At least in 1997 we had a couple of months of seeing the Conservatives actually out of office and thinking change was really beginning to happen. Lest we forget, at the end of May 1997 Tony Blair had an approval rating of 93%, the highest for any leader anywhere ever.
Only 7% didn't believe he was doing a bang-up job! I bet more people believe in leprechauns!
But once in office you have to serve the powers that got you there. As the Daily Mash reported Obama saying
"I promised you change you can believe in, I did not promise you change you can actually see."
He added: "You believe in Jesus don't you? Right, but have you ever seen Jesus? Exactly."
Having started out by appointing a Zionist freemarket fundamentalist as his Chief of Staff, Barack Obama goes on to get in more rabid old-guard fuckheads on his team.
Obama's claims to be solidly against the Iraq war and planning a withdrawal are already unravelling.
The uncertainties facing the incoming administration may have prompted Obama, in introducing his national security team Monday, to signal greater flexibility in his plans to withdraw combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.
'Flexibility'.
Exactly what 'uncertainties' are there in Iraq that weren't there when withdrawal was being talked about a month ago?
Obama reaffirmed that goal, but also emphasized his willingness to consider options put forth by the military.
"I will listen to the recommendations of my commanders," he said
His commanders like, say, his choice of Defense Secretary, Robert Gates. You might already know him because he's Bush's Defense Secretary. The man who's been overseeing the surge of troops and running the fucking war for the last two years.
This is not responding to any new 'uncertainties'. During the election campaign Obama left himself a loophole, talking about how
"We'll keep a residual force" for "targeting any remnants of al-Qaeda; protecting remaining U.S. troops and officials; and training Iraq's security forces" provided they "make political progress."
How big would this more or less permanent "residual" force be? Obama did not say, but advisers leaked that it could reach 50,000.
That's about a third of what's there today. That's not a withdrawal.
It doesn't matter what was promised or implied, what you think you voted for;
"We are not going to be hampered by ideology in trying to get this country back on track"
His Secretary of State is Hillary Clinton. When she was last an adjunct of presidential power it was her husband Bill who was, like all American presidents in living memory, a war criminal on several continents. Whether littering residential areas of Belgrade with cluster bombs or firing cruise missiles at Baghdad, Hillary was by his side.
These, though did little damage compared to the sanctions the US imposed against Iraq that denied supplies of basic medicines, a tactic that disproportionately punished the sick, the very old and the very young.
When Madeleine Albright, Bill's Secretary of State, was asked about the half a million Iraqi children who died as a result of this, she said 'we think it's a price worth paying'.
There can be little doubt that the 'we' included the person new appointee to Albright's job, Hillary Clinton.
I'll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here.
'I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs.'
'I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking.'
'Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding out both puppets!'
Go back to bed, America! Your government is in control!
- Bill Hicks
3 comments:
Don't be so cynical, Merrick!
Obama used the words "hope" and "change" lots and lots of times. That's got to mean something.
Yeah. After all, no politician has ever used those words on an election campaign before.
But Merrick, Obama really meant it. Honest. He said so.
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