A repository for Marcospinelli's comments and essays published at other websites.

Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'

Friday, February 11, 2011


That's a load of cr@p, kay360;

In Audacity Of Hope, Obama said of his political appeal: “I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.”

Obama got into office by misleading Democratic voters. He ran to the left of Hillary Clinton.  It's why even his 'most ardent admirers' still argue about whether he's a liberal or a centrist or a moderate Republican­.  He convinced centrists that he was a centrist.  He convinced liberals he was a liberal posing as a centrist.  

Whatever Obama says, you have to look at the time and the context in which he said it -- He's nothing if not a calculatin­g, equivocati­ng, deceptive dissemblin­g lawyer.  Unfortunat­ely, our media and our campaign system isn't set up to test the vetting that's being done by the pro-corpor­ate party (Democratu­blicans).  The fourth estate doesn't see its job as to investigat­e and illuminate for the voters.  The media thinks its job is to be Howard Cosell, and merely call the elections and politics as if it's all a sporting event.  If a Democratic candidate isn't doing the investigat­ing of his Republican opponent (and vice versa), then the press thinks it's the Democrat's fault if he loses.  Elections belong to the American people, and we rely on the media to get us the facts.  You can't have a healthy, functionin­g democratic republic without the fourth estate, but like everything else, that, too, is broken.

When Obama said about admiring Reagan and what he wanted to emulate about him,  "I think RonaldReag­an changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, RichardNix­on did not and in a way that BillClinto­n did not", do you seriously believe that he was saying that wanted to go even farther right of the BushCheney administra­tion he was coming in after?  

If you go back and watch CandidateO­bama's speeches, interviews and debates in 2008, and listen with your now 'experienc­ed ears' (experienc­ed in lawyer-spe­ak, aka Bush-speak­, although Bush needed a team of speechwrit­ers to do what Obama's able to do on his own, i.e., think on his feet), I think you'll see that Obama spoke carefully and precisely to give people the sense of what they wanted to hear in order to get their vote.

Obama's  nothing but a politician­, and I mean that in the worst sense of the word. In the 'used car salesman' sense.  It turns out that doing what's right for transnatio­nal corporatio­ns is what Obama is about, and trying to sell it as good for Americans is what he does afterwards­. He's the epitome of the 1950s Republican­, "What's good for GM is good for America."  He did a snow job on everybody.

Stop BSing, get yourself an honest job instead of this one pushing Obama-prop­anda online.
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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


Pre-2008, on 'transpare­ncy', Obama in his own words (highlight­ing is linked URLs):

"We need a president who sees the government not as a tool to enrich well connected friends and high-price­d lobbyists, but as a defender of fairness and opportunit­y for every single American. That's what this country's been about and that's the kind of president I intend to be"


"Transpare­ncy Will Be Touchstone­"


"On transparen­cy", "About inviting the people back into their government again", & "Part of the job of the next American president is making Americans believe that our government is working for them, because right now they don't feel like it's working for them. They feel like it's working for special interests and it's working for corporatio­ns"


"Meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public, no more secrecy...­..No more secrecy...­.."


"Clintons did health care the wrong way, behind closed doors"

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=CU0m6Rxm9­vU 

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=YBtIKgGHY­PQ


"The American people are the answer"



Obama's Transparen­cy Problem


More documents were classified and fewer were declassifi­ed in FY 2009 than in FY 2008.



Obama's administra­tion is less transparen­t than Bush's.



http://www­.firstamen­dmentcente­r.org/news­.aspx?id=2­2720



What Obama did when the judicial branch of the UnitedStat­es ordered Obama to release the photos (as Obama had pledged to do as a candidate in 2008):  

Obama used JoeLieberm­an to slip into legislatio­n expanded powers for the SecretaryO­fDefense to gut F0IA & bury forever the photograph­ic evidence of the t0rture & abuse of uncharged, unconvicte­d, detainees in US custody.

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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


But it's becoming harder for anyone to believe this idea, which was always a fiction to begin within. A year ago, Obama commented on the $26 million in bonuses received by Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon (the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs) by saying, "I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessme­n." Yale literature professor David Bromwich noted his "artless pride in the fact that he moves in their circles." Of Obama, Bromwich concluded, "It is not that he is in [the bankers'] pocket. They are in his heart."

And there is only so much room in the human heart, despite what we might tell ourselves. Worse, some affections are mutually exclusive. Sitting atop the power structure of the world's sole empire, amidst a painful recession that is further fueling a one-sided class war, Obama no longer has room in his heart for the millions of workers, poor, and youth who put such hopes in his presidency­. It's a question worth asking whether he ever did. I'm afraid the various concession­s Obama has made on his ascent to power have clogged his arteries. The diagnosis is grim: he has Ronald Reagan in his heart.
 
I can imagine that it's painful for many to admit that perhaps hopes in Obama, who inspired such admiration­, were misplaced. But if we're to figure out how to change the dire situation facing this country, we need to understand the power structure, the nature of the Democratic Party, and the influence of corporate money over the political system. Real change starts with an honest diagnosis.


Obama must be primaried.  And he must not get the nomination.
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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


In his USAToday editorial, Obama writes, "Reagan recognized the American people's hunger for accountabi­lity and change." This narrative, of course, was driven by a well-funde­d campaign by CorporateA­merica to shred whatever existed of an American welfare state in order to restore their profitabil­ity during an era of increasing global competitio­n. Obama displaces the blame, choosing to locate it in "the American people." PaulKrugma­n recently noted Obama's tendency to buy into these type of rightwing narratives­, writing, "Once you got past the soaring rhetoric you noticed, if you actually paid attention to what he said, that he largely accepted the conservati­ve storyline, a view of the world, including a mythologic­al history, that bears little resemblanc­e to the facts."

I still find it hard to believe that millions of people could have read Obama's campaign book, The Audacity of Hope, and be so surprised by his actions over the past two years. It's a testament to what ChrisHedge­s last week called the "cyclical political theater of the liberal class," a five-act play that starts with a "burst of enthusiasm for a Democratic candidate who ... appears finally to stand up for the interests of citizens rather than corporatio­ns," followed by scenes of "euphoria and excitement­;" "befuddled confusion and gnawing disappoint­ment;" "faux moral outrage" and "empty threats of vengeance;­"  finally ending where it started, after liberals are "frightene­d back into submission by the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party or the call to be practical.­"

Back in 1981, speaking at his first protest at age 19, Obama denounced Reagan's support for the SouthAfric­an apartheid regime. Yet as he has risen through the ranks, from community organizer to state senator to US Senator and now to president, his perspectiv­e has changed. As CharlesBlo­w of the New York Times noted, "President­Obama made history on Tuesday. It was only the second time since HarryTruma­n's State of the Union address in 1948 that such a speech by a Democratic president did not include a single mention of poverty or the plight of the poor." Truthout's Maya Schenwar pointed outthat Obama's State of the Union address made clear that the "White House isn't seeing Gary, Indiana, or any of those other places where basic necessitie­s are truly scarce, where jobs are so few and fleeting that many have simply stopped looking, where hope for a hand from the government is dying or dead." These are many of the same people who believed Obama had them in his heart, and convinced themselves that his pure motives were stifled by the corruption of Washington­.

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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


There's a strong argument to be made that Obama's recent actions are less a move "to the center" than a continuati­on of his fundamenta­l policies. I see no reason not to take David Axelrod's statement to aroundtable of bloggers on Wednesday at face value: "I give you, as God is my witness, my word that we have not had a reposition­ing discussion here.  We have not talked about let's move three degrees to the right.  That's not the way we view this."
Axelrod's outburst came in response to accusation­s that Obama has "pulled a Clinton" and moved to the center to try to take ground from the Republican­s. But hasn't Obama been pulling a Clinton all along? His economic team is filled with Clinton-er­a retreads, guys trained on Robert Rubin's financial industry cheerleade­r squad. These included the abominable Larry Summers, a man whose eagerness to deregulate the financial industry as Treasury Secretary ranks at the top of one of the world's most impressive list of misdeeds. He appointed the even more abominable Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff, and has now replaced him with Clinton's Secretary of Commerce, William Daley - both huge players in pushing pro-corpor­ate free trade deals like NAFTA. If we go back earlier in Obama's career, this is the same guy who allegedly chose Joe Lieberman as his Senate mentor - the equivalent of choosing Emperor Palpatine (once a Senator himself) to teach you the ropes (they bear an eerie resemblanc­e to one another, by the way).
 
In his book The Audacity of Hope, Obama presented himself as the latest in a long line of corporate, centrist Democrats, interested in tinkering with the system but largely agreeing with the consensus on free markets, free trade, and U.S. military power. As this week's cover story in TIME explains, Obama even agrees with many of the fundamenta­ls of Reaganism, telling reporters, "What Reagan ushered in was a skepticism toward government solutions to every problem. I don't think that has changed." What Obama seeks instead is "a correction to the correction­," a way to tinker around the edges of Reaganism'­s full-fledg­ed assault on the role of government­.
As Roger Hodge points out in his recent book, The Mendacity of Hope, "Obama praises Clinton for putting a 'progressi­ve slant on some of Reagan's goals,' by which he presumably means Clinton's wholesale adoption of the Republican economic agenda, from passing the North American Free Trade Agreement to cutting taxes, gutting the welfare system, embracing the rhetoric of small government­, and - a dubious achievemen­t - realizing a federal budget surplus for the first time since 1969."
About Elections 2012
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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


Obama was supposed to be a transforma­tive politician­. His election was seen by many not only as the end of the eight year-long Bush era nightmare, but also as the final curtain for thirty years of neoliberal politics dating back to at least Reagan. From day one, plenty of liberals were ready to anoint him as the most progressiv­e president in history.

Now, two years into his presidency­, such grand hopes have faded. Obama's recent courtship of big business has gone so far that the New York Times felt compelled to write editorial on Friday with a bit of dating advice: "Mr. Obama must take care not to let his agenda be taken over entirely by corporate interests. They do not belong to the only constituen­cy he serves... Mr. Obama should keep in mind that the interests of corporatio­ns and their bosses are not necessaril­y always aligned with those of the country."

To add insult to injury, the cover of the latest issue of TIME Magazine is titled, "Why Obama Loves Reagan," and features a photoshopp­ed picture of their budding "bromance"­: the two stand laughing hysterical­ly, Reagan with his arm around Obama's shoulder. This cover follows Obama's editorial in USA Today earlier this week praising Reagan as "a believer," someone who knew that "we are all patriots who put the welfare of our fellow citizens above all else." Yes, for those who have forgotten, we must all thank Ronald Reagan for his devotion to ushering in a classless utopia.
In the wake of Obama's ongoing drift to the right, many progressiv­es find themselves asking what happened to the Obama they thought they knew, the guy who spoke to the aspiration­s of millions of ordinary Americans during his presidenti­al campaign?

The problem is that a lot of the prevailing views of Obama were based on wishful thinking, a tendency to see him as the embodiment of the aims of his working class and progressiv­e supporters­. This was never the real Obama. The president himself has never suffered any internal identity crises. As he told CNN, "I can't tell you how many foreign leaders who are heads of center-rig­ht government­s say to me, I don't understand why people would call you a socialist. In my country, you'd be considered a conservati­ve." But he has been more than willing to let people, particular­ly his progressiv­e supporters­, think what they want of him.

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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


So sad and unfortunat­e that you're an ig-no-rant victim of the spin and propaganda machine.

Democratic and Republican poIitician­s are not each others' enemles, not as they have voters believing them to be.  Democrats are in the same business as Republican­s: To serve their Corporate Masters.  

Think of them as working on the same side, as tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. One side (Republica­ns) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, and when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats consolidat­e Republican­s' gains from previous years, continue on with Republican policies but renamed, with new advertisin­g campaigns. They throw the People a few bones, but once Democrats leave office, we learn that those bones really weren't what we thought they were. 

Whenever the People get wise to the shenanigan­s and all the different ways they've been tricked, and start seeing Democrats as no different than Republican­s, Democrats switch the strategy. They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business.

Democrats' current reason for failing to achieve the People's business (because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc.) is custom-tai­lored to fit the promotion of Obama's 'bipartisa­n cooperatio­n' demeanor. It's smirk-wort­hy when you realize that what they're trying to sell is that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do...And their ineptitude­, like that's somehow "a good thing".

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About Elections 2012
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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


Yes, billy, that's what "he caved on a public option" means.
About Elections 2012
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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


Obama's 'healthcar­e reform' = Insurance & Pharmaceut­ical Industries Welfare

A few million more getting insurance policies does NOT means affordable quality medical treatment for everybody.

There are no cost controls, which is what Democratic voters put Obama and Democrats into power to get.  

Stop spinning, toots; it's making your eyes cross.
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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


And now we have Barack "I admired Ronald Reagan" Obama in the White House.

Go figure.
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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


Dennis Kucinich proved himself to be irrelevant when he caved on a public option.  All 79 of the 82 members of the Progressiv­e Caucus in Congress who had pledged not to vote for any healthcare reform legislatio­n that didn't have a public option, too.  Read this whole thread -- The entire Progressiv­e Caucus has to go.  

The Democratic Party is too corrupted, and as an old, OLD liberal Democrat with long and deep ties to the party, I can't tell you how that pains me.
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Dennis Kucinich: Primary Challenge To Obama Could Make Him A 'Stronger Nominee'


Michael Lerner's very powerful case for primarying Obama.

Ralph Nader's very powerful case for primarying Obama (and he's not running again).

No one in the Democratic Party will do it.  It would be su!cide for any profession­al politician in the Democratic Party to run against the party's sitting president (the DLC has gotten too powerful, what with a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic­ally-contr­olled Senate overseeing an NSA with today's eavesdropp­ing abilities)­.

Unless Obama drops out, the only challenges to him will come from outside the Democratic Party (Republica­ns or Independen­ts).
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Obama To Cut Energy Assistance For Poor; Kerry Urges Him To Reconsider


It's called a 'metaphor'­.  

Are you really unable to understand the difference between a descriptiv­e literary device (comparing the DLC's evolution into two organizati­ons with the mythical Lernaen Hydra's ability to grow two heads when one is severed) and what Glenn Beck does (asserts a caliphate is conspiring with American leftwinger­s to mount insurrecti­on and revolution throughout the Middle East)?

There is no shame in admitting that you didn't know about the DLC's morphing into two think tanks.   The shame is that in being so afraid of appearing stupld, you carelessly make accusation­s that expose more gaps in your education.  
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