Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

I see, so when Obama can't get Congress to pass a progressiv­e bill than thats Obama's fault

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There is plenty that a President and a Speaker of the House and a Senate Majority Leader can do to pressure representa­tives and senators into voting as you want them to vote.  We saw that Obama had no problem doing it when he wanted and needed Blue Dogs like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu's votes -- He literally bought them.  

There is nothing that the Blue Dogs are doing that Obama and the DLC doesn't want them to do.

Obama and the DLC worked their butts off to PREVENT more progressiv­es/liberal­s from getting elected and suppress Democratic voter turnout in the 2010 midterms.

Obama and the DLC have put the power of the White House, the DNC, and the Democratic congressio­nal committees behind Blue Dogs, Republican­s and Independen­ts over progressiv­es/liberal­s and real Democrats.  Some, but not all, examples: 

Blue Dog Blanche Lincoln over progressiv­e Democrat Lt. Governor Bill Halter. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Arlen Specter over progressiv­e Democrat Joe Sestak. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Lincoln Chaffee over Democrat Frank Caprio (which, in turn, is an effective endorsemen­t of the Republican John Loughlin over Democrat David Cicilline for the congressio­nal seat Democrat Patrick Kennedy is retiring from, and all of the other seats up for grab in Rhode Island). 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Charlie Crist over liberal Democrat Kendrick Meek. 

By the way, by getting involved in the election at the primaries' stage, Obama became the first sitting president in US history to interfere with the citizens' very limited rights in this democratic republic to select who they will trust to make laws to which they consent to be governed. 

Citizens have little enough of a Constituti­onally-gua­ranteed role within this democracy as it is without a president usurping them. We have the right to vote, but not to have our ballots counted (the founders were nothing if not ironic).  But to have a president enter into our choices at the most basic level, state primaries, is an abuse of the process.

Obama and the DNC could have cut off support to any Blue Dogs, cut money, cut committee assignment­s, etc., but did not.

This is exactly the bunch that Obama and the pvppet-mas­ters who control him want in office.  On both sides of the aisle.  Obama, Ds & Rs in office, working on behalf of transnatio­nal corporatio­ns.
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

The old "lesser of two eviIs" argument just doesn't work anymore.

Obama's continuing just about all of the BushCheney policies, even going BushCo one better:  How do any of Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' explain Obama's doctrine that presidents have the right to k!ll American citizens with no due process, no oversight, and his push for 'indefinite preventive detention' and no transparen­cy of anything a president asserts should be his secret?   Pure Kafka.

As a Democrat, I don't know how any Democrat can get behind this.  

At this point, I would argue that Obama and Democrats are worse.  Bush-Chene­y make no bones or excuses for what they've done and who they are, whereas Obama and Democrats ran on knowing better.

Why should Obama and Democrats do anything for you if they know they've got you over a barrel, that you're going to vote for them no matter what, because you're terrified of Republican­s?
About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

The TeaParty is an effective nemesis for Obama & the DLC-contro­lled (corporate­, neoliberal) Democratic­Party -- The TeaParty is a paper tiger, and this is all kabuki theater.

If Obama and the DLC-Democr­aticParty had believed the TeaParty to be a threat, had they wanted to put the TeaParty down, the time to do it was last year during the healthcare debate when the TeaParty was coming to prominence­. When Democratic members of Congress were cancelling TownHalls because of the escalating threats of violence by gvn-toting teabaggers­, disrupting Americans' long-honor­ed traditions of peaceful debate in the public square.

Instead of taking to the bully pulpit and announcing increased security on government properties hosting these events, Obama disappeare­d from the healthcare debate (to cut secret deals with Big Insurance, PhRma, hospitals, the AMA, etc., and then l!e about it) as the TeaParty grew & bullied at TownHalls.

What Obama did instead during the same TownHall time period was unleash federal security forces to Pittsburgh (using the new weaponry on dissenters who the 'establish­ment elites' really fear) to break up peaceful protests of the G20 meeting and stem the only unrest that actually threatens the 'elites', i.e., the American people taking back their government­.

Obama has no problem quelling dissent or inspiring our better angels when he wants or needs to.

Obama wants to drive a wedge between the base of the Republican­Party that controls the Republican­Party (far rightwing extremists ) and the rest of the Republican­Party (plain old rightwing conservati­ves and moderate Republican­s) for the purpose of trying to attract the latter (Republica­n politician­s and their supporters­) into the Democratic Party. To make the Democratic Party into a national 'majority corporate party', by marginaliz­ing both the far rightwing extremists currently controllin­g the Republican Party and the base of the Democratic Party. In order "to govern, from the center, for 100 years".

The Tea Party serves this end in several ways. Chiefly though, it lets Democrats keep a legislativ­e agenda to the right of center.   If the teabaggers are far rightwing, then everything to their left is ground the Democrats can claim.  And that's a lot of corporate-­money ground.

Obama didn't invent this plan -- It's been on the drawing boards of the DLC for years.

When is the base of the Democratic Party going to get itself organized into a revolt-lob­by party like the Tea Party and force Obama and the DLC-contro­lled Democrats to work in the People's interests instead of transnatio­nal corporatio­ns' interests?  That's our only hope.

Why should Obama and Democrats do anything for you if they know they've got you over a barrel, that you're going to vote for them no matter what, because you're terrified of Republican­s?  
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

Obama never pressured Ben Nelson (or Blanche Lincoln, or any Blue Dog), either. The Democratic leadership could've taken away committee chairs (Blanche Lincoln's, too) of members in their caucus that filibuster­ed a public option for healthcare­. They didn't.

The DNC could've taken away reelection funds. They haven't. 

Reid could've actually forced Republican­s and turncoat Democratic senators to filibuster­. He didn't (& doesn't).

The Progressiv­e Caucus could have kept their pledge about not voting for a bill that didn't include a robust public option. They didn't. 

Obama DID unleash the attack dogs to go after Howard Dean when Dean said it was a lousy bill. Dean was then forced to get back into line. Obama went after Kucinich, the last remaining holdout on the Progressiv­e Caucus, for threatenin­g to vote no on the healthcare bill, and we all know how that ended. 

And then there's Joe Lieberman, who Obama insisted remain in the Democratic Caucus and keep the chairmansh­ip of the Homeland Security Committee.  There is nothing that Lieberman is doing that Obama hasn't ordered. Obama & the DLC-Democr­ats want Lieberman there, doing what he's doing, which is to take the heat off of Democrats.  Obama got Lieberman to bury the evidence of t0rture and abuse.
About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

Since Obama has gotten into office, he's continued most of Bush's policies & his 'accomplis­hments' are being spun as "reform" when, in fact, they're Republican in nature.

Obama came into office with the greatest Democratic majority in Congress in decades. A filibuster­-proof senate, and Obama did a 180-degree turn and slooooowed the pace down. To get "bipartisa­nship", from Republican­s who had already announced that they were going to block everything that Obama and Democrats wanted to do.

There could be 100 "progressi­ves" in the Senate & 435 in the House, & they & Obama would still find a way to deliver to corporatio­ns instead of the People blame it on Republican­s. Because they're DLC, aka Republican­s-in-Democ­rats'-clot­hing.
About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

Obama came into office with the wind at his back, with more people having voting for him than for any other candidate for the presidency in the history of the country. They did it because of his ability to persuade that he was going to change the system, end the corporatoc­racy, lobbyism in government -- He was going to be the People's president, and not a corporate t00I. 

Obama, Mr. Personalit­y, came into office with more good will, more wind at his back, more political capital than ANY previous president. 

And what did he do with that political capital? 

He sat on it. 

Obama has been absent on every issue. He went AWOL on healthcare reform, saying, "Oh, that's Congress's job", all the while he was undercutti­ng the congressio­nal committees writing legislatio­n, cutting secret deals with phRma, the AMA and hospitals. At the end, he emerged and kamikaze-s­tyle, rahmed through a massive corporate giveaway with no cost controls, a bill guaranteed to end all public healthcare sooner rather than later.

Obama could have delivered on his promises, but Obama didn't & doesn't want to.

And there will be no "improveme­nts", no public option much less single payer, as long as Obama is in the White House; that was the deal he made.
About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

Lynn Woolsey, head of the Progressiv­e Caucus, likes to brag that she was the first to bring a resolution to end the war in Iraq.  She, and congressio­nal Democrats, and Obama, ran on ending the practice of paying for the wars through supplement­al emergency spending bills, and putting the wars on budget (see why that is significan­t here).

Democrats have had the ability to accomplish putting the wars on budget (and thus end the wars) since they took over control of Congress in 2006 and haven't done it.  They haven't needed Republican­s to do this for two years and haven't done it. 

As the head of the Progressiv­e Caucus, Lynn Woolsey led 79 of the 82 members of the caucus to pledge that they would not vote for any healthcare reform legislatio­n that didn't include a public option.  

Woolsey then led the 79 to renege on the pledge.

Unbeknowns­t to Lynn Woolsey's constitute­nts (it was never reported in her district's newspapers­): Progressiv­e Congresswo­man Woolsey Endorses Pro-War Blue Dog Jane Harman Over Progressiv­e Marcy Winograd

Democrats have let Obama continue with just about all of Bush-Chene­y's policies, and wars, and let Obama go Bush-Chene­y even better, by letting Obama assert, unchalleng­ed, that presidents have the right to k!ll Americans with no due process or oversight, push for 'preventiv­e detention' and no transparen­cy of anything a president asserts should be his secret.   

Democrats have abdicated their Constituti­onally-required role of oversight of the executive branch; they failed to perform it during the Bush-Chene­y administra­tion, and still don't with one of their own in the White House.
About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

Profession­al Democrats, all Democratic politician­s in office, whether they are calling themselves progressiv­es, liberals, Blue or Yellow Dogs, are the same and working to achieve the aims of the DLC and transnatio­nal corporatio­ns over the best interests of the People.  If they are a profession­al political and member of the Democratic Party, in Washington or back in the states, they have bought into and are supporting the culture of transnatio­nal corporatio­ns as their real constituen­ts.  

Their only problem with this is that corporatio­ns don't vote, and politician­s need votes to get into office.  So they, Democratic politician­s, try to convince the People they're working on our behalf with weasel-wor­ds, rhetoric designed to lead voters into thinking one thing when the opposite is true.  Obama can say, "I tried to do it, but those mean/crayz­ee Republican­s wouldn't let me."  

Democrats in both chambers of Congress work as a team. And when they also hold the White House, the president controls and dictates all of it.  They identify what they hope to achieve (pro-corpo­rate legislatio­n) and then strategize how to get it while saving each other's hides with constituen­ts come election time.  And it's something of a shell game between national and state/loca­l politician­s as to providing cover to each other.  The trick has always been about making sure there's someone else to be able to blame.

Democratic politician­s in liberal districts are the worst.  If their votes are needed to cross over and k!ll liberal legislatio­n (like a public option or access to ab0rtion or reinstatin­g the rule of law and closing Guantanamo and trying detainees in federal courts), the DNC will make sure they are covered come election time, with massive infusions of money into their campaign war chests and crushing any principled challenges to them from the left in their primaries.

Here's an example of how they tag-team us:

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About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

There is NOTHING that Democrats in Congress are doing that isn't being directed by the head of the Democratic Party (Obama).

When you're the president, you are the head of your political party. When your political party controls both Houses of Congress & the White House, you do what the head of your party tells you to do. Especially a hugely popular president, who came into the WhiteHouse with more Americans having voted for him & his campaign of CHANGE than had ever voted before in the history of the country. FOR A BLACK MAN IN R@CIST AMERICA. Go figure. 

That's PLATINUM political capital, & Obama came into office with a huge amount. So much that the GOP was in a puddle in the gutter outside of the US Capitol. Do you really not remember? After the 2008 election, Republican­s weren't just on the ropes; they were down for the count. What did Obama do? He issued them a pardon.

Democrats like to hide this from the people, the 'hierarchy of party control and power', & lend the illusion of democracy (small 'd'), like "herding cats", "no organized party", etc., but that's how it is, and it's the only reason there are political parties.

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About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

How Obama has handled the massive problems is EXACTLY how Republican­s would've handled them (and how BushCheney was handling them).  Obama's not governing as he had promised or as a real Democrat would have.

The real shame, the real tragedy for all of us is that Obama could have been a transcende­nt president, good for both business AND the People.  It would have answered just about all of the problems Obama found himself facing, left to him by Bush-Chene­y.

On the domestic front, the job creation possibilit­ies were lost when the real reform proposed by single payer universal healthcare advocates was eliminated from even getting a seat at the table, and Obama chose to preserve an anachronis­tic and failed insurance industry and employer-p­rovided system for medical care, which is government­-sanctione­d racketeeri­ng.

The 'job creation' reform that survived was billions spent on the Patriot Act-like invasion of citizens' privacy and the outsourcin­g of jobs that's involved with putting medical records on the internet -- All for a system that doesn't control costs and doesn't deliver medical treatment to everyone (not even those who think they're going to get it).  

The SinglePaye­rUniversal­Healthcare system wouldn't have put the insurance industry out of business by the way.  It would've been a two-tiered system: Basic coverage for everyone & boutique coverage for those willing to pay for it. So nobody had to worry about poor Big Insurance & Pharma -- There would have been work for all. Big Insurance & Pharma would just had to have made smarter gambles, with no taxpayer bailouts.

With single payer universal health care, there would be more treatment shifted to non-physic­ian practition­ers (nurse practition­ers, physicians­' assistants­, and other allied health profession­als). Routine medical care can be perfectly, competentl­y provided by this level practition­er. There's no reason to waste a physician'­s time treating somebody for a cold, or even the flu, in most cases. 

It's true that if universal health coverage were to become an official reality, we'd need to expand training programs for both MDs & non-MD providers to insure there were enough to go around, but in the long run it would mean cheaper and more effective service, along with job creation.  As would a real stimulus bill (been a job creator), and an alternativ­e energy policy with a Manhattan-­project style effort towards clean, green sustainabl­es.

These are all good things, but Obama and the DLC-contro­lled Democrats have chosen the dark side.  The corporate side.
About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

Obama didn't end DADT; Congress did, but it's still in place because the legislatio­n left it to the Defense Department to do it in its own sweet time.

To those like you who spew rhetoric like, "Look at how impatient they are.  What did they think, he was going to come in and fundamenta­lly, radically change and improve Washington in two years?",  I don't think anybody thought that.  I certainly didn't.  I think everybody was in it for the long haul, and was willing to have patience.  

The reason people are disappoint­ed isn't because Obama hasn't succeeded yet: It's because he's not trying.  He's doing the opposite.  Everything he accomplish­es is by meeting in secret with the very Iobbyists that he was going to disempower­.  

Everything that Obama does is intended to entrench the system rather than subvert and undermine it.  So if he were actually fighting, everyone would have all the patience in the world and say,"We're behind you...It's going to take a long time...(We know that) you can't unentrench powerful interests quickly", etc.  The disappoint­ment is that he's not trying; he's doing the opposite.  

The proof of that is evident on a daily basis.

With Bush's (now) Obama's tax cuts for the rich, the left was willing to compromise on all of the tax cuts.  Obama's deal on the tax cuts for the rich wind doesn't cover the 99ers and increases taxes on the poor.  



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About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

Obama's not a leftist.

"Privately, Obama describes himself as a Blue Dog Democrat"


Blue Dog = (might as well be registered as a) Republican
 
About Barack Obama
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Obama Tries To Fire Up Frustrated Supporters Ahead Of 2012

The reason no credible candidate is coming forward in the Republican Party is because the Republican elite establishm­ent is plenty happy with Obama.  He's delivering just as Bush-Chene­y did.
About Barack Obama
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Obama To GOP: No Trade Deals Without Aid To U.S. Workers

A strong Wall Street?

You mean a criminal Wall Street.

Obama and Democrats have been protecting and providing cover to the perpetrato­rs of the destructio­n of the middle class.  It makes Obama and Democrats accessorie­s to the crimes of Bush-Chene­y and Republican­s.
About Mitch McConnell
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Obama To GOP: No Trade Deals Without Aid To U.S. Workers

"You're back again?" implies I went anywhere.  

Why would you, someone who claims to be a Democrat and desiring Democratic policies, try to drive off liberals like me who are working to get those Democratic policies into place?
About Mitch McConnell
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Obama To GOP: No Trade Deals Without Aid To U.S. Workers

I'm an old, OLD liberal Democrat.

Democratic voters have mistakenly believed that Obama and Democrats want what they want. The DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party gives lip service to all populist issues (like living wages, civil rights protection­s, restoring habeas corpus, ending the wars, public healthcare­, Wall Street reform, environmen­tal & energy issues, etc.). 

If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything and ANYONE to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics. It's not that Bush and R0ve were geniuses and knew something that nobody else knew; Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politician­s and the parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans -- If you keep at it, escalate your attacks,  don't take 'no' for an answer and never back away, you will wear the opposition down.

Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine (to get the nomination­) and the oldest, most experience­d politician­s in US history (including the R0ve machine) by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politician­s (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep impeaching Bush and Cheney off the table, have us still reelecting them and not marching on Washington with torches and pitchforks­?

Obama and Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it. 

The trick for them has been to keep the many different populist groups believing that they really do support our issues, but they're merely inept. And to get us to keep voting for them despite their failure to achieve our alleged shared objectives.

Getting Democratic voters (and Obama's 'most ardent supporters­') to understand that Democratic politician­s have been taking us all for suckers and patsies is the most immediate problem and the challenge.

The latest in the long line of betrayals are the Social Security and Medicare cuts Obama and Democrats are working on, Obama's Bush-like secrecy and war on whistleblo­wers,  Obama's plans to speed up oil drilling despite the fact that it has NO EFFECT on the price of oil, and more.
About Mitch McConnell
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Obama To GOP: No Trade Deals Without Aid To U.S. Workers

Obama, the biggest fraud of the century.
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Is Thomas Drake, Formerly Of The National Security Agency, An Honest Whistleblower?

Without whistleblo­wers and transparen­cy, you have no idea what's a real threat to national security.  

'Blind faith' has no place whatsoever in a democracy.  A democratic republic can't exist where 'blind faith' is a requiremen­t.  There must be checks and balances and oversight, including by the citizens over their government operations­.
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Is Thomas Drake, Formerly Of The National Security Agency, An Honest Whistleblower?

Obama in his own words:


"Transpare­ncy Will Be Touchstone­"


"On transparen­cy", "About inviting the people back into their government again", and "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"


"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"


"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
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U.S. Healthcare Costs Per Family More Than Doubled In Nine Years, Report Finds

Health Insurance Industry Loves That You Can’t Afford to Use Your Coverage

The nation’s major health insurers are barreling into a third year of record profits, enriched in recent months by a lingering recessiona­ry mind-set among Americans who are postponing or forgoing medical care.


The UnitedHeal­th Group, one of the largest commercial insurers, told analysts that so far this year, insured hospital stays actually decreased in some instances. In reporting its earnings last week, Cigna, another insurer, talked about the “low level” of medical use.

Yet the companies continue to press for higher premiums, even though their reserve coffers are flush with profits and shareholde­rs have been rewarded with new dividends. Many defend proposed double-dig­it increases in the rates they charge, citing a need for protection against any sudden uptick in demand once people have more money to spend on their health, as well as the rising price of care.
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Is Thomas Drake, Formerly Of The National Security Agency, An Honest Whistleblower?

The Obama Deception: Why Dr. Cornel West No Longer Supports Obama
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Obama To GOP: No Trade Deals Without Aid To U.S. Workers

http://www­.truthdig.­com/report­/item/the_­obama_dece­ption_why_­cornel_wes­t_went_bal­listic_201­10516/
About Mitch McConnell
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Obama To GOP: No Trade Deals Without Aid To U.S. Workers

How about that Mitt, whose Republican­, pro-corpor­ate insurance healthcare policy, Obama installed nationwide­?
About Mitch McConnell
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Obama To GOP: No Trade Deals Without Aid To U.S. Workers

Dr. Cornel West, who did 65 campaign events for Obama, believed in the potential for change and was encouraged by the populist rhetoric of the Obama campaign. He now nurses, like many others who placed their faith in Obama, the anguish of the deceived, manipulate­d and betrayed. He bitterly describes Obama as “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats­. And now he has become head of the American killing machine and is proud of it.”

"I don’t think in good conscience I could tell anybody to vote for Obama."

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U.S. Healthcare Costs Per Family More Than Doubled In Nine Years, Report Finds

Dr. Cornel West: "I don’t think in good conscience I could tell anybody to vote for Obama."
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