by BAR executive editor Glen FordPresident Obama’s “fawning, damn near servile behavior when accommodating Zionist demands” to boycott and sabotage the Durban II conference on racism “should have been a deal breaker” in his relations with African Americans. But what passes for Black leadership accepts any and all insults from Obama, who naturally treats them like the spineless creatures they are. Meanwhile, the White House keeps “Jewish leaders” up to date with conference calls on how Obama is protecting Israel from charges that it is an apartheid state, and also ensuring that the United States is not compelled to make amends for its racist past and present.
Avoiding World Conference on Racism Shows Obama's Deep Disrespect For Blacks
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
“Blacks get nothing from Obama’s White House except permission to worship him as the ultimate role model.”
On Tuesday, April 14, according to the Huffington Post, the White House placed a conference call to American “Jewish leaders,” all but assuring them the U.S. would not show up for Durban II, the international conference on racism, in Geneva, Switzerland. President Obama’s close adviser Samantha Power, of the National Security Council, said the event’s revised draft document “met two of our four red lines frontally, in the sense that it went no further than reparations and it did drop all references to Israel and all anti-Semitic language. But it continued to reaffirm, in toto, Durban I.”
Translation: although the document, under relentless U.S. pressure, has been watered down to the point of irrelevance, it remains unacceptable because it reaffirms declarations of the first World Conference Against Racism, in Durban, South Africa, in 2001. There is virtually no chance President Obama will reverse his decision to boycott Durban II, April 20-24.
We must first ask: Why is the White House reporting to “Jewish leaders” on an issue that is of interest to all Americans, most especially people of color? Has Obama arranged such briefings on Durban II for “Black leaders,” “Latino leaders,” or “Native American leaders” – representatives of constituencies that have suffered genocide, slavery, discrimination, forced displacement and all manner of racist assaults right here on American soil? No, he has not. Barack Obama knows full well that he risks nothing by disrespecting African Americans at will. Across the Black political spectrum, so-called leadership seems incapable of shame or of taking manly or womanly offense at even the most blatant insults to Black people when the source of the affront is Barack Hussein Obama.
“Barack Obama knows full well that he risks nothing by disrespecting African Americans at will.”
Several weeks ago, popular Sirius Radio Black talk show host Mark Thompson (“Make It Plain”) wondered aloud if Obama’s threat to boycott Durban II should be a “deal breaker” – a “last straw” offense against Black interests and sensibilities. It should have been. The Obama administration’s fawning, damn near servile behavior when accommodating Zionist demands – and I use the word “demands” quite purposely – was a lesson in how Power responds to constituencies it favors, fears, or at least, respects. Blacks get nothing from Obama’s White House except permission to worship him as the ultimate role model. Less than nothing, as the unfolding Durban outrage demonstrates.
Obama has done more damage to the Durban process than George Bush, who pulled out of Durban I after the conference had begun. Important language survived the 2001 disruption, such as:
“We acknowledge that slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, were appalling tragedies in the history of humanity not only because of their abhorrent barbarism but also in terms of their magnitude, organized nature and especially their negation of the essence of the victims, and further acknowledge that slavery and the slave trade are a crime against humanity and should always have been so, especially the transatlantic slave trade and are among the major sources and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and that Africans and people of African descent, Asians and people of Asian.”
and,
“Urges States to adopt the necessary measures, as provided by national law, to ensure the right of victims to seek just and adequate reparation and satisfaction to redress acts of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and to design effective measures to prevent the repetition of such acts”
As University of Dayton, Ohio law professor Vernellia R. Randall has pointed out, pressures from the Obama White House caused revisions in the Durban II draft that
• withdrew language related to reparations;
• removed the proposed paragraph related to the transatlantic slave trade being a crime against humanity;
• removed proposed paragraphs designed to strengthen the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent; and,
• overall weakened the efforts related to people of African Descent.
And of course, language related to Palestinian rights and Israeli racism was totally eviscerated. (Samantha Power: “..it did drop all references to Israel and all anti-Semitic language.”) But none of that was enough to satisfy the Zionists, who hope to utterly destroy Durban II, and erase Durban I from the record. (Power, on remaining U.S. objections: “But it continued to reaffirm, in toto, Durban I.”)
“Durbin II should have been a deal breaker.”
George Bush’s walkout at Durban I provided a sour ending for the event, but allowed participants to make some important statements and carry out additional work over the next eight years. The United States and other countries were to report to Durbin II on residential segregation, criminal justice, police brutality, felony disenfranchisement and Katrina displacement. That cannot happen if the official American delegation is not in Geneva. Samantha Power told her Jewish leadership friends, who don’t want Durban II to occur, at all, not to worry. “In order for us to participate in the negotiations, to sit behind the placard, to be involved in a frontal way, much more would need to be done. And all four of our red lines will need to be met."
Israel and the White House speak of “red lines” that they will not tolerate being crossed in politics and diplomacy. But where are the “red lines” that so-called Black leaders will not allow to be breached? Where Barack Obama is concerned, such lines do not exist – which is why he is permitted to walk all over Black folks, with impunity.
Yes, Durbin II should have been a deal breaker. Instead, it was mostly cause for sniveling lamentation and words of “concern” or wishful predictions by Black notables that Obama would change his mind (after the damage had already been done!) and attend the conference.
The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL), although initially registering “profound disappointment” (oh, my!) with Obama’s boycott of Durbin II, cheerily added, “we are confident that your Administration will be reversing its decision in time to participate in the conference and its remaining preparatory meetings….” That was on March 27, by which time Obama’s vandals had caused the shredding of almost every word of value in the documents. The Black lawyers’ “Open Letter to President Barack Obama” was signed by an impressive list of many scores of prominent organizations and individuals – but in its determined, concentrated meekness, should never have been expected to have any impact on the White House. And of course, it had none.
“Where are the ‘red lines’ that so-called Black leaders will not tolerate being breached?”
The likes of the NCBL would be flattered to have Obama’s people string them along – any attention would do. But Samantha Power and her boss won’t even bother, understanding perfectly well that the meek inherent nothing but contempt. In her thorough and collegial report on Durban to Jewish leaders – who are anything but meek – Power said: "We will make our decision [to attend] up closer to the date of the conference, we want to show good faith to our allies and the people who are working hard to improve the text... But we are also not interested in being involved or associated with fool's errands."
Obama’s White House has not seen fit to show the slightest glimmer of good faith to Black people (at least, those not in his immediate family or employ), and seems to consider salvaging Durbin II a “fools errand.” You know what color the “fools” are.
TransAfrica chairman Danny Glover placed an article in the April 8 issue of The Nation magazine that read like a letter to President Obama. “This should be a moment for the United States to rejoin the global struggle against racism, the struggle that the Bush administration so arrogantly abandoned,” wrote Glover. “I hope President Obama will agree that the United States must participate with other nations in figuring out the tough issues of how to overcome racism and other forms of discrimination and intolerance, and how to provide repair to victims.”
Let’s see if Glover calls Obama “arrogant” when the president finishes sabotaging Durbin II. My bet is, “disappointed” is about as strong as Glover will muster. Obama sucks the spine out of Black people.
And as long as Black notables (let’s drop the “leadership” charade) turn into invertebrates at the mere thought of Barack Obama, so long will he treat the entire group as inconsequential, harmless ciphers.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
Comments
Great to know.
I think Obama need have a great strategy in lots of fields, such as, economy, land,etc for promoting this country develop more rapid and all residents feel better.
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I hope the disrespect act of
I hope the disrespect act of Obama won’t create any further dispute between the black men. What Obama need to focus now is to provide US a sustainable economy that will last in a long run.The latest figures from the unemployment industry are not showing to be all that good. We heard last month that there ended up numerous new job openings, and that individuals who stopped looking for work have been up to it for a second time. This month individual figures are down again. Many people employed over the last few months ended up while using census bureau, however that work is only temporary. Now census bureau workers are finding they unemployed yet again, as they finish with their career requirements and are no longer required. There is just not a very good future outlook, particularly with the European debt crisis. Our stock market is even dropping.
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Dont know why he did this...
Dont know why Obama did this, i was reading this post with one of my friend who is working for a web hosting firm, he was very disappointed to read this. No doubt in it that Obama is very intellegent person but cuople of his decisions some times seems very arrogent, like this one and he is still spending a lot of money in Afghanistan and Pakistan on their war, while on the other hand economy of our nation is getting verse with every passing day.
He also is part black....
That is a big mistake on Obama for missing out this conference. Imagine how the Afro-American community would think about his absence on such an important event. I was suppose to attend a Prescription Drug Abuse Seminar for my doctorate degree that day but had to cancel it to attend the conference myself. I am just an ordinary citizen but I value my roots.
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I think the US president must not take any step which creates the racism in the states. He must attend the rallyDiscount Sunglasses
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I think President of any country must not favor any specific segment of the country and Obama must participate in the Anti Racism activities as it will increase his popularity among the minorities. We have to bring some consensus about these issues.
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Don't judge the man on on event
"Obama sucks the spine out of Black people."
Isn't this statement a bit too much? There might other reasons why the Presient is not attending the event. We are here speculating without knowing the full information of what is going on in the White House.
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Don't let the former
Don't let the former irrelevant stigmas leave in our heart and mindset anymore. It is time to change. I always hate racism even though I am fro the majority group. classified ads |job |adjustable beds
Barak obama is still working
Barak obama is still working on previous policies unless to start new strategies.Before becoming president he was announce that he will not support the policies working in muslim countries,at that time i was working in Web Hosting organization.we all friends were sit and listen Obama's speech.But now i am disappointed with his work.He has not doing his duties as he said before.Its need of time to change policies and give better results on the globe.Along with this he has need to put his attentions on web development and on dedicated server to create awareness among the people instead of war issues.
Despite his attempt to
Despite his attempt to downplay its significance, Obama's first 100 days have been highly anticipated ever since he became the presumptive nominee cruises. Several news outlets, such as FOX News, CBS News, have even created special portals dedicated to covering the subject. Commentators have weighed in on challenges and priorities within the fields of domestic and foreign policy, on economic issues and on the environment. CNN lists a number of economic issues that "Obama and his team will have to tackle in their first 100 days", foremost among which is passing and implementing a recovery package to deal with the ongoing financial crisis. In fact, CNN is among those news outlets that has a dedicated portal for the coverage of Obama's first 100 days. Even MSNBC.com, which does not have a dedicated portal, acknowledges the notability of the first 100 days by including it in the titles of its stories. BBC World Service released the results of an opinion poll of more than 17,000 people in 17 disney vacations countries on Obama's first day in office that showed that 67% anticipated that Obama would strengthen U.S. relations abroad. The most optimistic respondents were Italians and Germans, 80% of whom thought U.S. relations with the rest of the world would improve under Obama.
Clive Stafford Smith, a British human rights lawyer, has expressed hopes that the new president will close Guantanamo Bay detention camp in his first 100 days in office. After aides of the president announced his intention to hold a major foreign tampa cheap flights policy speech in the capital of an Islamic country, there were speculations in Jakarta that he might return to his former home city within the first 100 days.
In a betrayal that, we
In a betrayal that, we believe, has been a major factor in the relentless decline of Black political power, many Black radio owners have adopted business plans identical to their white corporate peers.
Such is certainly the case with Radio One
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Obama opposes offering
Obama opposes offering reparations to the descendants of slaves. "I have said in the past — and I'll repeat again — that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed," Obama said. An apology for slavery would be appropriate but not particularly helpful in improving the lives of African Americans, he said. Reparations could also be a distraction VCP-410 exam, Obama said. "I consistently believe that when it comes to whether it's Native Americans or African-American issues or reparations, the most important thing for the U.S. government to do is not just offer words, but offer deeds," Obama told a meeting in Chicago in July 2008.[238]
I think that Pres. Obama is
I think that Pres. Obama is just being careful in his few months in the office. He maybe avoiding being confronted with race issues which he doesn't want to address just yet. Maybe in the future, he would.
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Although the term racism
Although the term racism usually denotes race-based prejudice, violence, discrimination, or oppression, the term can also have varying and hotly contested definitions. Racialism is a related term, sometimes intended to avoid these negative meanings. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, racism is a belief or ideology that all members of each racial group possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another racial group or racial groups. The Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular racial group home insurance, and that it is also the prejudice based on such a belief. The Macquarie Dictionary defines racism as: "the belief that human races have distinctive characteristics which determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate others."
The concept that discrimination can be based on "race" presupposes the existence of "race" itself. However, the US Government's Human Genome Project has announced that the most complete mapping of human DNA to date indicates that there is no distinct genetic basis to racial types. Based on this evidence, "racial characteristics" logically cannot exist either.
It is quite unfortunate that
It is quite unfortunate that Obama did not go to attend this meeting. Yet, B. H. Obama may be only half-black, he is the father of an full african-american family, with his wife Michelle Obama and his 2 daughters who are 75% black. For this reason, I do not believe he wished to show disrespect to black people.
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That said, by withholding
That said, by withholding acknowledgment of this wrongdoing by modern states and markets toward indigenous peoples of all colors, UN member states like the US hope to avoid not only reparations for the past, but also to continue theft of aboriginal nations' properties. This is why the Obama Administration is appealing the federal court decision ordering the Department of Interior to pay American Indians funds embezzled by the department from mineral leasing trust accounts. That is why the carbon-market trading plan of the UN makes no reference to indigenous peoples' inherent interests in lands and resources supporting this World Bank Ponzi scheme. club penguin
Obama is racially mix and not African american.
I wonder why some African americans keep calling barrack Obama a "black" man? how does a person born of a pink "white" mother and Brown "black" father be called
Brown "black"?, wake up people, Obama is not Brown "black", he is racially mix. Obama is not an African American he is a racially mix American and that is why his position on racism is in line with his pink "white" side, which is slavery was an act of civilisation and that racism is the creation of African americans meaning real African american who are 100% brown "black" because their skin color is not liked by the pink "white" americans, which are of the same race as his mother.
the pink "white" oppressor got many brown "black" people with Obama, the pink "white" tell brown "black" people whatever and they just accept.
stop accepting the lie, Obama is not African american because he is mix, you are african amerifcans only if you are 100% brown "black".
Our skin color is Brown and not black stop callin yourself "black" like the pink "white" man want you to do.
and their skin color is not "white" but pink and stop repeating after the wicked oppressor.
for a universal struggle against racism
Dear Glen,
I am a periodic reader of your website and appreciate the sharp criticism of BAR writers. I am therefore writing to express my disappointment with your article about Obama's refusal to participate at the UN Conference on Racism in Geneva.
I clearly understand that Obama's refusal to participate represents a missed opportunity to push forward struggles for reparations and against racism in a multitude of ways. But you failed to address the content of why the conference might be refused, on legitimate grounds, and that is because of the Holocaust Denial and antisemitic agitation of the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
While a conference on racism ought to be supported, as well as demands for Palestinian human rights and an independent state, Holocaust Deniers and antisemitic agitiators should not be given space to preech their race hatred, but rather forthrightly opposed.
I am not speaking about Obama in this case, but rather about us, those on the Left who oppose racism universally and seek emancipatory solutions to today's crises. In my view, what is abhorrent about the conference is Ahmadinejad's selfish abuse of the Palestinians for his own power ambitions. But many on the left let him off the hook, thinking he is speaking against racism rather than actually expressing it.
I would hope that opposition to racism would include opposition to antisemitism. Isn't such opposition a task of all of us on the left, as part of a universal struggle against all forms of racism?
Sincerely,
Schalom.Libertad
Summit
First of all isn't Cuba in the Caribbean? I thought this was primarily about Central and South America. MSM coverage has been dominated by Bammy's weak efforts to refine the status quo regarding Cuba which may have the effect of widening the already huge wealth gap there. When Bammy brought up poverty in Latin America, he said that Americans need postive reinforcement in order to alleviate Latin America's poverty. In other words according to racist logic, they have to be bribed or coaxed into doing what's correct. He also said that Latin Americans shouldn't blame America for all their problems. Sound familiar? Who do you think makes the problems they have worse? If you think this is bad wait until he goes to Africa. I remember being repulsed by seeing video of his appearance on Oprah a few years back. Implying that Africans are too stupid to put condoms on and has talked about colonialism not being all that bad. The Cuba issue provided a much needed distraction, and gives Bammy the appearance of a win. He was rebuffed at the G-20 and accomplished little except for sucking up to Turkey for geopolitical reasons.
What a bozo!
My gosh! This man has no more business being president than my 3 year old nephew. Had he wanted to be an entertainer, he should have gone to Hollywood. I would like to know why everyone says he is intelligent. I have seen NADA that suggests in any way that he is not a narcissistic moron who has no interest in anything but being adored. He continues to bamboozle many while he actually behaves just like the old boss. For him to be disinterested in SO MUCH and always making ridiculous lecturing speeches is totally sickening. While he runs around the globe trying to be holier than everyone-what about the problems here in the states where people need help? Do people know what he is doing in Afghanistan and Pakistan? What he is NOT doing about everything else? Somehow, I can see that MRS. Clinton would have been more suited to this position(such as it is) than this payaso/clown.
Is the novelty already wearing off?
Well said, sunny-cat, Bammy likes to think he has got "game"; he has said so before. The only thing he has going for him is that he is black. That in and of itself makes him a novelty. The White Supremacists wisely used the force of racism to their advantage, by propping him up, he retards any legitimate criticisms of White World Supremacy. If Bammy were not black would he be a multi-millionaire? A Senator? President? He owes everything he has to his African ancestry, and I get the impression that he thinks that it's just his charisma and the force of his personality. What non-white people must understand is that White World Supremacy is not about money or land, it's about power and ego. Money, for instance is made by people, if you control people you control money. If you control non-whites, you control their money. Land is also about people so whether it's Gaza, or the Zimbabwe; land is about people, and in this case non-white people and who is going to be in control of them.
What is particularly disgraceful is reading just a couple of pages of the Audacity of Hope's chapter on race. The guy sounds just like a far right wing conservative republican! I couldn't even finish his book. There is good reason to believe it was ghost-written as well. It's really quite simple, why would whites LOVE Obama, when they have, generally speaking utter contempt for the average black person? Well it's because he speaks their language. He is nothing but a cynical, poll-driven, ruthless pol, who has voters in a trance because of the fact that he's a novelty. Bill Clinton reportedly called him a Chicago thug politician. Well, you already know what he thinks about you, considering the crime bill, welfare reform, Ricky Rector, etc., and Bammy is doing a good job of trying to emulate him. Bammy is squandering a great deal of goodwill, because he lacks the courage to stand for justice.
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I'm glad that you're continuously putting pressure on Obama, but this doesn't seem like the best issue to scrutinize him on. If the conference was actually going to be about what you've suggested, and nothing else, then the US wouldn't have boycotted. In fact, if that was the case, Australia, Canada, Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands also wouldn't be considering a boycott. You could have done better at informing your readers to the real motivations for the boycott. Of course Obama doesn't have any special concern for blacks, but that wasn't the point.
I love your articles Glen, but sometimes you ignore the real issues. I doubt that Obama could scratch an itch without this being an act of abuse towards the black community.
What then?
"I'm glad that you're continuously putting pressure on Obama, but this doesn't seem like the best issue to scrutinize him on. If the conference was actually going to be about what you've suggested, and nothing else, then the US wouldn't have boycotted.You could have done better at informing your readers to the real motivations for the boycott." - keapponlaffin
I'm interested to know then, keapponlaffin, what are the true reasons for the boycott? What about the document and the conference so offends the few countries that you've mentioned who are considering boycotting? Where is this article lacking?
say what?
Glen nailed it, as usual, in this article. You criticize the article yet offer no alternative explanation. With all due respect, you appear naive and uninformed on this issue. Please offer some specific evidence why Glen is mistaken here.
Rinsed out "Hope"
CounterPunch Diary
Thin Ice From Here to the Horizon
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
On any rational assessment the popular new president is skating on thin ice. Pollyanna bulletins about the economy puff up from the White House and Federal Reserve, like auguries of a new Pope through the Vatican chimney. “Habemus spem.” We have hope. We’ve just heard it from President Obama: "We are starting to see glimmers of hope across the economy." From Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who’s so far unleashed $12 trillion in booster money, we get the always sinister reassurance, like Death giving the Appointee in Samarra a friendly tap on the shoulder, "the foundations of our economy are strong".
The economic news in the near and medium term is ghastly, as Mike Whitney outlined on this site last Thursday. Retail sales crashed again in March, nowhere worse than in the car market, though electronics and building materials were way off too. They now reckon there’ll be just over two million housing foreclosures in 2009, up 400,000 from 2008. Industrial output is going through the floor at an annual rate of 20 per cent, the biggest quarterly drop since the end of the Second World War. US industry is now running at only 70 per cent of capacity, the worst number since they started tracking this stat in 1967. Job losses are currently running at 650,000 a month.
Round the next corner is credit card delinquency and the long-heralded slump in commercial real estate, where vacancy rates are already running at 15 per cent,. Capital One, a huge issuer of Visa and Mastercard, just said the annualized net charge-off rate for U.S. credit cards -- debts the company reckons will never be paid -- rose to 9.33 percent in March from 8.06 percent in February. In other words, Capital One – whose credit card promotions take up hefty space in the mailbag of every US postman – is in big trouble, and under one in ten of these credit card holders will have a messed up credit rating for several years to come.
Wall Street and its boosters are trying to pretend that indeed the worst is over. The Dow and S&P Index have been rallying for five weeks. Wells Fargo, the huge San Francisco-based bank, second biggest home lender, announced that first quarter net income rose 50 per cent to $3 billion. No one seriously believes the bank is in anything other than continuing huge trouble, and will soon need – so Blomberg News surmises - $50 billion to settle near-term commitments. The profit figure stems from newly relaxed rules about the valuation of Wells Fargo’s assets.
In other words it’s thin economic ice from here to the horizon. Robert Reich, now teaching economics at Berkeley and formerly labor secretary in the Clinton administration, wrote a piece recently, titled "Why We're Not at the Beginning of the End, and Probably Not Even At the End of the Beginning". There are huge problems with the whole orientation of the US economy. The “free market” outsourcing model has failed. Even at the best of times the US consumers who account for over 70 per cent of all economic activity in the country, don’t have purchasing power to keep the whole show on the road, unless they put it on the credit cards which are now maxed out and going into default, or borrow on houses they can’t afford.
Amid a hail of well founded criticism from liberal and conservative economists alike, Obama, with Geithner, Summers and Bernanke at his elbow, remains absolutely committed to giving the bankers everything they ask for, trillion upon trillion. As William Black, deputy director at the former Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp. during the thrift crisis of the 1980s, recently remarked in an acrid interview in Barron’s, (reprinted here last week) “ Unless the current administration changes course pretty drastically, the scandal will destroy Obama's administration, both economically and in terms of integrity. We have failed bankers giving advice to failed regulators on how to deal with failed assets. How can it result in anything but failure?”
In foreign policy the ice is just as treacherous. As the nation emerges from its disastrous adventure in Iraq, Obama redeploys to the Afghan-Pakistan theater. The administration delightedly touts claims that its remote-controlled missiles are decimating al-Q’aida. The Washington-based journalist Gareth Porter last Thursday cited here data leaked by the Pakistani government showing that only ten out of 60 drone attack in February and March hit al Qaida leaders and the rest did what bombs and missiles usually do, namely kill civilians, 537 of them – thus immeasurably strengthening the hand of the Taliban in the battle for hearts and minds.
Obama is no doubt unworried by this since the hearts and minds he’s mostly interested in belong to the American people and especially opinion-forming elites, who remain unflustered when high explosive falls on a wedding party in Waziristan. Failure in Iraq was re-labeled “victory” and in terms of domestic politics the chickens only come home to roost when there’s film of people climbing off the roof of the US embassy into a helicopter, or when the casualty rates among US soldiers start soaring. Soaring Pentagon budgets are popular with Congress, whose members nix any effort to cut back.
Where the ice is giving way for Obama is among those who thought he might strike out in a new direction in foreign policy. There’s not much sign of that. Whether it’s a sell-out of Haiti’s poor or acquiescence in Israel’s grim plans for the Palestinians, Obama’s game is strictly business as usual, up to and including the Cuban blockade whose damage, as Fidel Castro said here last week, “cannot be calculated only on the basis of its economic effects, for it constantly takes human lives and brings painful suffering to our people. Numerous diagnostic equipment and crucial medicines --made in Europe, Japan or any other country-- are not available to our patients if they carry U.S. components or software.”
Obama has welshed on promises that America will stop kidnapping its enemies and “rendering” them to secret prisons overseas. As under Bush, enemy combatants languish without rights or recourse in prisons like Bagram. The torturers who flourished in the Bush years will not be prosecuted. Electronic eavesdropping continues unabated. It seems, so CounterPunch’s Fred Gardner is reporting in exclusives on this site, he and his attorney general are welshing on commitments not to harass medical marijuana operations in states where local laws sanction such activity.
Will the liberal-left mutiny? Never. Remember, Bill Clinton bombed Yugoslavia and kicked away life supports of America’s poorest and most of the liberal-left stayed loyal to the end and cherish his memory. The labor movement has already seen defeat for its cherished “card check” bill, designed to win a level playing field for union organizers, thus presumptively boosting effective purchasing power among working people, vital to the nation’s economic well-being. They’re not really blaming this on Obama, even though it is his chief aide, Rahm Emmanuel who, in his years on the Hill, picked Democratic candidates who feel no loyalty to labor and refused to push for the card check bill, and though Obama recently stressed he is a “new” Democrat – transparent code for someone distancing himself from the labor movement.
Obama’s polling numbers remain good. He has only to say there are “glimmers of hope” and the pollsters duly find increasing sentiment among Americans that they feel the economy is moving in a “positive” direction. He gets good assessments from Democrats and Independents. Many Republicans don’t like him but here again Obama is lucky, just as he was lucky – at least in the near term - to have three Navy SEALS off the horn of Africa who were good shots. The Republican opposition is in appalling shape, lumbering from one ill-conceived stunt to the next.
Obama’s lucky to have succeeded a terrible president. He gets out a lot and talks a great game. His problem is the same as the country’s. The economic ice is cracking under his feet, and the “stimulus” is going to be about as efficacious as those cushions under the seats the flight attendants assure us are going to come in handy when the plane goes down in the North Atlantic.
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There is method to the
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The torturers who flourished
The torturers who flourished in the Bush years will not be prosecuted. Electronic eavesdropping continues unabated. It seems, so CounterPunch’s Fred Gardner is reporting in exclusives on this site, he and his attorney general are welshing on commitments not to harass medical marijuana operations in states where local laws sanction such activity.
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And I'm impressed by your skills at this new format.
Sellout doesn't even begin to explain it
When asked about what his plan for the black community, Obama intends to first placate the so-called white middle class with health care, jobs, education, and then apparently hope that whatever's left "trickles down" to blacks. Classic Obama trickle down economics. I can't express how angry this guy makes me. He can treat blacks however he wants because he pays no price. This theme has been repeated on this site over and over again, but it has more and more resonance as you take a look at what's occuring.
He grovels for any interest group that wields power over him politically. For example when going to Mexico, he has no "tough love" for Mexicans, because he'll actually have to EARN their votes for re-election. Notice carefully how he blames his OWN country for ALL of Mexico's problems, but blames blacks for ALL of their own problems. He remained silent on the "pirate attacks" while whites were beating their chests as they "took out" three black teens. He's constantly refining racism for the White Supremacists, sending Hypocrite Hil to Haiti to pretend that his administration cares about blacks, they'll throw some money at it, but it won't reach those that need it. I still haven't got over the fact that I'm still forced to have to listen to her voice every other day, after her husban's right wing co-opting administration and her racist campaign. Instead of charity he should be fighting for justice. But, he's the ultimate opportunist, no principles, no core, just a fraud. Laughing at blacks, pretending to be one of us, but is merely a vexing distraction. Perhaps if their were a "black lobby" he may pay some attention to us, lol. Where is the Africa visit? Africa could and should be the world financial center, but he knows that the African Diaspora doesn't mean anything to his power, unless he's being used as the face to provide cover for expanding the "WOT" to include more and more blacks and install AFRICOM, in addition to the combined task force already there, conductinog operations. but he is a racial showcase and he eats it up, because he is the "unique" black person. What will be interesting, is that after four years after nothing changes for blacks what the excuses will be, he WILL not be re-elected unless the White Supremacists determine that there has to be more refinement of racism. Lord knows we already live in a quasi-capitalist.
The term conference can be
The term conference can be used to describe any meeting of people to ‘confer’ on a certain topic. Far removed from the stereotypical ‘year-end company conference’ which is just an excuse for the whole company to pull into a posh hotel and have a weekend long party, the planning and execution of a successful and effective conference takes a lot of time, discipline and commitment.
SEO
sall: Right on Point. Obama, the Trojan Horse
"Sellout" doesn't began to explain it sall, but you sure do. Thanks for breaking down "The Obama Phenomena." sall pinpoints why Obama consistently, deliberately uses the term "Middle Class" when he talks about "average" Americans, and never "working class" or "working poor". No way in hell does "Black" roll off his lips unless he's talking about the color of his dog. Obama speaks to the White Mangerial Class that is the sine qua non of his existence and worldview. It's the same "Middle Class" he rubbed shoulders with, whose asses he kissed, whom he has emulated all of his unprincipled life. Bitch is a A-1 user, and pathetic Black "leaders", "Journalists/pundits," and Folks should have seen the handwriting on the wall when he threw Rev. Wright under the bus. He didn't just make a raw political calculation, he consciously and callously threw hundreds of year of Black/African Oppression under the bus. His actions sought to nullify the African Diaspora. And the phony, psuedo-racist "Libruls" and out-and-out racists Rightists gladly seized upon Obama's historical revisionisn. For persons of color Obama's rhetoric amounts to nothing short of a Blood Libel. My friend in Chicago has a litany of Black politicians Obama has f***ked for his personal ambition and self-aggrandizement. But despite his doubts, despite his avowed concerns, despite his insights as a banker, he still holds out a "glimmer of hope" that punk-ass will do the right thing, as do most foolish, uncritical thinking Blacks and "Librul" whites for that matter.
His enablers/supporters crow, "It's not even 100 days yet, give the man a break." Never mind this little hustler/house negro has given away "the kitchen sink" economically and escalated the WOT foolishly. But I've noticed that not in the past weeks or months have we heard one peep from his supporters and enablers, maybe they are getting a little jaded like my friend in Chicago.
The patina of "can't do no wrong" is coming off of Obama, as Chris Floyd and more and more liberal/progressive writers on the blogosphere are beginning to, pardon the pun, call a spade a spade. Obama believes that prosecuting war criminals for torture would cause "national disunity." Small wonder he gets along so well with the war criminals in Israel who feel the same. Here's the "soaring rhetoric" on torture prosecutions from the pathetic, deadly jelly fish, and Floyd's followup:
But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past. Our national greatness is embedded in America’s ability to right its course in concert with our core values, and to move forward with confidence. That is why we must resist the forces that divide us, and instead come together on behalf of our common future.
If Obama truly believes that prosecuting unknown CIA operatives would constitute some kind of disturbing disunity that the country could not bear in the present situation, then how likely is he to pursue the even more "disturbing" prospect of investigating and indicting a former president and his top officials?
And now focus closely on this astonishing phrase:
...we must resist the forces that divide us, and instead come together on behalf of our common future.
It is clear in the context of his statement that "the forces that would divide us" refers to those who are calling for the instigators and perpetrators to be prosecuted. They are the ones insisting on the disturbing, disunifying course of "laying blame for the past." But what, in the name of God, are America's "core values," if they do not include prosecuting people who order and commit the high crime of torture?
The more one considers Obama's remarks, the more offensive they become, and the more flagrantly they insult the intelligence. For the very memos that he has released give the lie to his own statement. Obama says it would be wrong to prosecute CIA underlings for carrying out actions that they were told were legal. Leaving aside the fact that apparently none of these great, courageous, self-sacrificing, vigilant defenders of our "core values" (as Obama lauds them) considered these tortures to be inherently immoral, but simply wanted to cover their ass legally before they wall-slammed the hell out of somebody or poured water down their throats until they began to choke and drown -- the fact is, they were told quite specifically by Bush's White House shysters that there was no guarantee that their actions would be considered legal by a court."
http://www.chris-floyd.com/
The more one considers in Obama IN GENERAL, the more offensive he becomes. You gotta read all of Floyd's essay to appreciate the moral depravity and cowardice of Obama. As Floyd aptly sums it up: "The old crimes are being written off; the new crimes keep going on." Obama is a viral infection on Blacks and people of color. As he escalates the crimes of the Bush Administration and the American Imperium, Blacks and persons of color are left helpless to the onslaught of Right Wing Media, politics, and out-and-out facism and racism. Don't be surprised if you wake up one day and those "nooses" become more than symbolic. Maybe Rev. Sharpton and others won't be so eager for gun-control when they find a Black person strung up. Amerikka is firmly planted to the Right and Obama is aiding and abetting it's lurch further Right. While he pulls a reverse Robin Hood, robbing from the common folk to give to the rich, Blacks and persons of color are thrown to the clutches of the Right Wingers and White Supremacists as they grow bolder and bolder. Listen to the Homeland Security Director mute and back-peddle from the findings in it's own intelligence report, "Oh no, there ain't no rednecks or white supremacists in the military coming home to potentially wreak havoc." (I guess only Muslims do that??) This little Bitch is going to put Blacks back 50 years when all is said and done. Welcome to "Post-Racial Amerikka" tee vee fans.
Barack Obama refuses to spend "political capital" he'd rather COVER UP AND PERPETUATE BUSH WAR CRIMES AND WOT. But alas, Amerikka that beacon of hope, shining City on the Hill will continue to prosecute the disposal little dictators of the world as war criminals and crow on and on, in their never-ending hypocrisy about the "Rule of Law." Kiss my ass, again, please.
Durban II
Greetings,
These days as more and more former Obama supporters wake up to him,
Obama responds to ex- supportors critizism as I always thought he would.
" Maybe they didn't listen carefully to me during the campaign"
Well I heard him say that for him there is is no Black America. That the
blood of African American slaves do not flow through his veins but through
the veins of his wife and children. That he will not let the name of Dr.
Martin Luther King pass his purple lips.
Obama recently stated that "people get riled up" when amnesty for
illegal immigrants is raised. As if peoples concerns on that issue are
trivial. Obama recently made the comment that people complain about
bailout money but don't complain about how much is spent on social
security. As if Wall St. abilouts are equivalent to ones receiving social
security beneifits that people paid into over decades. This is a signal
that he wants to attack social security the same way he wants to attack
Pakistan.
Obama is full of disembling and condesention. Don't let him or the
advesaries of working people to set the terms or language of debate.
Eric
So called "citizens"
When we will stand up and realize that this dude is a lap dog for the Israeli lobby. He could care less about Africans living in America, or as some people would rather be described as black people (an adjective which insinuates we have no homeland! But hey no one cares, it's wonderful to not have a nation of your own, we can unpack our bags and be real American citizens, right?). Guess what Jewish people not only have a nation and understand the important of setting their own agenda, but it's zenophobic and just as racist as America. The conference on racism declared slavery a crime against humanity, appropriately stated that we all should be made whole for the travesty, and also discussed the apartheid in Palestine.
But the Jews can't have that and so Obama follows by boycotting the conference. He is a Jew in black skin, a neo-colonialist, and white power in black face. If this was not a deal breaker for us either the kool-aid was that strong, or we have completely lost all connection with the true history of this country. But oh yeah, I forgot, now that a black man is at the helm of imperalism and can prove that he can kill other black and brown people around the world (who should be our natural allies), with impunity, we's American na! Wasn't that why Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, and Marcus Garvey died? So we can prove to be just as brutal as our national oppressors? (feel the sarcasm) Hey boss, I's can kill brown babies too, just as good as you!! Check out what your boy is doing in Afgahnistan, 5 civilians killed including a 7 month year-old baby.
I guess we flipped from being the terriozed to the terroist as soon as the vote was counted.
Progress
From "I have a dream" to "I have a scheme" in four short decades.
"Bi***ch" "Make Up your mind!"
Post-Racial? Or Proto-facist? Make up your mind. It appears even the Dir. of Homeland Security (a Nazi term if there ever was one) can't make up her damn mind:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jZZHEwYiYIf0cDyF0s0Fjm...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday a report warning that military veterans could be prone to joining right wing extremism was a routine assessment giving a "situational awareness" of potential threats.
Napolitano defended the internal agency intelligence report against a crescendo of criticism during a series of interviews on network news shows as she toured the troubled U.S.-Mexican border.
Asked about the report's assertion that some U.S. military veterans could be seen as potential converts to right wing extremism during a time of a down economy, Napolitano said the report was a routine form of guidance for state and local police and that it is a set of assertions, "not accusations."
"These are intelligence assessments. They are for situational awareness for law enforcement, indeed as the VFW said yesterday, this is an assessment not an accusation," she said. "I really want to stress to the veterans out there watching this today, that report did not, and we do not mean to suggest that veterans as a whole are at risk of becoming violent extremists."
"I really want to stress to the veterans out there that this report did not and we did not mean to suggest that veterans as a whole are at risk of becoming violent extremists."
House Minority Leader John Boehner assailed Napolitano's department for the report and called on the agency to apologize to veterans. "To characterize men and women returning home after defending our country as potential terrorists is offensive and unacceptable," Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday."
Yes, totally unacceptable that most Right Wing militia members have military training or backgrounds, heaven forbid we characterize them as Right Wing Militants, even if that's what our intelligence agencies say. How can a Right Wing Militia be "un-American" afterall? Plus, it's the era of Post-Racial America." There are no rednecks in the military anymore than there are ex-gang members. The US government has it's pick of the litter you recall, during the Iraq War fiasco, implementing the highest standards of recruitment in the history of the world. Yall do recall that, right?
Before it's all said and done, the Right Wing Noise Machine, aka Amerikka, will have Ms. Janet and Obama apologizing for characterizing slavery as evil. HA
take a guess...
Out of curiosity, I looked up the Durban II conference on Wikipedia and they had a map of those who will either boycott or threaten to. You can about take a guess at exactly WHO are the culprits (hint: it isn't anyone in the majority nonwhite areas!). I wouldn't mind if some sort of delagation was sent, whether official or not, as I'm sure the powers that be want Obama to "focus" on the faux-crisis over here. I'll wait until the conference is in session before coming to any conclusions, but what will be discussed are issues we should already know by now.
The higher Obama piles the bullshit,
with the help of his Fake Progressive collusionists, the more virulently out an out Fascism will roar back in America. 'Progressive' bullshit is potent fertilizer for fascist hate. When people know that they are being jerked around, and they can see no better solution on offer, they turn to hate. We are a nation on the verge and 'progressive' fools are still giddy over the great victory they convinced themselves that they won.
Freedom + truth= ?
All right now...
I bet your gun is still smokin' after that discharge, Mr. Ford.
Yes, and it is an interesting foot note to the Colonial, racist-progenator
Economic institution of slavery; genocide and so on, that Germany, who was after all second only to Italy in being the smallest European Power -Nation playing the Colonial game and is Ironically, the only European nation to date that has paid reparations to all of its former colonies that it ruled for a total of about fifty years or so. Not to mention the reparations to Isreal and any and all properties that the Jewish Federation determines once belonged to Jewish-Germans before the 2nd WW; whether or not it was legally sold or taken and/or not even standing any longer after being destroyed by US carpet bombing after the the war was officially over. And yet, it is still the scape gaot example held up for what can happen when things go too far with demagogues in power.
But not for those currently making history.
This tiny morsal of fact is, in my opinion, one very significant philosophical, ethical and historical problem if the US and Isreal are encouraged to join in on any such related topics with the rest of the world..
They and the US are still too busy milking (or as you succinctly put it),
ciphering the proverbial cow.
Will the truth set the people free?
Indigenous Perspective
I neglected to mention that we discuss world affairs from an indigenous peoples' perspective on Fourth World Eye.
Whatever "Americans" suffer
"African Americans" suffer more. This includes geopolitical ignorance. Most Black folk I encounter don't even know what the World Conference on Racism is. They don't know to question "piracy" or anything and everything that corporate media puts forth. I really don't know that any rescue in the form of "holding Obama to account" is possible. It makes me really sad to say I'm not hopeful. When he implied in that manipulation (speech) yesterday that a few people who took mortgages that they should not have even been offered - was what caused this global collapse, I concluded that he wasn't even concerned enough with the common citizen to even show proper respect. At the very moment that he's lying about why the banks need to be saved, they're all sending out notices that their credit card rates - on existing accounts - will be raised. This is some particularly stinking shit going on. And law abiding citizens in the cities who couldn't get in on the "gun rush" will truly have NO chance against the domestic idf-trained "security". This is going to get more than intersting.
Racism and Globalization
While racism and religious fundamentalism enabled slavery and genocide, racism per se is no longer a prerequisite for perpetuating such crimes against humanity in there modern forms. That said, by withholding acknowledgment of this wrongdoing by modern states and markets toward indigenous peoples of all colors, UN member states like the US hope to avoid not only reparations for the past, but also to continue theft of aboriginal nations' properties. This is why the Obama Administration is appealing the federal court decision ordering the Department of Interior to pay American Indians funds embezzled by the department from mineral leasing trust accounts. That is why the carbon-market trading plan of the UN makes no reference to indigenous peoples' inherent interests in lands and resources supporting this World Bank Ponzi scheme.
Discussing racism leads to talking about colonialism, which leads to examining globalization and its impact on indigenous peoples. This is why Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States were the only four countries in the world voting against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007. That is why the UN denied the Indigenous Peoples' Forum delegate to climate change talks in December 2008 a voice in the discussion. One thing leads to another.
BOOKER T. OBAMA: CHUMP CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN
Yes We Can, But We Won't!
How's this for "Post-Racial" Amerikka: "Kiss My Black Ass"
While the "Libruls" are droning on and one about "Post-Racial" Amerikka, the crackers and rednecks are organizing and gaining strength. The next time someone starts whining about "Post-Racial" Amerikka, tell them to go to hell. BAR could only dream of getting as much moral and financial support as the "White Supremacists" and "Right Wingers."
Of course the "Libruls" and "Progressives" have proven their closet-racist bona fides as well as they try to pawn off "Post-Racial" Amerikka on the ignorant, jubilant Blacks foaming at the mouth over O'Toma. They might not call the Iraqi's "Sand Niggers" that would be politically incorrect, they just treat them like it a la Clinton/Obama. Obama: "It's time for the Nigga's er..Iraqi's to stand on their own." (as soon as Amerikka takes it's boot off their necks). Of course we'll hear about "Pirate Rescues" and "threats" ad nauseum, but not jack shit about the White Supremacist with the "Dirty Bomb" who was busted by his wife." I wonder who was going to get the blame for that fiasco???? Remember the "Arab" looking guy associated with Little Timmy McVeigh? What did the FBI know and when did they know it? Mmmm??
From Reuters:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE53D5SH20090414?sp=true
By Jane Sutton
MIAMI (Reuters) - Right-wing extremists in the United States are gaining new recruits by exploiting fears about the economy and the election of the first black U.S. president, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a report to law enforcement officials.
The April 7 report, which Reuters and other news media obtained on Tuesday, said such fears were driving a resurgence in "recruitment and radicalization activity" by white supremacist groups, antigovernment extremists and militia movements. It did not identify any by name.
DHS had no specific information about pending violence and said threats had so far been "largely rhetorical."
But it warned that home foreclosures, unemployment and other consequences of the economic recession "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists."
"To the extent that these factors persist, right-wing extremism is likely to grow in strength," DHS said.
The report warned that military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat skills could be recruitment targets, especially those having trouble finding jobs or fitting back into civilian society.
The department "is concerned that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities," the report said.
DHS spokeswoman Sara Kuban said on Tuesday the report was one of an ongoing series of threat assessments aimed at "a greater understanding of violent radicalization in the U.S."
A similar assessment of left-wing radicals completed in January was distributed to federal, state and local police agencies at that time.
"These assessments are done all the time, this is nothing unusual," Kuban said.
The Department of Homeland Security was formed in response to the September 11 attacks of 2001 and has focused largely on threats from Islamist extremists.
The report said domestic right-wing terrorist groups grew during the economic recession of the early 1990s but subsided as the economy improved.
Government scrutiny disrupted violent plots following the April 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City by Army veteran Timothy McVeigh which killed 168 people.
LONE WOLVES
"Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years," the report said.
The Internet has made it easier to locate specific targets, communicate with like-minded people and find information on bombs and weapons, it said.
Extremist groups are preying on fears that President Barack Obama, the first African American U.S. president, would restrict gun ownership, boost immigration and expand social programs for minorities, the report said.
It said such groups were also exploiting anti-Semitic sentiment with accusations that "a cabal of Jewish financial elites" had conspired to collapse the economy.
"This trend is likely to accelerate if the economy is perceived to worsen," the report said.
(Additional reporting by Randall Mikkelsen in Washington, editing by Jim Loney and Alan Elsner)
black haters
i just got a link to this site. i hope all you Obama haters are black to begin with, otherwise you don't stand for much on this site. Why aren't you addressing the serious issues that need to be on evry black person's agenda and that is what are you going to do about genocide of Blacks by Blacks. Do those of you who blog here go into your high crime , poverty stricken and hopeless projects filled with black people who see no future for thenm or their kids? What's the black agenda on young black men who control these projects with fear?Wher is the black agenda on drugs, murder, unwed pregnancies ? You spend your time bitching about Obama and him not going to some conference that most black people in this country know nothing about. Aren't you sick of seeing young black guys killing each other? aren't you sick of people being stuck in housing projects for years with no hope? aren't you sick of the inferior education black people receive in this country? there's many things the so called black agenda should be facing that will help your own people. This way you get to bitch about something that has little connection to the average black person and make yourself look superior at the same time. that's not an agenda that's a black illusion that does nothing for nobody. way to go being an armchair activist w/ no connection to reality. go to the projects and see what their agenda is for a realistic view on obama and black america.
"Haters" and "Obama's Realistic Agenda"
What actually is a "hater" when it comes to Obama acting more like GWB than John McCain? I find it amusing that so-called "superior negroes" like yourself can employ a "street" term to describe African Americans who ain't with Obama's "oakey doak?" I assure you that we AA critics of Obama's continuation of Bush policies, his foolish esclation of the drone and boots on the ground war in Af-Pak find the term "hater" both amusing and facile. Even MLK (among hundreds of persons) connected American colonialism/militarism with deprivations at home. Hell, even the Libertarians and old school Republicans make that connection.
Why don't you describe Obama's "Realistic View and Agenda" for AA??s Or I'll take you on step further, "race-neutral", describe his agenda for working class Americans period? Yeah, that's right, you can't articulate it any more than the average interloper shooting spitballs at AA critics of Obama at Black Agenda Report. Obama hasn't been to Detroit or Nawlins, why doesn't he convene community leaders and politicians for a summit on Black on Black Crime or Poverty? Why can't he get co-sellout Susan Rice to "shuttle diplomacy" in Africa and bring the Black Captains of Finance & Industry, the Magic Johnsons, Bob Johnsons or whomever the hell you'd like in the business community to launch a "Marshall Plan" for African development tying it to the Black unemployed or underemployed in America? I guess Obama and you have bigger fish to fry, huh? I think it's much more important that Georgia be brought into Nato, don't you? Afterall, people like you insult critical thinkers like us in touting Obama's wondrous symbolic power, which you all for some strange reasons view as god-like, transformative.
And as an interloper you are not familiar with the bloggers here who have professions, interests and avocations working in the AA community attacking the ills you accurately describe. How's that for a "Superiority Complex?" Fact is, it's the people working in the trenches who are MOST critical of this vapid salesmen. What resources will there be left to address the challenges in the AA community or Appalachia, or Detroit, or Nawlins, or even Californians (or any other state on the brink of bankruptcy)?. Apparently we are to "small-minded" to concern ourselves with policies and actions that shape the realisties that sap the resources of any taxpayer in America for the beneift of the oligarchs?
I guess we should look to the hills and skys for Obama to lift the world to higher heights, but we shouldn't look to him to lift the American standard of living or secure our social safety net? How's that for a contradiction?? Do you really think the "Stimulus" money for "ready-made" construction projects will filter down to those ghetto youth or men and women? Are you familiar with Croson and Aderand two seminal Sup Ct cases on reverse discrimination brought by the Associated General Contractors (the big White Boys) Do you think the "Stimulus" will even benefit SMALL WHITE MALE CONTRACTORS given the size, scope and deadlines of these projects? Do you think we will be more or less able to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps" with no goddamn $$ or social safety nets!!! When the City of NY is bankrupt or implements massive cuts, who will bear the brunt of it??
I guess we should just sat back and grin and gloat and pant as Obama prances the globe to media driven accolades. I guess the Europeans staging mass protests at his visits at his massive wealth transfer to corrupt banksters are "out-of-touch" ingrates as well? Negroes like you and your non-black so-called progressive counterparts can NEVER ARTICULATE how the agenda for Black working class is different than the agenda for White, Asian or Hispanic working class?? I guess we are just along for the ride, so sit back N***gas, the HNIC is the Prez. HA