[CitizensTruth] Curious how many of you think

[Jay Becker]

More than a distraction, he IS the commander in chief and yes, part of his 'job' is to keep "our side" calm & passive, that is, the critically thinking, skeptical, progressive, dissatisfied and discontent crowd, to try to hold things together through unending wars, financial disaster for most of us (those not favored by the bailout), misogynist attacks on women, etc., etc., etc. Bob Herbert and Frank Rich have had some insightful observations on this in the NY Times recently. Below is a relevant section from Revolution newspaper's coverage of the arrest of Prof. Henry Louis Gates for having the audacity to question a police officer in his own home (my highlights):
III. Obama Speaks… 
              Six
days after the arrest of Professor Gates, Barack Obama had this to say
at a press conference held to promote his health insurance reform plan:
              “I
don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what
role race played in that. But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any
of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police
acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that
they were in their own home. And number three, what I think we know
separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history
in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law
enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.”

              Obama
went on to frame his criticism of the police by saying “That doesn’t
lessen the incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here
as testimony to the progress that’s been made.” 


              Obama’s comment set off a shitstorm. Never mind that it essentially covered up the systemic nature
of racial profiling by contextualizing the criticism with lies about
“incredible progress.” The president of the United States is not
supposed to acknowledge racial profiling.

              Obama’s statement that “African-Americans and Latinos” are “stopped by law enforcement disproportionately” is in
fact, just a fact. A report by the Center for Constitutional Rights
found that in 2006, more than 80 percent of those stopped and frisked
by the NYPD were Black or Hispanic. Of those stopped, 45 percent of
Blacks and Hispanics were frisked, compared with 29 percent of whites,
even though white suspects were 70 percent more likely than Black
suspects to have a weapon.  


              Before exploring
the backlash, it is worth exploring why Obama made this statement in
the first place. After all, the very day after Professor Gates was
arrested, Obama addressed the national convention of the NAACP with a
lecture about how whatever discrimination Black people might face (and
Obama essentially trivialized that), in regard to their conditions,
Black people have “no excuses.” And in case people didn’t get the
point, he repeated, “No excuses.” [For a response to Obama’s speech,
see excerpts of Carl Dix’s video online at revcom.us.]

              Here’s the contradiction: The powers-that-be selected Barack
Obama to be the imperialist system’s president, through their financial
support of his campaign, and through calculated packaging in the media
they control. They bet on that unprecedented move—installing a Black
president—as a way to defuse widespread dissatisfaction and anger among
people in times of endless war and economic crisis. They saw “Obama’s
face,” as one ruling class pundit put it, as a weapon to employ in
their global contention with Islamic fundamentalism. But they also saw
the Obama presidency as a way to keep society together in the face of
sharp divides over all kinds of questions ranging from the oppression
of women, and Black and Latino people, to torture and theocratic
fundamentalism. Whether that bet pays off is yet to be seen. Under
Obama, the wars have dragged on and been escalated. Torture has been
whitewashed and the torturers granted free passes. And conditions have
worsened in the inner cities, hit hardest by the economic crisis. In
the face of this, many people who had enthusiastically, even
euphorically supported Obama’s candidacy have begun to question, and
even speak out against what Obama has actually implemented. 


              A
pivotal moment in that process was the dialog between Cornel West, a
widely respected Black academic, author, and public intellectual—who
was an early supporter of Obama, and Carl Dix of the Revolutionary
Communist Party in Harlem on July 14, on the theme of “The Ascendancy
of Obama...and the Continued Need for Resistance and Liberation.” The
event featured unsparing exposure and opposition to what Obama is doing
from both speakers—coming from very different political and
philosophical positions.
              That unsparing criticism
was met with applause, not boos, by a packed house of 750 people in
Harlem. The event—the combination of speakers, the makeup of the
audience, and the mood in the crowd—could hardly have escaped the
notice of those in Obama’s circle whose role it is to take the
temperature of, and gauge the level of outrage and anger among sections
of people, including influential Black intellectuals. [See centerspread article and online coverage at revcom.us for an analysis of this event.]

              The
event in Harlem, and what it brought together and concentrates,
provides a context for understanding Obama’s initial press conference
comments. The point is not that there is a “good side” to Obama which
can be “pushed on” to get him to “do the right thing.” But having Obama
play the role substantial sections of the ruling class intended for him
to play involves some intense contradictions that can bust open at any
time. Obama, and the ruling class forces who installed him as their
president, are walking a tightrope—he is working to pacify and defuse
the anger of people who are justifiably angry and outraged, while
carrying out an agenda defined by the capitalist system, and its
relentless drive to exploit and oppress. 


              By the
ruling class’ logic, Obama is supposed to “calm down” the anger on the
part of Black people and all those who have some sense of what it meant
for one of the nation’s preeminent African-American professors to be
arrested at his own home for violating the “unspoken code” of how any Black man has to act to survive an
encounter with police. For Obama to remain silent on the Gates Affair
would have risked alienating a critical section of people. On the other
hand, and even more fundamentally, Obama’s role as president is to
preside over a system that has the subjugation of Black people deeply
embedded into how it operates. That’s a contradiction fraught with
great explosiveness. 
              IV. … Who Let the 
                Dogs Out?
              But
even as Obama’s comments on the Gates arrest were calculated to serve
the larger interests of the ruling class, he has come under a firestorm
of criticism in the media, from police organizations, and the ruling
class noise machine in general for his momentary acknowledgement of
racial profiling. In response, Obama has backtracked, soft-peddled, and
watered down his criticism, talking about how he “overreacted.” Even
worse, he has now apportioned blame equally between the cop and Henry
Louis Gates, who did absolutely nothing wrong!

              Truth
is truth, and there is a clear right and wrong here. Professor Henry
Louis Gates was arrested at his own home for refusing to speak quietly
and repeatedly say “sir”—and instead for objecting to being abused when
the police accused him of breaking into his own home. Such conduct has
resulted in death at the hands of police for many, many Black and
Latino people in this country. This kind of brutality and murder is
endemic in this system, and that is just a fact.

              To equate what
this cop did, acting with all the authority of the state behind him to
enforce oppressive social relations, with what Gates did, which was to
exercise his right to verbally oppose those relations, is truly
outrageous!

              As we go to press, Obama invited the
cop who subjected Gates to what by all accounts was a false arrest to
the White House “for a beer,” along with Gates himself, and is saying
both the cop and Gates accepted. 


              One result of
all this backpeddling has been to leave those who have a basic sense of
right and wrong confused and on the defensive, and assigned to the
position of “let’s not overreact.”

              But Obama’s
calls for everyone to calm down and get along have not at all chilled
out the racists, the fascists, and the motley collection of reactionary
forces who are just fine with police keeping Black people “in their
place.” They found Obama’s comments treasonous. These forces are being
whipped into a frenzy by not just Fox News, but CNN, where Lou Dobbs
said Obama “threw the cops under a bus,” and that Gates was “arrogant”
for saying this should be a “teachable moment.”

              And
the Gates Affair is being meshed into a political whirlwind that
includes prominent Republicans presiding over town hall meetings of
outraged reactionaries who have been convinced that Barack Obama is
actually an illegal immigrant from Kenya whose birth certificate is
forged, and who is an operative of some kind of conspiracy to impose
“socialism” on the United States through health care reform. 


              This
is all serving up more raw meat up to a rabid fascist section of
society. These forces have been, to now, more or less on a leash. But
they are being kept in reserve—straining at their leashes—and in a
state of increasing agitation against an administration they are being
told is illegitimate.
Continues at http://revcom.us/a/171/racist_outrage-en.html

    Stop thinking like an American, 
Start thinking about humanity!
Read Revolution at www.revcom.us


--- On Sun, 8/9/09, Kris Knight <welaware at merr.com> wrote:

From: Kris Knight <welaware at merr.com>
Subject: [CitizensTruth] Curious how many of you think
To: "Citizens Truth" <citizenstruth at six.pairlist.net>
Date: Sunday, August 9, 2009, 4:10 PM

Obama's main role is distraction...and to keep us calm and patient while everything gets put in place, some of which he knows about and some of which he doesn't...any opinions?

Kris Knight of WellAware Life Enhancement Center
Phone:  1-608-ALL-LIFE
welaware at merr.com






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