Howard Zinn Will Vote For Obama But Says Direct Action is Needed

Howard Zinn tells The Real News Network's Paul Jay that small differences matter, but a powerful social movement is needed for real change.

This a pivotal presidential election that finds America mired in two wars abroad, floundering through an economic crisis and digging itself deeper into debt every day, all during a time when global credibility is at an all-time low.

A person who wants a bold change in the way the United States is going is not going to find themselves represented by either democratic or republican candidate. There are certain moments in history when even a small difference between the candidates may be crucial.

The Real News Network spoke to Howard Zinn, an American historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright. He is best known as author of the bestseller 'A People's History of the United States'.

Zinn states, " We have gone through an insufferable 8 years with the Bush administration, probably the worst administration in history. In this situation we are desperate for a change. So even though Obama doesn't represent any fundamental change he creates an opening for the possibility of change. That is why I am voting for Obama. That is why I suggest to people that they vote for him. But I also suggest that Obama will not fulfill that potential for change unless he is enveloped by a social movement, which is angry enough, powerful enough, insistent enough, that he fills his abstract phrases about change with some real content."

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Comments

[birdie2]

This is what he has been telling us all along. To be the change you want to see.

[Kassandra]

I agree with Howard Zinn, one of my all time heroes. I see Obama as a wedge into t a greater social awareness and involvement by the citizens of this country who've been too apathetic to even get their butts to the polls and vote.

Now, this is changing and many of the cognoscenti know that our work has just begun. We are playing for all the pieces in this election and after it. We must make sure that elections are never stolen again and partisanship stops dividing us. The old"divide and conquer" has been working full steam ahead in America for far too long and we've all got to come back together and behave like we have a stake in this country again.

We have allowed our governments far too much leeway; our media far too much obfuscation. We must bug the people we elect to adhere to our Constitutional roots. That is the only thing that's going to save this country and, perhaps, the world.