosophers-whom-obama-admires/
Corporatist language:
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"oil and mining interests praised Mr. Salazar’s performance as a state official and as a senator, saying that he was not doctrinaire about the use of public lands."
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/06/03/salazar/index.html
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Being principled and ethical is deceptively reframed as doctrinaire, implying that it's too impractical or "not a part of experience, fact or practice." But guess what? Corporatism proves to be impractical. BP was pennywise and pound foolish, costing billions and killing an entire ecosystem in the Gulf. That’s undeniably part of our experience.
- Tom
I really want to see Obama as lone hero making the right decisions, only to see them squelched by nefarious Republican entities bent on crushing Obama's populist agenda.
I desperately want to see this...
Dammmmmit, YES! He's better than Bush and McCain!
A rock or a toad would be better than Bush or McCain!
I thought I was voting for a LEADER!!!
PLEASE tell me why I should believe in this President, beyond him simply being better than the absolute worst case scenario.
We are in as critical a time in our nation's history, as the Civil War or WWll. We desperately need a leader, and Obama refuses to lead!
And I refuse to pretend that's acceptable.
And I concede that there is no apparent leader waiting in the wings.
If you can, please tell me why I should, beyond him being better than Bush or McCain, believe Obama will lead this nation out of the depths the Republicans drove it to.
Until then, I await the inevitable revolution.
He faces problems galore:
1. The Rethugs are intransigent. They will not cooperate with anything. Their goal is his total destruction. They want power at any price.
2. The Democrats are a timid, craven collection of opportunists. Joe Lieberman is hardly the only one that would sell his Mom for a few bucks. They have no consistent ideology or loyalties.
3. Obama has no dearth of problems to deal with--economy, jobs, Middle East misadventures, climate change, BP disaster, etc. Any one of these would overmatch W.
4. I would not endorse "the inevitable revolution." If it happens it will come from the right with its heavily armed know-nothing goons. Think Night of the Long Knives. Think Brownshirts.
In short, be careful what you wish for. Obama will do all right.
I just hope that folks will come to the realization of what needs to be done sooner rather than too late, so the protests and marches might be kept on a constructive and civil level as was MLK's "revolution."
With this Gulf spill's total impact still very much unclear, and the still unregulated financial industries stumbling along towards yet another economic meltdown, this nation risks coming apart at the seams.
(1) This of course exposes the folly of not aggressively pursing alternative energy solutions for the past 50 years.
It can't go on like this any longer. "Change" must come very soon. Let's hope it's not too late.
“The multinationals rule the world.
The plutocracy has purchased most of the world's Democratic Republics,
The first Great Liberal Democratic Republic, the USA, has fallen to the conservative monarchies of wealth.
If the world's Democracies, do not seize control of the BP criminal Multinational,
We will give up all pretense of democracy.
The Mob or the mob,
Corporate rule or Democracy.
Choose.
All Candidates must sign a legally binding contract:
To outlaw all political contributions for the Bribery they are,
and public finance elections, with free prime time for all candidates with enough signature to get on the ballot.
Ed Shutlz made campaign finance reform the centerpiece should he run for office.
He could start by getting the Bribery Contract signed by all candidates.
Still, I wish his comments would generate, deservingly, a larger 'following'. Yes, I do.
and said - i have been told i can only do "x "by _____ (insert names here). but that's not what i signed on for, so i'm going to continue with my original plan and do a-b-c- or you can watch me resign and well kiss something..........but that's just me, and a few million voters who were hoping against hope that this is what "the dreamer" would really do with that mandate we gave him.
Rohm kept Obama out of the critical early months of the HCR debate, and watered the bill down to the Republican HCR bill Hillary rejected in the early 90s.
Campaign Obama invited us to go to DC with him when elected. President Obama allowed Rohm to scold us for trying to march on DC, and to call us "F&*king ret*#ds!"
Rohm gave double middle fingers to Harry Reid's last ditch attempt to include the public option in the HCR bill this year, and the White House is actively fighting against "To Big To Fail," and stiff regulations against derivatives in the financial industries.
I truly wish I could see that Obama has really tried to change the way the system works, but all I've seen is appeasment and, in many cases, a willingness to continue to support the same ol' same ol'.
You can't surround yourself with Wall Street types like Geithner and Chicago hacks like Emanuel, and expect to take back this nation from the greedy.
Obama is a refreshing relief from the eight miserable years of W, with his intelligence and articulate way of speaking. Sadly, his deeds are not matching up with his rhetoric.
Better than McCain/Palin? You Betcha! But is that how low we're willing to set the bar these days?
I don't think We the People were wrong to elect Barack Obama. But I do believe forces that have been holding onto the balls of government for decades now are a powerful force. Many of these parasites whisper constantly in our President's ear.
I've believed for some time now that positions of power naturally attract a lot of sociopaths. These are not people that will easily be stopped in their personal quest for power and money. It's all they care about.
A major portion of the citizenry don't think they are sleeping. They scream for less government and fear anything that tries to balance wealth. In actuality, they would probably be considered being in a mesmerized and brainwashed state. They want easy answers because heaven knows it's hard to do deep thinking. And, of course, it's much more fun – like a cage fight – to get your information from loud mouth windbags, flailing all over your living room.
I call that a "quick change artist".
More of "How It Is" than "Like It Is".
It is painfully obvious that the man we elected was dramatically quashed as he crossed the threshold into the ultimate seat of power. Hurrumph, so much for being the President.
Sorry Charlie, you work for US, we the elite power structure that knows not the common folk, nor do we care.
Perhaps there will be a turning point, it is really up to us. After all, it is clear that Obama is swamped by all around him...we are his only hope...and maybe he, ours.
The obstructionists are fully visible, heard clearly acting against our own country's progress and success.
Why aren't we slapping them upside the head and marching them into court and out of sight? Why aren't we able to offer sufficient momentum to mow down the lying liars?
Why is America so lazy about real Justice?
Oofdah.
Each and everyone of us is empowered by the power of choice, we as a whole and individually are the real "DECIDERS". When we realize that our inner spirits are one BEING beneath are biodegradable space suits that we call bodies, only then will things actually change on this space ship planet, in this, our universe.
Fanned and faved.
What if instead, he is part and parcel of that system and it's all been a colossal bait-and-switch?
Hmmm, you can't see the difference in the man that we all knew prior to his arriving at the office of President...and the man that is incredibly uncomfortable and obviously signaling to us that something is terribly obstructive and hog-tying him?
Every time he has to deliver one of those "you can't be serious" lines that follow so closely the lines that Bushco was following, he has a seriously angry look on his face and the tone in his voice is disgust. He is not in charge...it is written all over his face. He needs our help. We need to get out there and start pushing back. They have him over a barrel. He is only one man. We are many.
Once we get him over the hump, we might see him lead as the man we know him to be, and we will see changes in our govt and country.
But if all we do is sit and conjecture about him being a phony plant, then we deserve our corrupted govt and nothing will change, not even US.
And I don't even like that snarky implication.