Obama as the Bernie Madoff of the Democratic Party

There has been over the past few decades a steady deterioration of the political difference between national Democratic and Republican politics, most notably with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Today it is hard to define that difference given the strong bipartisan support for several illegal wars, the unconstitutional Patriot Act, and a bottomless desire to bail out Wall Street, and a stunning indifference to the financial problems of everyone else. On some days it seems like the only thing that stand between Obama and the Republican Party is his voter registration card. Even on his better days he is just – to borrow a favorite term of his White House a "distraction from the real issues."

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This doesn't mean that one doesn't vote for a Demo thug as president or some lower position, but it means that one does so recognizing that the selection of the least dangerous mob in town is a far different matter than backing a political cause. Once one has made that important distinction the whole nature of politics changes. It is no longer about icons, but about issues. It's not about elections but about what happens before and after elections. It is no longer about identifying with a party but with a movement.

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We are in desperate need of an anti-war movement, an anti-Wall Street movement, an anti-foreclosure movement, and anti-corporate bribery movement, and a new labor movement just to name a few. Yes, there are wonderful folk attempting to build such movements, but it doesn't help when liberals and their media constantly lower their goals to Obama's uncertain, misguided, misleading and unimaginative solutions or when public interest groups adopt the same narrow objectives and insider trading style typical of corporate lobbyists.

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If America is to be saved, it will because of movements outside the mainstream political game. It's always been like that and will continue to be so. So enjoy the fairy tale that is bubbling up around us. Vote for the bastards who will be do us the least harm. But if you want to be part of the story – and you are whether you desire it or not – then that only thing that will really matter is what you do outside the voting booth. For in the end, there's nobody who can make a better difference but us.



http://www.counterpunch.org/smith06162011.html">More Here

:rofl:

very disappointed and wonder WHY, WHY & MORE WHY!!!

JMHO

in a nutshell.

:rofl:

:rofl:

the current status of the United States or how we came to be in this situation.
This is serous business and Sam lays it out in pretty clear terms.

Aren't they always calling Obama a thug?

I don't find this kind of hyperbole credible.

we call that a "stinky pantload".

Just sayin'.

Julie

Like many other pseudo-leftists, the morons at Counterpunch imagine themselves to be edgy and hard-hitting and uncompromising in their stance -- but in fact they have adopted the values of 21st US corporate media culture

The primary value of 21st US corporate media culture are -- loud opinion with emotional hooks. Careful analysis of the situation fell by the wayside long ago. Mass media doesn't inform: it sets out to snare the reader/viewer into an anxiety-provoking shouting match (amplified by electronic technology!) to better showcase the anxiety-relieving promises of the advertisers

The Old Left said: Screw that shit. Let's organize the factory floor and help people get what they really need: living wages, safe working conditions, medical care ...

The pseudo-leftists, like the folk at Counterpunch, instead buy into the corporate media game: loud opinion with emotional hooks. Comparing Obama to Madoff doesn't help anybody organize and it doesn't even help anyone think clearly: it merely sets out to snare us into an anxiety-provoking shouting match

You should start a new thread with this post.

Bravo! Best post that I may have ever read on DU.

Folks should watch the PBS documentary on the Freedom Riders in the South. That's what progressive action looks like.

:applause:

Sid

:toast:




:applause:

thanks for posting. We all need a laugh once in a while.

Sid