Naomi Klein on Obama

[babsbunny]

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2105

[ikojo]

1. She speaks the truth

Truth few want to hear.

[cali]

3. there is no "the truth"

it's a complex world and paradox exists.

[cali]

2. of course it's bashing Obama

and it's not helpful at this point.

[babsbunny]

4. She is giving good advice!

Keep the pressure on Obama!

[cali]

6. nope. not until after he's elected. then I'm all for it.

[IndyOp]

8. There is no time to put pressure on him before the election -

What we need is 8 long years of DAILY, OVERWHELMING pressure on all members of Congress and on Obama and on our state and local governments.

Getting him elected isn't a finish line - it is a starting line.

Our pressure on Obama, once elected, will have far greater effect than pressure on a President McCain.

Just my 2-cents.

I completely understand your frustration. Naomi Klein is a genius and we should all heed what she has to say.

[NashVegas]

10. The Pressure Should Be Put Not On Obama So Much As His Backers

Who plan to hop onto the gravy train in January.

"You like him? You think he's great?

He can lose, ya know ..."

[elkston]

5. I don't understand. How can you be against finding and killing Bin Laden?

I mean the Iraq War was a mistake. But the threat brewing in Afg. is Clear and Present Danger. We can't just sit on our hands.

I really don't get these ultra-progressive who never want to use force, ever.

And its bullshit that Obama doesn't want to end the Iraq War. The whole "end the war ressponsibly" thing is just to ease the independents a bit. As soon as he is in I have no doubt Obama will start an aggressive withdrawl.

[nxylas]

13. If you oppose the death penalty, then you oppose it on principle

Find Bin Laden and bring him to justice, sure, but I'm not going to make an exception to my opposition to state-sanctioned murder just because Bin Laden is an exceptionally evil person.

[NashVegas]

7. She's Dead On Target, IMO

It was, after all, the people who irrationally hoped and trusted Obama would follow through on the promise of change who did the majority of the work on the internet for him, that helped lead to his victories on the street. If progressives don't hold his feet to the fire once he's in office, what will the point have been in getting him elected in the first place?

Clinton, like Obama, had run on an economic populist platform, saying he was going to reopen NAFTA, which had already been negotiated but hadn't been implemented yet, that he was going to get environmental and labor standards—all the things we're hearing from Obama. And there was, you know, a full-court press from Wall Street as soon as he was elected, and they said, "Look, we've got an economic crisis. You can't do anything drastic. You actually need to impose austerity. You need to go in the opposite direction cut social programs." And Clinton was converted in this period. So the corporate funders of these campaigns know that they're going to be applying pressure. They're applying pressure now and are going to be applying pressure in that transition period, and there has to be a plan.

[Eric J in MN]

9. Bill Clinton also ran on an end of welfare as we know it.

It's not that Clinton was pro-social spending until he was elected president.

[slipslidingaway]

11. Thanks...

"...KLEIN: Well, my concern is that you can't shut up for a little while. It doesn't really work that way...

So I actually don't think this is about Obama-bashing. It's really about the intellectual integrity and the political integrity of progressives in our organizations, because if Obama is elected, then that is the most crucial point to apply pressure to this administration. So how do you actually segue from being a cheerleader to being a grassroots pressure? That's a very hard trick.



JAY: And that's what those who are Obama advocates in the progressive movement are saying: you build the independent movement later; you don't do anything to jeopardize the candidacy now.

KLEIN: And the trick is that so much is lost in the early days. And I think my feeling is, actually, that it's less about bashing Obama now. You know, I think it's important to tell the truth, obviously, but I think there needs to be a post-election strategy that understands that it has to kick in immediately after the vote and that it can't be building from scratch immediately after the vote..."

[zulchzulu]

12. Klein is full of shit: "Obama doesn't have a plan to end the war in Iraq."

Really, Naomi?

Does she have a computer?

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

I do agree with her and have told many people while doing grassroots work that once Obama gets elected and is in office, it's not over. We have to make sure Obama and the Democrats get stuff done. That of course is a no-brainer to anyone who has been following politics...

[mmonk]

14. The battle will continue no matter who is elected. If McCain is elected

though, the path to a better America may literally be closed. I agree with her analysis. First transition, and then an action plan for progressive pressure.