I have recently posted links to articles on the many ways President Obama has violated his campaign promises and betrayed the hope he inspired . It is true that many have registered disappointment:
But few have expressed outrage.
If George W Bush had targeted American citizens for assassination, or killed so many civilians in drone strikes, or had expanded presidential powers at such an alarming rate we would, I am convinced, be near something like a revolution.
But because so many on the left hold on relentlessly, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, to an illusory Obama, the quasi-messianic figure of national transformation, the Man of Peace, the One, there is little resistance to his imperial presidency. There are notable exceptions to this, like the Counter Punch blog, Glenn Greenwald, the late Alexander Cockburn and Noam Chomsky, but for the most part the left is oblivious. I saw a car the other day with many bumper stickers denouncing war and an Obama sticker as well, apparently without irony.
In light of this one can make a good case for voting for Mitt Romney.
Nothing would awaken the left like a Republican pursuing similar aims. Especially a Republican like Mr Romney: rich, elitist, clueless. One can foresee massive demonstrations again, widespread resistance to the empire. How about a bumper sticker that says: “Vote Romney. Do it for the Left”?
But…on the other hand one must consider what Romney is likely to do.
While he is pretty non-specific, he has surrounded himself with neoconservative advisors and has seemed particularly hawkish. More wars are not unlikely.
And while he has recently presented himself as the champion of the middle class there is little in his background as an oppressive capitalist to suggest he would really care much about the 47% he so recently denounced. And he did choose Paul Ryan as a running mate and he did once endorse Ryan’s proposed budget, which increases military spending while slashing social programs. Cutting benefits for poor women would of course add to their economic stress. It is no great leap to assume that this would increase the number of abortions.
And a Romney presidency would almost certainly assure a continued economic disparity, if anything accelerating the trend of the last 30 years.
Never mind.
Either way, it seems, we are in for the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, and war with Iran. I no longer believe, after Obama nominated more than half his cabinet from the banking community, that he has what it would take to bring us to a just economic system. The left and the right are two sides of the same elite coin that is making people starve in the streets this winter.
Sad but true Dan. Outside his knack for Vulture Capitalism Willard is arrogant & clueless & a tough guy Chickenhawk as are most of the DC Republicans. We cannot afford another W. & all the attendant shooting off at the mouth and shootin from the hip. As a further indication of where Mitt is at, he has surrounded himself George W. retreads & neoCon A-holes. What a “brain trust”.
Obama is a disappointment in so many ways. I think he believes he needs to use the many drone strikes to appear tough to the Republican pols & swing voters. More sad truth, he can never kill enough or appear ruthless enough to satisfy the R’s.
” but for the most part the left is oblivious. ” The Nation last week ran Doug Henwood’s rebuke of the Nation editors who had endorsed Obama. The Progressive has been very clear about its begrudging support of Obama and why labor is not as behind Obama this time around. Democracy Now! has all but endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein and regularly presents anti-Obama leftist opinions. And then among those who are supporting Obama you have all manner of hand wringing – for instance this piece by famous labor activists Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Carl Davidson got a lot of traction in leftist circles, with folks defending it and a lot of leftist thinkers lambasting it because it justifies voting for Obama: http://ouleft.sp-mesolite.tilted.net/?p=933. Clearly, Fletcher and Davidson are not oblivious to Obama’s dirtiness. Recently Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg, both senior giants of the left, advocated that leftists in swing states only have an obligation to vote for Obama, which surprised many as both men have been so critical of Obama. In both cases they skewered Obama in their call for votes in swing states, and in explaining their reasoning (basically that the wing of the GOP which has momentum is so ultra-right that this country may head to fascism unless they are stopped by anyone with the political means to do so) they didn’t mince words concerning the many grave faults of Obama from a leftist perspective. I can’t think of a single leftist intellectual forum of any size or prestige that is “oblivious” to the faults of Obama, or which thinks of him in messianic terms, or at least doesn’t present counter-arguments to those still enthusiastic about the man. It is now widely talked about in labor circles and in labor new media forums that despite some big rhetoric from the AFL-CIO and a few of the other biggies Labor’s on the ground work this election cycle is not as large as it was in 2008, and everybody who is not making 6 figures as a Labor leader seems to believe this is because of various things Obama has done to piss off Labor in the last 4 years. This idea of a “left” that is still ga ga about Obama is more conservative myth than reality. Bumper stickers mean little. I went to school with a girl who had one of those “Coexist” stickers on her SUV with all the religious symbols spelling out the word and I learned when I had to do a project with her that she didn’t realize that Muslims didn’t think Jesus was God. In the predominantly African American neighborhood a few blocks from mine I have seen a car with an Obama bumper sticker and a pro-life one, and another car with an Obama sticker and a “marriage is between one man and one woman” one. So what? Most Americans are imbeciles.
“Recently Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg, both senior giants of the left, advocated that leftists in swing states only have an obligation to vote for Obama”
Translation: Continue to support grave evil, but do it with a long face as a moral disinfectant.
Bullshit. Vote for somebody who does not advocate grave evil.
Oh. Wait. Don’t tell me. That’s *really* voting for Romney, no?
Obama and Romney supporters: peas in a pod.
Owen,
About the only Left source I follow is Counterpunch and they’ve been anti-Obama, with very few exceptions, since before he was elected. But there seem to be plenty of Democrats who make excuses for him, or who will say (as a relative of mine did) “Yes, he’s been a disappointment in some ways.”
It appears to me that Democrats and Leftists who are more interested in what I think is sometimes called “identity politics,” e.g., making same-sex marriage legal, making sure abortion remains legal, etc., than with questions of war and economic justice are more likely to support Obama.
Just scroll up and read Jaded Voter above. The idea that Obama is trying to look tough fir repugnicans is laughable, but self-delusion serves its purpose.
Yes, I agree with the identity politics as determining factor bit. Indeed, in almost all of the leftist circles with which I am intimately familiar those pushing the pro-Obama line stress the “at least he’s given us gay marriage” line. As if, in any fanciful moral universe, that makes up for murderous drones and giving Goldman Sachs the keys to the Treasury Dept.
At any rate, I was speaking, for the most part, not of commited radicals, but of the ordinary liberal democrats that I see in the college town where I work,
Daniel,
You make some excellent points. I know liberals, like myself, are already ashamed of Obama’s record on the war(s), including the “war on drugs”, which he has continued to accelerate. Your tongue-in-cheek hyperbole is certainly well taken. I have kind of given I to Paul Tish’s line of thinking, that we need to make a loud clear statement that the two party illusion needs a change. Just my 2¢
Based on the debates and nothing else, I would vote for Obama. He SAYS the right things, and Romney’s pro-Big Business and increased defense spending (to defend big business) are the status quo without scruples, or even any attempt to disguise. He scares the livin’ daylights out of me.
Too bad that Obama seems powerless to effect change, assuming that he is sincere, and not a PR plant. That big old military-industrial complex just rolls right over everything of any virtue.