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That's the question that is gnawing at me now that Senator Obama is apparently surging in popularity with American voters. How long before the real power-brokers in America show their ugly hand and give the signals that he must be brought down? How much longer can they let this solitary embodiment of people power continue with his quest to be the most powerful man in our nation?
Why am I worried? Because past is prologue and because I've been around far too long now and I've seen that whenever someone, like Barack Obama --- who is not from the country club, whose pedigree is not established, who doesn't have the 'seal of approval' and who threatens to be someone they can never control or buy --- begins to connect with the American people, to become their voice, then those that own the country and control the country begin to work their privileged levers of power to undermine him. They do it every damned time. Why should I think it will be different this time?
Think about it:
Barack Obama has dared to suggest that he will "negotiate" with those nations that trouble us. What about the military-industrial complex that feeds off of warmongering and war-making? What about all of the crony defense contracts that depend on saber rattling and having "enemies" to scare the American people into swapping health-care for missiles, education for aircraft carriers, retirement security for 'national security'. Can't let that seditious idea take root.
Barack Obama has dared to suggest that he will shake up the entire tax system that benefits multi-national corporations and the uber-rich through progressive taxation. That strikes to close to home for our privileged armchair class.
There's little doubt that there will be a Democrat residing in the White House in 2009. If anyone thinks otherwise, may I remind you that when the thermometer was pulled out of America's ass last November at the Mid-Term elections, the mercury measurement was fever hot and the Republicans shockingly lost both the Senate and the House of Representatives in a single night.
The peasants have taken their pitchforks up. Their sons and daughters are coming home from Iraq in caskets or wounded for life. Their relatives were drowned in New Orleans. Their siblings are losing their jobs to slave labor markets. Their children are sucking on lead-poisoned toys. And mommy and daddy are about to lose their very homes to the banks. Yeah, the American people are on a quiet simmering boil now. And the most powerful people in the country know it.
Professor Howard Zinn once said that the Democratic Party is a "safety valve" that the establishment uses to let the steam off when the Republican Party has gone too far. Revolution and riots are squelched by letting the people believe that they've elected someone who will be more on their side. So it is important that the power-brokers have a Democrat they can control, preferably one of their very own.
So, which Democrat gets the nomination is very, very important. Isn't it?
Even Rupert Murdoch understands that the Democrats will likely be in the White House in 2009. No wonder he contributed to Hillary's campaign. She and Bill are corporate Democrats. They are a known quantity. They are NAFTA Democrats. They are WTO Democrats. They are cozy with the military-industrial complex. They won't overturn any apple-carts even if they sometimes talk like they will.
But this Obama character! He sounds like he means what he says. He really might change things and not ask them for their opinion or protect their preferential advantages.
Don't believe me?
When the New York Times, America's "liberal" newspaper prints Judy Miller's steno-graphed reports filled with fear-mongering lies cooked up by Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld to undermine any voice against the Iraqi Invasion, when the corporate television news can fill the airwaves with sinister images of Saddam Hussein with his sword raised and his pistol drawn hour after hour to scare Americans into giving up their civil liberties for "security", does anyone really think that the news media in this country is going to sit passively by while a Barack Obama suddenly closes in on taking the Democratic nomination?
The media took Howard Dean out in a matter of days by simply editing and looping video of Dean's innocent and optimistic cheer-leading his volunteers to victory. A visicous cabal by the media made Dean look sinister and depraved, when just the opposite was true. And how did all three networks, all cable news organizations simultaneously bombard the American people in overkill about Howard Dean. Do you think that it all happened coincidentally?
John Kennedy. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Gary Hart, Jerry Brown, Howard Dean. What do they all have in common? They all tried to change things to quickly and what was threatening, they all had the public behind them at some point.
More and more I am seeing Barack Obama as the biggest catalyst for progressive change in America, the one that will make the boldest leaps on behalf of our people. More and more I am daring to believe once again that Democrats can do much more good, far more good than simply tinkering around the margins of change.
When tens of thousands begin to show up at political rallies, there is something going on, folks. It's people power. It's contagious and it is wonderful
But I fear that those who control the corporate media have given their orders to their media spokespersons to prepare their "stories" about Barack to marginalize him. And because I've seen it too many times before, I can almost smell it happening now.
Still, dare we dream for a real advocate for the American people?
Dare we hope yet one more time with all our hearts?
Dare we let our guard down, our cynicism down one more time?
This weekend Barack Obama made me smile a lot and I worry that he's making some people frown.
Keep you eyes on the media, friends. I wonder how long it will be before the corporate media gets their orders to begin their smearjobs on television and in the press they have already prepared against this great American?
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