Black Agenda Report does a good job of showing where Barack Obama is getting his campaign money from. The DLCer who claims not to take a dime from Washington lobbyists is instead taking it in bundles from its wealthier employees and executives. Obama is not the kind of candidate Democrats should have put up this year. Instead, he is the GOP's dream opponent next to Hillary Clinton. No wonder they're drooling over his version of Whitewater.
What should be most disturbing about this campaign is the sheer amount of money being pumped into it by the very wealthy. According to reports, the total raised for the presidential race from both major parties exceeds five hundred million dollars. Half a billion. Roll that around on your tongue and tell me it doesn't sicken you.
Why is this happening? Because the powerful wanted it that way, and nothing and no one was in a position to tell them "no", and make it stick. Candidates such as Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and John Edwards, who each decried the influence of corporate money in politics and vowed to fight the system if elected president, all saw themselves shunted aside until only Gravel persisted in running -- and even then, only from the position of third party. The corporate-owned media, ordered to make every election cycle about trivial matters such as hair and attire, horse race statistics and who said what and how, did its job as usual. Even the normally reliable Keith Olbermann jumped on the bandwagon, choosing to join in attacking Hillary Clinton with all the relentless passion he has devoted to going after the shrub and his gargoyle.
But not after Obama. Never him. Because he goes out of his way to appease the powerful, to soothe their fears. Be it using the same condescending, blame-the-victim rhetoric perfected by Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby before him, or denouncing his pastor as a racist, bitter old relic of a bygone era in American history, the new darling of the DLC wastes no opportunity to show his corporate contributors that he is no threat to them or their way of life. Besides which, he gives great speeches, so why call him out for his moral and ethical failings?
Fuck that. No way in hell am I going to sit idly by and watch as this phony bastard gets a free pass on matters of policy and campaign attacks. No way am I going to accept his selling his soul in exchange for power. And no way am I going to watch as that vacuous opportunist blows it again both for Democrats, and for America, without saying something about it. The same ought to go for every true progressive in America.
But we have to do more than just say something; we have to do something. Let's see some ideas. Time is running out.
What should be most disturbing about this campaign is the sheer amount of money being pumped into it by the very wealthy. According to reports, the total raised for the presidential race from both major parties exceeds five hundred million dollars. Half a billion. Roll that around on your tongue and tell me it doesn't sicken you.
Why is this happening? Because the powerful wanted it that way, and nothing and no one was in a position to tell them "no", and make it stick. Candidates such as Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and John Edwards, who each decried the influence of corporate money in politics and vowed to fight the system if elected president, all saw themselves shunted aside until only Gravel persisted in running -- and even then, only from the position of third party. The corporate-owned media, ordered to make every election cycle about trivial matters such as hair and attire, horse race statistics and who said what and how, did its job as usual. Even the normally reliable Keith Olbermann jumped on the bandwagon, choosing to join in attacking Hillary Clinton with all the relentless passion he has devoted to going after the shrub and his gargoyle.
But not after Obama. Never him. Because he goes out of his way to appease the powerful, to soothe their fears. Be it using the same condescending, blame-the-victim rhetoric perfected by Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby before him, or denouncing his pastor as a racist, bitter old relic of a bygone era in American history, the new darling of the DLC wastes no opportunity to show his corporate contributors that he is no threat to them or their way of life. Besides which, he gives great speeches, so why call him out for his moral and ethical failings?
Fuck that. No way in hell am I going to sit idly by and watch as this phony bastard gets a free pass on matters of policy and campaign attacks. No way am I going to accept his selling his soul in exchange for power. And no way am I going to watch as that vacuous opportunist blows it again both for Democrats, and for America, without saying something about it. The same ought to go for every true progressive in America.
But we have to do more than just say something; we have to do something. Let's see some ideas. Time is running out.
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