Obama: Let's Get Real
OK, Party's over. We done celebrated.
Just like all of Obama's supporters are saying, this is only the beginning, this is when the real work starts.
Today's News And Notes on NPR had a very good discussion on what President Obama means to radicals and for real change.
_____
Noesis over at FOBBDeep asks if Obama's election will result in a new denial of systemic racism and a new model minority:
"I would say coming from an Asian American perspective, that this Obama effect MAY result in Model Minority discourse, for example, if Obama or Oprah can do it why can’t you do it! If Asian Americans can succeed why can’t you succeed?!"
_____
How much change is going to actually come?
Even as Mr Obama's party was winning votes across the country, people were expressing strong support for conservative policies. In the most-watched ballot initiatives (plebiscites) on social issues in many states, there was little sign of a radical new beginning.
Democrats did not really make the sweeping gains in Congress that they had been expected to make.
_____
Most importantly, let's take a look at Barack Obama the politician.
-supported the Republican Class Action Reform Bill, which made it harder for class - action lawsuits to be brought in the state courts and protected corporate abusers.
-supported one of the worst attacks on civil liberties in recent history, the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, which extended an earlier law granting law enforcement expanded powers to search telephone, email, and financial and medical records
-when the FISA Bill ( Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) that gave immunities to telecommunications corporations that cooperated with the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program came to the Senate for a vote Sen. Obama voted for it
-Sen. Obama agreed with McCain on reversing a 25-year ban on off-shore oil drilling
-has always supported the death penalty
-wants to deploy more US troops to Afghanistan
-Sen. Obama stated his intention of leaving 140,000 private contractors/mercenaries in Iraq because "we don't have the troops to replace them."
-Sen. Obama has called for increased military spending.
- voted for the $700 billion taxpayer-funded bailout
-has no intention of following through with his anti-NAFTA promises
-Obama called Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez an enemy of the Unite d States and urged sanctions against Venezuela
-Obama is a staunch Zionist. He unequivocally stated "Israel's security is sacrosanct . " And "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided. "
-announced economic advisors whose ideas are at the heart of the economic meltdown, like Austan Goolsbee, an aggressive free trader and subprime loan advocate, and former Clinton advisors, David Cutler and Jeffrey Liebman, supporters of market-oriented solutions to social welfare issues such as the privatization of Social Security.
-foreign policy advisors who helped take us into war, like Colin Powell
_____
And what about Joe Biden?
-Biden voted for the War in Iraq and the Patriot Act
-He was one of the main supporters of the Republican Bankruptcy Reform Bill that Pres. Clint on vetoed twice , only to have it signed into law by Pres. Bush in 2005
Just like all of Obama's supporters are saying, this is only the beginning, this is when the real work starts.
Today's News And Notes on NPR had a very good discussion on what President Obama means to radicals and for real change.
_____
Noesis over at FOBBDeep asks if Obama's election will result in a new denial of systemic racism and a new model minority:
"I would say coming from an Asian American perspective, that this Obama effect MAY result in Model Minority discourse, for example, if Obama or Oprah can do it why can’t you do it! If Asian Americans can succeed why can’t you succeed?!"
_____
How much change is going to actually come?
Even as Mr Obama's party was winning votes across the country, people were expressing strong support for conservative policies. In the most-watched ballot initiatives (plebiscites) on social issues in many states, there was little sign of a radical new beginning.
Democrats did not really make the sweeping gains in Congress that they had been expected to make.
_____
Most importantly, let's take a look at Barack Obama the politician.
-supported the Republican Class Action Reform Bill, which made it harder for class - action lawsuits to be brought in the state courts and protected corporate abusers.
-supported one of the worst attacks on civil liberties in recent history, the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, which extended an earlier law granting law enforcement expanded powers to search telephone, email, and financial and medical records
-when the FISA Bill ( Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) that gave immunities to telecommunications corporations that cooperated with the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program came to the Senate for a vote Sen. Obama voted for it
-Sen. Obama agreed with McCain on reversing a 25-year ban on off-shore oil drilling
-has always supported the death penalty
-wants to deploy more US troops to Afghanistan
-Sen. Obama stated his intention of leaving 140,000 private contractors/mercenaries in Iraq because "we don't have the troops to replace them."
-Sen. Obama has called for increased military spending.
- voted for the $700 billion taxpayer-funded bailout
-has no intention of following through with his anti-NAFTA promises
-Obama called Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez an enemy of the Unite d States and urged sanctions against Venezuela
-Obama is a staunch Zionist. He unequivocally stated "Israel's security is sacrosanct . " And "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided. "
-announced economic advisors whose ideas are at the heart of the economic meltdown, like Austan Goolsbee, an aggressive free trader and subprime loan advocate, and former Clinton advisors, David Cutler and Jeffrey Liebman, supporters of market-oriented solutions to social welfare issues such as the privatization of Social Security.
-foreign policy advisors who helped take us into war, like Colin Powell
_____
And what about Joe Biden?
-Biden voted for the War in Iraq and the Patriot Act
-He was one of the main supporters of the Republican Bankruptcy Reform Bill that Pres. Clint on vetoed twice , only to have it signed into law by Pres. Bush in 2005
posted by shane at 2:55 PM
4 Comments:
Wow, this is really intense Shane...a lot of people don't ever find any of Obama's real view on policies. I had a real hard time seeing a Democrat ride the fence on so many policies. Thanks for spreading the news. Keep blogging!
I cannot read this without chiming in with Obama and Biden's terrible history with guns. Biden co-wrote the AWB, one of the worst thought out and most fear-mongering pieces of legislation in American history. Obama supports municipalities banning handguns from citizens and every time he gets cornered on the issue reverts to some serious appeasement speech about "common sense".
hero imprisoned (I don't know if we are using real names)-
Thanks. I had actually intended to compare Obama/Biden's stances on guns with McCain/Palin's but never did.
(I would also be curious to include things that both major parties probably agree upon that, in the end, hinder gun ownership. Such as The Patriot Act.)
Nice one. I must confess I was moved by the genuine enthusiasm in my neighbourhood the night of the election. And I do think this is the lesser of two evils, at least in terms of domestic issues.
But as far as the rest of the world is concerned... well, the candidates seemed to compensate for their differences in domestic policy by trying to out-tough each other in terms of how to manage the empire.
Obama was the first to bring up invading Pakistan (?!?!?!?!), and went further than Bush when he said that all of Jerusalem belonged to Israel. And now this son of an Irgun member is his Chief of Staff, with some recycled Clintonoids waiting in the wings for the other posts? Not great news.
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