[CitizensTruth] Fr Counterpunch: "Wishful Thinking"

[Jay Becker]

August 14, 2008

      
The Politics of Wishful Thinking 

      
Buyers Remorse Over Obama 

      
By 
        JOHN WALSH 

      
In
the latest issue of The Nation, an “open letter” appears in which the
signatories position themselves as abject supplicants to Obama, begging
him to revert to his earlier stances in his primary campaign.  




 

      
Thus
the letter states: “Since your historic victory in the primary, there
have been troubling signs that you are moving away from the core
commitments shared by many who have supported your campaign, toward a
more cautious and centrist stance……”  Several paragraphs later, the
letter finally gets around to mentioning “withdrawal from Iraq on a
fixed timetable” as one of the positions that Obama “embraced” during
the primary.




      
When
others have raised such criticisms, Obama has responded that they have
not been listening to him.  On this one, I am with Obama.  How can one
take this guy seriously as an “antiwar” candidate when he has voted for
hundreds of billions of dollars to fund the Iraq war and to slaughter
hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis? Neither Ron Paul nor Dennis
Kucinich, both presidential candidates, nor Barbara Lee voted for these
funds for a “war of aggression,” as Ralph Nader has properly called
it.  On this score Obama’s voting record is no different from McCain’s
or Hillary Clinton’s. 




 

      
And
Obama made it clear long ago in one of his few clear statements on the
war that he does not oppose all wars and in fact supports “smart”
ones.  Iraq is thus not  a criminal war, a war of aggression, but
merely a “dumb” war.  Presumably the war in Afghanistan that Obama so
loves is to be a “smart” war.  When you come right down to it, how
different is Obama’s position that the war is not “smart” from McCain’s
that, until the surge, the war was not “smartly” waged?  I would say
that the difference is less than a dime.




      
The
letter is also frankly dishonest when it says that Obama is simply
moving to a more “centrist stance” In what sense “centrist”? The war is
wildly unpopular and close to 70% of Americans want the U.S. out of
Iraq asap.  What is “centrist” about moving away from a landslide
majoritarian position?  And what is the “peace”candidate doing when he
calls for 100,000 more active duty army and marines, when he calls for
more military spending, when he calls for stepping up the war on
Afghanistan, when he talks belligerently about Iran, and when he
equivocates on how many tens of thousands of troops are to be left in
Iraq?  All these are positions that the “peace”candidate took during
the primary.  They are not new.




      
The
“open letter” also pretends that Obama took a position for universal
health care during the primary.  That is true only in words.  As Paul
Krugman has pointed out, Obama’s health care plan is even worse than
was Hillary Clinton’s – a mighty low bar.




      
The
worst part of the supplicants’ letter is that it is all based on
wishful thinking.  The idea that Obama is an “antiwar” or progressive
candidate is a fantasy, never supported by the facts.  And there is no
way to change Obama by begging as the letter does.  There is plenty of
carrot, in fact downright ass kissing, in the letter - but no stick.  






        Ambitious pols understand sticks.




      
What
is awfully irritating is that Katrina Vanden Heuval and the rest of the
“liberal”elite criticize supporters of  McKinney/Clemente and
Nader/Gonzalez for “wishful thinking.”  Compared to the sentiments and
views of the supplicants’ letter, supporters of third party candidates
are hard core realists. And it is very sad to see some of the
signatories of this letter who in better times would have been men and
women who put principle over partisanship.  Read the letter carefully. 
Look at the signatories.  It may bring tears.


      
John V. Walsh can be reached at john.endwar at gmail.com


    Declare It Now! Wear Orange!
Impeach Bush & Cheney for War Crimes
& Crimes against Humanity!



      
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