Hopeless : Barack Obama and the politics of illusion

329 Pages·2012·20.44 MB·English

by  Jeffrey St. Clair

HOPELESS
  BARACK OBAMA AND THE POLITICS OF ILLUSION
Edited by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank
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Advance praise for Hopeless
“It could have been the best of times for progressives: the collapse of financial deregu-
lation, two failed wars, an election mandate to repeal Republican policies, and, most of
all, a Democratic president whose name would not be Clinton. Yet, this book explains,
three years after Obama’s election, as political mobilization has shifted toward the
Tea Party, the White House helps banks no less than Robert Rubin, and worships
free trade and American Empire as fervently as Al Gore.”—Serge Halimi, Le Monde
Diplomatique
“In their captivating collection of essays, Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank have skill-
fully smoked out the real Barack Obama—Obama the smirk-free George W. Bush,
more intelligent, more articulate, and, therefore, much more dangerous. They mind-
fully unveil Obama the technofascist military strategist disguised as a Nobel Peace
Laureate, but owned, operated, and controlled by Wall Street, Corporate America,
and the Pentagon.”—Thomas H. Naylor, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke
University; co-author of Affluenza, Downsizing the USA, and the Search for Meaning
“In a world of fact-averse pitbulls attacking Obama from the right and morally chal-
lenged liberal lapdogs defending the administration, more than ever we need this
honest assessment from the left. Important reading to gird ourselves for the 2012
presidential charade.”—Robert Jensen, author of All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Pro-
gressive Path to the Prophetic Voice and The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism
and White Privilege
“Hopeless constitutes the most sustained critical analysis yet of the rightward turn of
the Obama administration. The writers assembled here hit hard, with accuracy, and do
not pull punches.”—Marcus Rediker, author of The Slave Ship: A Human History
“If you’re still weeping with post-Bush, multicultural joy for the 2008 election of
Barack Obama—or have somehow managed to pull the wool over your eyes regarding
his record on Wall Street, the environment, militarism, democracy, leadership, health
care, and human rights—read Hopeless and weep again.”—Chellis Glendinning,
Ph.D., author of Off the Map: An Expedition Deep into Empire and the Global Economy
“Those who feel that like lemmings they are being led over a cliff would be well-advised
not to read this book. They may discover that they are right.”—Noam Chomsky
“Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank bring thoughtful analysis and passionate argu-
ments to the debate over the Obama presidency. This book is a crucial intervention
for progressives engaged in electoral politics.”—Jordan Flaherty, author of Floodlines:
Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six
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“Like all Presidents, Barack Obama lied his way into office and betrayed his constitu-
ency even before he took the oath. Like most presidents, he proceeded to tinker with
the policies of his predecessor, and where he did meddle, he often moved toward even
more reactionary, repressive positions. There has been no president in my lifetime less
inclined to budge from the monstrous center of standard American policies, foreign
and domestic, no president more callous in dismissing the needs of citizens or more
eager in advancing the aims of corporate thugs and military bullies. This book is a
fitting tombstone for whatever promise his election seemed to offer. Read it and then
get back to work building the decent America and civilized world he’s done his best to
prevent.”—Dave Marsh, author of Two Hearts: The Bruce Springsteen Story
“Open this book and step into an alternative universe in which political commentary
values honesty and insight over deference to power. Here’s a focus on the latest indi-
vidual we’ve handed imperial power, but a focus that takes the facts for what they are
and places them in the context of forces reshaping our society in the interests of the
Pentagon and the plutocracy. If our televisions talked like this reads, I’d have a use for
words like ‘hope’ and ‘change.’”—David Swanson, author of War Is A Lie
“Candidate Barack Obama svengali-ed his way across the country, speaking and inspir-
ing hope. A new generation of young voters and many older progressives believed the
message. Now this hope has vaporized. St. Clair and Frank’s eye-opening book reveals
that President Obama is just another custodian of oligarchy and empire, a spokesper-
son for Wall Street, the gated community that controls U.S. politics.”—Missy Comley
Beattie, Gold Star Families for Peace
“St. Clair and Frank are to be thanked for compiling a timely and sweeping assay of
the Obama era, and a dreadful reckoning it makes, at home and abroad. This damning
statement of account clears the ground for the next task—root and branch renovation
of the American commonwealth.”—Iain Boal, co-author of Afflicted Powers: Capital
and Spectacle in a New Age of War
“Yes, Obama has become the latest front-man for endless war and corporate imperial-
ism, at home and abroad. What you will learn, page after page, in Hopeless is that the
man from ‘yes we can’ is more concerned with defending US torture chambers, than
health care for the people who need it most, and that he’d much rather be known as
the Commander and Chief, than the Commander of a peace time economy: Tax Cuts
for the Rich, and a new war in Libya for the corporate oil Barons. This book is the
perfect ‘counterpunch’ to the big lies coming out of the corporate media.”—Dennis J.
Bernstein, Executive Producer of Flashpoints, syndicated on Pacifica Radio
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Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion
© 2012 Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank
This edition © 2012 AK Press (Oakland, Edinburgh, Baltimore)
ISBN: 978-1-84935-110-2 | eBook ISBN: 978-1-84935-111-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012933063
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Printed in the USA on acid-free, recycled paper.
Cover design by Tim Simons (timsimonsgraphics.net).
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Contents
Prelude: Barack Obama, Changeling ..........................................1
Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank
Marketing Hope .................................................................................7
Kevin Alexander Gray
Obama’s Money Cartel ..................................................................13
Pam Martens
A Kettle of Hawks ..........................................................................23
Jeremy Scahill
Obama’s Israel Problem...............................................................27
Joshua Frank
From Oscar Grant to Barack Obama .....................................29
Ron Jacobs
AIG and the System .......................................................................31
Jeffrey St. Clair
Orwell in Baghdad .........................................................................37
Chris Floyd
A Redneck View of Obamarama ..............................................39
Joe Bageant
Obama and Abortion Rights ......................................................41
Sharon Smith
From State Secrets to Wiretaps ...............................................45
Sibel Edmonds
Obama and the Man in the Hat ................................................53
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Wall Street White House .....................................................61
Andrew Cockburn
The Honduran Coup ......................................................................63
Conn Hallinan
Obama’s Immigration Reforms .................................................67
Wajahat Ali
The Wolf at Trout Creek ...............................................................71
Jeffrey St. Clair
Obama’s Mistakes in Health Care Reform ............................77
Vicente Navarro
The Afghan War Question ..........................................................83
Franklin Spinney
Obama and Nuclear Power ........................................................87
Joshua Frank and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Novocaine Presidency ..........................................................91
Kevin Alexander Gray
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Obama’s War for Oil in Colombia ...........................................101
Daniel Kovalik
Blowback of the Drones ............................................................103
Gary Leupp
America the Pacified ..................................................................109
Kathy Kelly
Kagan’s Disturbing Record.........................................................113
Marjorie Cohn
Obama and the Nuclear Rocket ...............................................115
Karl Grossman
Torturing the Rule of Law ...........................................................119
Chase Madar
Eat, Pray, Be Disappointed ........................................................127
Paul Krassner
Let Them Eat Oil ............................................................................131
Jeffrey St. Clair
Obama’s Sellout on Taxes ..........................................................141
Michael Hudson
Obama and Rendition ................................................................145
Steve Hendricks
The Murdered Women of Juarez ............................................147
Laura Carlsen
Obama’s Puzzling Silence ...........................................................151
Ralph Nader
Inside Obamanomics ...................................................................153
Ismael Hossein-zadeh
The US as Israel’s Enabler in the Middle East ....................157
Kathleen Christison
Obama the Deregulationist .......................................................163
Andrew Levine
Monsanto’s Minions .....................................................................169
Ronnie Cummins
The Torture of Bradley Manning ..............................................173
Medea Benjamin and Charles Davis
Winding Down Obama ...............................................................177
Linh Dinh
Sexual Politics in the Age of Obama ......................................181
David Rosen
What Has Bin Laden’s Killing Wrought? ..............................193
Ray McGovern
Much Ado About Nothing ........................................................199
Alvaro Huerta
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The Obama Administration and Iran ....................................201
Sasan Fayazmanesh
Obama’s Nuclear Weapons Surge ........................................207
Darwin Bond-Graham
Friends Without Benefits ...........................................................217
David Macaray
War Colleges..................................................................................223
Henry Giroux
Politics as the Earth Burns ........................................................231
Brian Tokar
Obama’s Attack on Social Security and Medicare ..........237
Dave Lindorff
Obama’s Assault on Civil Liberties .......................................243
Bill Quigley
Top Ten Myths in the War on Libya ......................................249
Maximilian Forte
War and Debt ...............................................................................265
Michael Hudsen
Perpetual War ..............................................................................269
Tariq Ali
Guantánamo, Torture and Obama’s Surrenders ...............273
Andy Worthington
Obama and the Economy .........................................................279
Mike Whitney
The Audacity of Dope ................................................................285
Fred Gardner
Black Backlash Against Obama .............................................293
Linn Washington, Jr.
Coda: Occupy the System ........................................................301
Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank
Index ................................................................................................305
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Prelude
Barack Obama, Changeling
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR and JOSHUA FRANK
Damaged goods, send them back
I can’t work, I can’t achieve, send me back
Open the till, give me the change
You said would do me good
Refund the cost
You said you’re cheap, but you’re too much
—“Damaged Goods,” Gang of Four
Barack Obama was in Brasilia on March 19, 2011, when he announced with
limited fanfare the latest war of his young presidency. The bombing of Libya
had begun with a hail of cruise missile attacks and air strikes. It was some-
thing of an impromptu intervention, orchestrated largely by Hillary Clinton,
Susan Rice and the diva of vengeance Samantha Powers, always hot for a
saturation bombing in the name of human rights.
Obama soon upped the ante by suggesting that it was time for Qaddafi
to go. The Empire had run out of patience with the mercurial colonel. The
vague aims of the Libyan war had moved ominously from enforcing “a no-fly
zone” to seeking regime change. Bombing raids soon targeted Qaddafi and
his family. Coming in the wake of the extra-judicial assassination of Osama
Bin Laden in a blood-spattered home invasion, Qaddafi rightly feared
Obama wanted his body in a bag, too. (In the end, Qaddafi’s butchered body
was put on public display in a Benghazi meat locker.)
Absent mass protests against the impending destruction of Tripoli,
it fell to Congress to take some tentative steps to challenge the latest un-
authorized and unprovoked war. At an earlier time in the history of the
Republic, Obama’s arrogant defiance of Congress and the War Powers Act
of 1973 might have provoked a constitutional crisis. But these are duller
and more attenuated days, where such vital matters have been rendered
down into a kind of hollow political theater. All the players duly act their
parts, but everyone, even the cable news audience, realizes that it is just
for show. The wars will proceed. Congress will fund them. The people will
have no say in the matter. As Oscar Wilde quipped: “All the world’s a stage,
badly cast.”
That old softy John Boehner, the teary-eyed barkeep’s son, sculpted a
resolution demanding that Obama explain his intentions in Libya. It passed
the House overwhelmingly. A competing resolution crafted by the impish
gadfly Dennis Kucinich called for an immediate withdrawal of US forces
from operations in Libya. This radically sane measure garnered a robust
148 votes. Obama dismissed both attempts to downsize his unilateralist
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