If Barack Obama really wanted to reach out, then why isn't the Dali Lama speaking? Did Obama run as a world historical figure (cf, his speech in Berlin), or did I miss something? Why then is a divisive, delusional fundamentalist christer being given the opening spotlight, when a true man of peace isn't? Are we that insular, xenophobic and blinkered that a home grown fundamentalist christer preacher whose intolerance hearkens back to Jim Crow and who accepts biblical inerrancy must "bless" the inaugural proceedings? Must I embrace a christer who would spit in my face? Is this the man who will usher in the new day, the change that Obama promised?
There are any number of moderate, inclusive preachers Obama might have chosen, any number of 'holy' persons who might have delivered the opening benediction. Instead, he chose the current version of Jimmy Swaggert or Billy Graham? Yeech....
Sorry, but count me among those who see this not as reaching out to the lunatic fringe, but political expedience of the most Rovian kind. I understand the intent and tactic, I do not understand the choice.
Interminable war in Afghanistan? Is that really what Obama wants? A transfer of the destruction and carnage of Iraq to Afghanistan?
Did Obama check in with the Russians and take a lesson from their experience there? Or read up on the bleak history of warfare in that neck of the woods? Is the Pentagon the best resource to fight the Taliban? Really? Is Osama bin Laden forcing Obama's hand to leverage the military and increase its presence there? Really? Is there a viable military solution to the problem of religious extremism? Is paying off militant religious extremists in Iraq really the long term solution to centuries of internecine divisiveness born of opposition, distrust and outright hositility?
None of this makes a whole lot of sense. And for Obama to perpetuate the conventional military response in this prefabricated "war on terror" is to cave in to the the Powers That Be and continue to allow the Pentagon to dictate foreign policy in the Middle East. Apparently, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Alas.
Am I the only one troubled by Obama's picks for his economic advisory team? Well, no, actually. Inititally, I was struck by the choice of Clinton administration retreads, but it was only after listening to Kevin Phillips observe that this team was comprised of multi-millionaire CEOs and DC insiders, but not a single voice to represent "labor", that I became somewhat concerned. Then, after listening to Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill on CSPAN2 this weeekend, I became convinced that having menmbers of the financial "Establishment" comprise this team - the very people like Lawrence Summers who aided and abetted the financial meltdown - I began to think that the change I voted for was being co-opted by the very "Establishment" we voted overwhelmingly AGAINST. And this will simply not do. I didn't vote for Clinton administration economic advisors and I certainly didn't vote because I want the financial wizards who caused this meltdown to have any say whatsoever in how we extricate ourselves from this calamity. As Klein and Scahill pointed out, the seeds for this collapse were planted during the Clinton Administration. Having the foxes in charge of the henhouse is no way to reform business as usual.
And then, of course, the appointment of warhawk and consumate "Establishment" spokesperson Madeleine Albright to represent the US at the farcical G20 economic summit demonstrated a commitment to expediency and not progressive ideals.
Barack Obama represented himself to the electorate as the agent of change. So far, the only change is the exchange of one political establishment for another. So far, Obama is meekly following the dictate of Nancy Pelosi who demanded that he lead from the center. No thank you, Ms Pelosi. After 8 years of GOP extremism, I would welcome some Progressive extremism. I vote NO to reconciliation and YES to the Truth regardless where it leads. If the Buzsh administration committed crimes, they must be exposed by an Independent Prosecutorial team and court (it that is what it takes) to hold these miscreants accountable to the American people.
