I agree. I have been mind-boggled by our political establishment's deafness, first to FIFTY-SIX PERCENT opposition to the Iraq War among the American people in Feb. '03, just before the invasion (NYT poll; other polls 54-55%), and even more so by the SEVENTY PERCENT opposition among the American people now. 70% is unprecedented. There has
never been such a huge anti-war majority, except maybe in Russia in the mid 1910's, when Tsar Nicholas II kept up the mass slaughter of WW I (and paid with his kingdom, his life and his family's lives). If there had been polls then, they likely would have shown an even greater revulsion against the arrogance of power and its toll in blood. Even at the height of opposition to the Vietnam War, the anti-war percentage was only about 55%--in the same range as the antiwar percentage at the BEGINNING of the Iraq War. The people had "learned the lessons of Vietnam"--the leaders had, too, but they said "Fuck you" to the American people and passed the "Help America Vote Act" (same month as the IWR--Oct. '02) to defeat the anti-war majority, which they knew would only get bigger, and shove the war down our throats for another four years despite ever-increasing opposition, by fast-tracking electronic voting machines all over the country, run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls.
56% is a significant majority. It would be a landslide in a presidential election (and believe me, it was). But 70%! HOW CAN THEY IGNORE A 70% MAJORITY? How could Hillary Clinton NOT apologize for that vote--if she had any radio frequency at all tuned to the American people? Did she think she would be Diebolded into the nomination, and got tripped up by the caucuses, where this HUGE ANTI-WAR MAJORITY found some expression at last? That's a theory. Did she think her rightwing buds would take care of things, like they did for Bush? It FEELS that way, and there is some evidence to support it. I'm not sure yet what's going on with our political establishment. I think Obama's supporters are wonderful--their citizen activism is THE most essential component needed for recovering our democracy. But I'm NOT so sure about Obama himself. His speech to the anti-Castro Miami fascists the other day, on U.S. policy in Latin America, gave me serious pause. Are we looking at the President of Oil War II: South America? That speech could be used to make a compelling argument that we are--though there are some other ways to interpret it--and I'm not altogether sure yet how to read its omens and entrails.
Whatever is going on in the Byzantine labyrinth of those who rule over us (multinational corporate predators with no country and no loyalty to anyone), one thing is clear: the people oppose this war in overwhelming numbers, and Clinton supported it, time and again, in utter contempt for the people of this country and our democracy--and Barack Obama, at the very least, has better political radar, and has hugely benefited from his early anti-war position. He was the only one left standing to whom the anti-war political activists--representatives of the majority--could rally.
I do think we are witnessing--and participating in--a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party. Clinton is typical of Democratic Party leaders who sold us down the river on the war and a number of other vital issues. That's why we HAVE caucuses (which are NOT COUNTED BY DIEOBOLD & BRETHREN)--because the grass roots won the initial fight for chairman of the DNC, Howard Dean, who is democratic with a small d, and has pursued policies that encourage participation by the People. And it is more than telling that the DNC chairman who led the sell-out, Terry McAuliffe, joined Clinton's campaign (along with the putrid Mark Penn, known for trying to fiddle elections, to defeat good leftist candidates, in South America, as well as for being the paid agent of the fascist death squad government of Colombia). Their policy of shoving the war down our throats CAUSED this revolt.
The outlines of this political story are fairly clear. What is NOT clear--to me anyway--is how the global corporate predators and war profiteers who are running things may be manipulating its elements to defeat democracy here once again. Is Obama their stealth candidate, not Clinton? Clever move, if so. Is Obama the candidate of the "white hat" CIA and its allies, who have been trying to hem Bush/Cheney in, and get them to leave peacefully, when the time comes? It is infuriating that our fate may depend on events that are as opaque to us as our vote counting system. But that could well be the case. Maybe the Clinton's wouldn't join the anti-coup (too close to the Bushites). The upshot of this would be that the Bush Junta has gone too far, and they are being curtailed. OR, they have FAILED so miserably--in Iraq, in South America and other places--that they are being replaced by a far more talented crew of oil thieves and corporate servants, led by Obama (a thought that hadn't occurred to me until I recently learned that David Boren is on Obama's foreign policy team). (David Boren has deep rightwing connections, and is a major architect of the "military-industrial complex" in its current, all-powerful manifestation. However, it's hard to tell, at this point, whether he is Obama's watcher--on behalf of the bad guys--or his protector, on behalf of the good guys. You see what I mean by OPAQUE. It's difficult for we, the people, to know what the fuck is going on.)
I have seen too many unjust wars, too many compromised Democrats, and too much destruction of our democracy--including two assassinations of great Democratic leaders in my first five years as a voter--to have any illusions about who will be permitted to become President of the United States. I can cheer Obama's supporters, and cheer a return of at least minimal decency to our government (if that occurs) without being naive as to the bigger, more long term struggle to restore our democracy. It is possible that what has driven the grass roots to Obama's cause--the Iraq War--is now...how shall I put this?...irrelevant to the powers that be. Iraq will not likely ever see anything like full oil production again. It is a disaster area. And it is the Bushites' failure to secure the oil in South America that is the most important issue right now, to our global corporate predator rulers.
In his speech, in Miami--which he chose to give to an audience of rightwing coup plotters and fascists--he reiterated the old U.S. "Manifest Destiny" viewpoint that South America requires our "leadership" to guide THEIR destiny. He wants to bring aid and U.S. trade, and more of the corrupt, failed, murderous "war on drugs," and "democracy" to the huddled masses whom we have robbed, oppressed and inflicted with murderous dictatorships for decades. His speech was not only arrogant, it was delusional (the way Miami anti-Castro Cubans are delusional--dangerously delusional). He seems to have entirely missed what has actually happened in South America over the last decade--the success of the most amazing bloodless revolution that has occurred anywhere, anytime--led by the citizen activists and voters who have elected leftist (majorityist) governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Nicaragua and, most recently, Paraguay. This week, the South Americans--acting in unison--formed Unasur, the foundation for their South American "Common Market" and common DEFENSE, neither of which includes the U.S.
Obama didn't even mention it! But it is his intention--if this speech is any guide--to DEFEAT it, by more clever "divide and conquer" tactics than the Bushites have been able to manage. He used every Bushite "talking point" somewhat softened, but not much. The only thing new--and this may be why he couched it as he did, with "Manifest Destiny" demagoguery--is that he said he intends to "talk to" Raul Castro. That is a bitter pill for the Miami federal welfare mafia to swallow. And it is a dangerous thing for Obama to say. I'm not saying that Obama doesn't have courage. But the truth is that U.S. global corporate predators are being aced out, in South (and increasingly in Central) America, by a peaceful, democratic revolution that has swept the continent, and to get back in there, and "divide and conquer" them, and steal their oil, and convert their land to biofuel production--and all of Exxon Mobil's and Monsanto's other lovely plans--the U.S. has to be put on a nicer face, and one good place to start is easing our insane policy toward Cuba. The Bushites have lost control of the situation in South America. And whether Obama would use the 4th Fleet in support of the fascist secessionist movements that the Bushites have set up in Bolivia and Venezuela, and the war they keep trying to start, using their client state, Colombia, is anybody's guess.
Read Obama's speech
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x4546And then read this
"The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez," by Donald Rumsfeld, 12/1/07http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.htmlWhat does Obama intend?
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DU commentary on Obama's speech and related matters:
I'd like to know what you all think about Obama's remarks today on Latin Americahttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=405&topic_id=4545&mesg_id=4545Response to Obama's Miami Speechhttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x4577Background on Obama's Foreign Policy Advisor - Former Senator David Borenhttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x4578the Pentagon Moves Its Pawns: With Evo/FARC Weakened Wash. Begins Checkmate Against Chavez/Correahttp://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x4622"What the FARC is Obama Talking About?" http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x4620Two other informative sites
www.venezuelanalysis.com
www.BoRev.net (hilarious AND informative)
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