Thursday, July 24, 2008

Understanding Obama and Loving Him for It

Dear George,

I finally understand what the Obama phenomenon is all about. He is not the new JFK; he is not the fresh wind of change that will sweep through the befouled corridors of the Beltway; he is not the smoldering torch that will unite America.

No, George, he is none of the above. He is the Judas Goat leading progressives to that slaughterhouse of progressive ideals, the “center”, a center that is not static but is constantly shifting to the right as it is drawn in by mighty vacuum that is our neocon ideology.

But his greatest coup is sucking the progressive blogosphere into the center.

Thousands of progressive bloggers convened on Austin, TX last week for the annual Netroots Nation convention. As one writer noted, “Liberal bloggers are notorious dissenters and critics of mainstream Democratic politics, but there there won’t be much of that on formal display in Austin…The singular goal of the Netroots Nation…is to emphasize unity and help win control of the White House come November.”

Do you appreciate the full implication of what happened in Austin, George? Progressives have dumped civil liberties and embrace Obama’s yea vote on FISA in the mistaken belief that once he is in the White House he will move back to the left.

It’s a sweet dream, and like most sweet dreams, it doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell of being realized. Obama has shown an amazing willingness to dump anything that may hinder his climb to power, be it a former pastor or his formerly progressive positions.

Once in the Oval Office, he will continue to dance to the tune piped by his corporate handlers, and his only “change we can believe in” will be to put a smiley face on the status quo.

Democracy went belly up when sophisticated marketing replace the political campaign. Obama is simply the newest and freshest manifestation of this trend. He is cleverly repositioning himself as a GWB lite.

Your admirer,
Belacqua Jones

7 comments:

Mark Prime (tpm/Confession Zero) said...

Whatever happened to meaning what you say? Let us hope that in his quest for the throne he IS playing with an ace up his sleeve in the shape of progressive ideas, or, as I like to call it, "The opposite of The Chimp and McSame show!"

Case Wagenvoord said...

That's what I thought until his vote on FISA

Anonymous said...

Take a look at sites like Common Dreams, where Obama is vilified every bit as much as MCain is. I don't see many progressives going easy on Obama.

Case Wagenvoord said...

It's well they don't. Hell hath no fury like a progressive scorned.

Anonymous said...

This is a prime example of the capitalistic tactics that they pull in every dept/grocery/auto dealer or even Mom&Pop stores. Its called bait and switch. He probaly learned this tactic from his corp. backers And most Americans fall for it. GWB lite is no different than any politician when it comes to change. He will find a way to convince the electorate that he represents change but he doesn't.

Case Wagenvoord said...

Could we have another "Slick Willy" on our hands?

Mark Prime (tpm/Confession Zero) said...

You know I used to think Clinton was all that and more. The real deal. Then I began to pay attention, late to the party I was, and to this day believe he was better than the fool we have now, perhaps he was just wrapped better, or he rapped better? I still hear some, many, say that he was the greatest thing since peanut butter but I think they've been fooled into believing that the Dems and Reps are different when in fact they are the same thing. It's like two national gangs that know that without the other gang the cash flow dries up as they're found out. all along both gangs were using the same source for money and power and making it seem as if they were fighting for the common good of the people that had just been gang-banged by the "other side" and when they were found out the other side would be sent in to fix the other side and it was just one big cluster fuck of bullshit.

Or something like that...