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Obama Gives Up the Fake "Hope and Change" Act ... And Adopts the Neocon FEAR Playbook
I voted for Obama, hoping that he would change things away from the Neocon fear-based politics to something better.
But as I warned right after the election in 2008:
I - like most Americans - am relieved that the trickle-down emotion du jour has shifted from fear to hope. It feels nicer.
But it is no more real than switching from watching the tv from the horror channel to the feel-good-movie channel.
They are both fiction. Neither the Neocons or Neolibs deliver on their promises.
The Neocons drummed up fear of terrorists, but actually made America less secure, and stomped on our liberties in the process.
The Neolibs promised hope, but gave none ...
Hope is just an emotion. Admittedly, real hope for fundamental and lasting change is important.
But false hope ... is less than worthless . . . it is dangerous, for it lulls people to sleep so they won't demand real change.
After the Honeymoon is Over
When
the honeymoon between the voters and Obama is over, people will judge
him on who he picks to lead his cabinet and what he actually does.
After the honeymoon is over, the only questions will be whether Obama:
- Protected our liberty and restored the Constitution and the rule of law
- Restored the balance of power
- Ensured justice
- Kept us out of imperial wars
- Stopped the looting of our treasury and pockets ...
Whether or not Obama does these things - and not whether he administers the hope drug - is the question.
Unless
the fundamental tyranny, injustice, imperialism and economic
foolishness are addressed, then America will have one heck of a hangover
when the drug wears off.
Well, it is now clear that Obama did none of
those things, and our country does have a hangover. The bailouts and
hand-holding of Wall Street has continued, without any help for Main
Street. None of the biggest financial fatcats who committed criminal
fraud have been brought to justice. We've gotten in yet another
senseless war in Libya. The TSA, Homeland Security and other government
agencies are becoming more repressive than ever.
As I noted last year:
Virtually all of our politicians are corrupt. See this, this and this.
The giant banks are running the show.
The healthcare bill being rammed through Congress "is just another bailout of the financial system", and law school professors say that it is unconstitutional.
America is on a permanent war footing, when the people (and soldiers) are sick of war.
Our civil rights have been eroded, and yet we are not being made any safer.
***
Obama has sold us out.
Indeed, the American people understand that we're in trouble. As CNN Money pointed out last week:
Just
22% believe the country is on the right track, Rasmussen tells us.
According to a new Gallup poll, more than half of us say the economy is
in recession or depression, despite the fact that output has been
expanding since the summer of 2009. In fact, more of us (29%) say the
country is in a depression than say the economy is growing (27%).
From Hope to Fear
Many have accused Obama of being Bush's third term. Even McClatchy asks whether Obama is morphing into Bush.
Obama can't sell hope anymore. So he's switched to the Neocon fear card.
For those who think that the heightened fear of terror is solely due to Osama being taken out, remember, as I noted in February, long before the Osama raid story broke:
The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security - Janet Napolitano - just told congress that the U.S. might be facing the greatest threat of terrorist attacks since 9/11:
And in some ways, the threat today may be at its most heightened state since the attacks nearly 10 years ago.
This is what the front page of the Drudge Report currently looks like:
(click for larger image. Granted, Drudge calls himself a conservative, but all of the media is beating the terrorism drum).
Do
you remember when Japan's nuclear accident was in the news? How about
the war in Libya, or the Federal Reserve document release showing that a
lot of the money went to foreign banks (including Libya), the wives of
Wall Street titans, and other elites? These stories have been pushed off
the radar by the terrorism hype.
Remember, the father of the
Neoconservative movement (Leo Strauss), who tutored many leaders of
the current administration, believed that a stable political order
required an external threat and that if an external threat did not exist, one should be manufactured. Specifically, Strauss thought that:
A
political order can be stable only if it is united by an external
threat . . . . Following Machiavelli, he maintained that if no external
threat exists then one has to be manufactured"
And see this for background.
FBI agents and CIA intelligence officials, constitutional law expert
professor Jonathan Turley, Time Magazine, Keith Olbermann and the
Washington Post have all said
that U.S. government officials "were trying to create an atmosphere
of fear in which the American people would give them more power".
Indeed, the former Secretary of Homeland Security - Tom Ridge - admits that he was pressured to raise terror alerts to help Bush win reelection.
Indeed, scientists have demonstrated that fear of terrorism makes people stupid and compliant. So if governments can scare people with exaggerated, shadowy threats, it can do whatever it wants.
Are
we going go back from koolaid drinkers of false hope to mindless
terrorized sheep? Or are we going to stand up as brave, independent, thinking people
and demand real change?
Postscript: If you believe that Obama is less brutal than Bush, read this.
»
- advertisements -
STRIKE 1: Protected our liberty and restored the Constitution and the rule of law
STRIKE 2: Restored the balance of power
STRIKE 3: Ensured justice
STRKE 4: Kept us out of imperial wars
STRIKE 5: Stopped the looting of our treasury and pockets ...
WTF...you don't get five strikes in fucking baseball...commence with the crying...
Multiple Choice Question:
Our government can best be defined as:
a) A Kakistocracy
b) A Corporatocracy
c) A Kleptocracy
d) A Strumpetocracy
Disclaimer: I vote for D:-)
e) All of the above
"I voted for Obama"
Why should anyone take your advice seriously after that?
As someone pointed out above so did Banzai. I didn't get a vote but I did get sucked in to the hopapalooza (after living in the US under two terms of Bush). Was I wrong - more than I ever thought I would be. But I do appreciate people who can change their opinion on the basis of fresh evidence. Not enough of them around these days IMHO.
Are we going go back from koolaid drinkers of false hope to mindless terrorized sheep? Or are we going to stand up as brave, independent, thinking people and demand real change?
Someone should put some ex-lax in the koolaid, that would be a site to behold....
Best regards,
Econolicious.... Mother Fucking math problem got me again.... Gotta quit smoking the ganja....
Obama is the worst President ever. He takes this title from dubya, because at least Jr. did not hide the fact that he was in it to sucker the world into what his daddy referred to as a new world order. Thousands of points of light, snitchez!
Every president has gotten progressively worse as this place has gone to the dogs (The corporate multinational dogs). It's only accelerating. We could say the same about Congress and even the Supreme Court. It will only reverse when something big goes down
+11
+1,
Meet the new Boss
I used to be obsessed with the prior administration's crimes. Now it's all a surreal joke. The new guard has not only continued and covered up the old crimes, they ignore, embolden and assist the new ones. And not just international war crimes - the banking, investment, Gulf of Mexico, and anything else their masters order. They don't even pretend to be on our side any more. Just look at the recent Supreme Court opinions giving our corporate masters unlimited powers, unlimited funding, and rights superior to any individual. The game is over until we wipe the board clean, return our two party tokens and start over.
+1
Bring these issues up with the average, somewhat-educated individual and in exasperation they will bleat, "But what are you going to do about it!"
They would kill the messenger.
Give us Barabbas!
ok here
http://123nonstop.com/pictures/Barabbas
now excuse me while I wash my hands
Courtesy of the Republican appointed judges.
Now ... everybody is entitled to their own opinion, ... but this one takes the cake!
Worse than GW .... that would take some serious skills
Continued Bush's wars and added another - check
Tripled bush's deficits - check
Continued Bush's eavesdropping and added groping at the airport - check
Bailouts and more bailouts - check
Plumbing depths GWB managed (probably accidently) to leave un-plumbed seems to be about the only thing Barry is willing to give-up his golf game to accomplish.
Skills or no, Barry is certainly working his level-best to accomplish this heretofore thought impossible feat.
NOPE I VOTE GWB the worst in the world...he killed a lot more in Iraq for nothing!
And the patriot act...Gitmo/abu Ghraib/ financial meltdown is his work...even tho O'b didn't help.
Obama kept the Partiot Act in place and the TSA is even more oppressive
Gitmo is still open the last I checked. So he supports it.
Abu Ghraib? How many people were summarily executed there? OBL and two unarmed men were shot (allegedly) in the back/side of the head after being detained by Navy SEALs.
Voting Bush worse than Stalin, Pol Pot, and Hitler shows you are a fucking retard. Any of a dozen Arab leaders have killed more of their own people. Bush is simply one in a long line of horrible US presidents.
BHO has kept the Iraq and Afghanistan war machine on the same path as GWB left it, and he has increased the Pakistani drone strikes. He started a war with Lybia. He has kept his Executive orders in place concerning Gitmo/abu Ghraib and the patriot act. Obama has used the W. Doctrine to a T. I would say they are even, except that Obama allowed the oilgarchs to indoctrinate the Democrats into The Doctrine.
Obama is the more dangerous to the Republic.
+1
iraq = not yugoslavia
OBL = dead
we win... tell the afghanees if they dont want to watch movies thats fine... but if they keep letting everyone dig shitholes on historic landmarks... were going to care even LESS
.
pakistan is a nation with material acomplishments same with iran and russia... let them babysit afghanistans ak47s
.
lets play in somalia and libyas politics
George
Our leaders are not neoliberals or neoconservities, they are fascists. I'm still grapling with the idea that something can be done to remove these malignant tumors from their current positions of power.
Yes, and neo-tards to boot.
I'd like to pioint out that George Washington follows williambanzai7 in outing themselves as Obama voters. I'm leaning towards forgiving you both, citing youth and good will-inspired naivite at the time of the 2008 elections. In fact, I think the best way to handle the share of blame would be a general amnesty.
However, in the lead up to the 2012 elections, it is only fair that your actions to redeem yourselves will be closely scrutinized.
+1
There are loads more scum on ZH who voted for him. Sorry no "do-overs" a*sholes. You did this to America. I thought Democrats would realize the evil and the damage he would cause. The Dems/elites gave us sh*tty McCain as the other option but he was light years better.
I know a few people who voted for him and have lost everything. No pity here.
I have seen those who did not vote for him and lost everything. My sympathy is to for them.
I see old people in grocery stores who do not have food stamp credit cards like illegal aliens and the Democrat core voters. You see these seniors trying to find enough food for them to get by on.
You scum did this in 2008. FU.
I'm voting for Ron Paul ...
In that case I apologize for calling you an idiot and snickering at your admitting to voting for Obama (way above).
Glad your balls finally dropped, boy.
Lets look at Ron Pauls record after 4 terms Ron Pauls prosecutions = 0. Acts of corruption = 1000s. After 4 terms with a full time staff Ron Paul needs more evidence, more change you can believe in.
Do you know what a congressman does? He can't just indict people...
Staying in the game requires staying alive.
me too.
Ron Paul is the only candidate I could support. I'm pretty confident, I'll have to write in his name on the ballot.
I'll vote for the lone ranger any day
Why?
Cos I like saying, "hi ho silver away!"
Cool mask as well...which I'll wear to the mad hatters ball... to bring down those bankstas from their wall of vice street. Down humpty dumpty!
Good answer ... I'm with you
+1
Why?
Because he's the only candidate that supports an audit of the Federal Reserve's systemic fraud since the financal crisis. He's wants to break up the TBTF banks. He want's to end the global policeman to the world role of the Unites States military.
Since the financial crisis?
http://www.afn.org/~govern/mcfadden_speech_1932.html
The last President that was going to investigate the Federal Reserve was assinated in Dallas, Texas..........His brother the US AG was assinated shortly thereafter.
Not saying that it can't be done but it can be mighty risky.
And what could be worse as President...or King or Prime Minister or even Chief Wukachooka?...than being assinated. I can think of no more hateful crime.
+1
Unfortunately he has some weird positions on other important topics ...
-
care to define them rather than just generalize?
I think if you dig deeply into his 'weird' positions, you'll find they're not weird at all - just alien to the average, statist-befuddled voter.
++ RP
I'm looking forward to the ZH caucuses and suggest that Tyler Durden solicit and post economic position papers from the candidates. No audience would subject these positions to a more thorough review.
Me 2. Not sure if he can really make a difference all by his lonesome, but he is a good man imho.