To whom does Obama respond?

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | July 3, 2008 | AMY GOODMAN

[mdittmar]

I was on a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival this week when Newsweek's Jonathan Alter asked me, "Is Obama a sellout?" The question isn't whether he is a sellout -- it's about what demands are made by grass-roots social movements of those who would represent them. The question is, who are these candidates responding to, answering to? Richard Nixon's strategy was to run in the primaries to the right, then move to the center in the general election. Bill Clinton's strategy was "triangulation," navigating to a political "Third Way" to please moderates and undecided voters. This past week, Barack Obama has made some signal policy changes that suggest he might be doing something similar. Will it work for him?

Take the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A Dec. 17 release from Obama's Senate office read: "Sen. Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies and has cosponsored Sen. Dodd's efforts to remove that provision from the FISA bill. Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Sen. Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same." Now he supports immunity for the companies that spied on Americans.

I asked Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., about Obama and FISA. He told me: "Wrong vote. Regrettable. Many Democrats will do this. We should be standing up for the Constitution. When Sen. Obama is president, he will, I'm sure, work to fix some of this, but it's going to be a lot easier to prevent it now than to try to fix it later." Feingold and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., plan to filibuster. It will take 60 senators to overcome their filibuster. It looks like Obama will be one of them. Disappointment with Obama's FISA position is not limited to his senatorial colleagues; on Obama's own campaign Web site, bloggers are voicing strident opposition to his FISA position. At the time of this writing, an online group on Obama's site had more than 10,000 members and was growing fast. The group's profile reads: "Sen. Obama -- we are a proud group of your supporters who believe in your call for hope and a new kind of politics. Please reject the politics of fear on national security, vote against this bill and lead other Democrats to do the same!"

Then there were the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on gun control and the death penalty. Obama supported the court in overturning the 32-year-old ban on handguns in the nation's violence-ridden capital. It's the court's most significant ruling on the Second Amendment in nearly 70 years. And in a blow to death-penalty opponents, Obama disagreed with the high court's prohibiting execution of those who were found guilty of raping children.

In a Jan. 21, 2008, primary debate, Obama called the North American Free Trade Agreement "a mistake" and "an enormous problem." He recently told Fortune magazine, "Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified ... my core position has never changed ... I've always been a proponent of free trade." This, after the primary-campaign scandal of the alleged meeting between Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee and a member of the Canadian consulate. A Canadian memo describing the meeting suggested Obama was satisfied with NAFTA. Goolsbee described the accounts as inaccurate. People are questioning Obama's genuine opposition to NAFTA and "free trade."

Then there is the floating of potential vice-presidential candidates. Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post, on the Aspen panel, noted he has been getting e-mails from gay men who angrily oppose former Sen. Sam Nunn as an Obama running mate. They can't forget Nunn's key role in shaping "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which prohibited gays from serving openly in the military. The e-mails trickled up, prompting Capehart's influential column, "Don't Ask Nunn."

It may be Obama's strategy to run to the middle, to attract the independents. But he should look carefully at the lessons of John Kerry's campaign. Kerry made similar calculations, not wanting to appear weak on Iraq. Uninspired, people stayed home. There are millions who care about the issues from which Obama is distancing himself. Rather than staying home, they should heed Frederick Douglass: "Power concedes nothing without a demand."

Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour.

[mdittmar]

The democrat National Convention in August will be must see t.v.;)

[Carley]

Some entity has been grooming this marxist for decades.

We need to be ever vigilant in making sure he is not elected and that the control of the senate reverts back to the republicans.

[Coffee200am]

I hope every nut case in the world shows up and crashes it.

[BurbankKarl]

He just flip flopped on Iraq today so he is in trouble.

[ETL]

Some entity has been grooming this marxist for decades.

It's more like 'Some marxists have been grooming this entity for decades'.

http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/

[conservativeharleyguy]

Amy Goodman is a Communist. Don’t expect anything but drivel and propoganda to ooze from her lips.

[ETL]

From Barack Obama's official website:

“I wanted to make an art piece of Barack Obama because I thought an iconic portrait of him could symbolize and amplify the importance of his mission. I believe Obama will guide this country to a future where everyone can thrive and I should support him vigorously for the sake of my two young daughters. I have made art opposing the Iraq war for several years, and making art of Obama, who opposed the war from the start, is like making art for peace. I know I have an audience of young art fans and I’m delighted if I can encourage them to see the merits of Barack Obama.”

-Shepard Fairey
http://store.barackobama.com/product_p/po26951.htm

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See, it's all about "peace, love, togetherness" and "change". Here are some of Fairey's other masterpieces. Most of his works are along these same lines...

Source:
http://jonathanlevinegallery.com/?method=Artist.ArtistDetail&ArtistID=F65EBB86-3048-28EB-92D55AA4FC996E31&GalleryID=82C33C59-3048-28EB-92DB386C8C733405

[ETL]

November 22, 1970 -- During a fund-raising tour for GI deserters, Vietnam Veterans Against the War and the Black Panthers, Jane Fonda is quoted in the Detroit Free Press as telling a University of Michigan audience:

"I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become communist," and "The peace proposal of the Viet Cong is the only honorable, just, possible way to achieve peace in Vietnam."
http://www.wintersoldier.com/index.php?topic=Timeline

Fonda made the following statement at the University of Texas:
"We've got to establish a Socialist economic structure that will limit private profit-oriented businesses. Whether the transition is peaceful depends on the way our present governmental leaders react. We must commit our lives to this transition ...... We should be very proud of our new breed of soldier. It's not organized but it's mutiny, and they have every right." --Karen Elliott Dallas Morning News December 11, 1971

From 1972: "I am not a do-gooder, I am a revolutionary. A revolutionary woman."

Source for most of the Jane Fonda material:
http://www.1stcavmedic.com/jane_fonda.htm

________________________________________________________________

From RushLimbaugh.com:
Hanoi Jane Endorses Obama
April 3, 2008

REPORTER 1: Jane, who are you voting for?

REPORTER 2: Who gets your vote?

FONDA: Obama.

REPORTER 2: Oh, my God. Heaven help us all.

RUSH: The reporter for TMZ said, "Oh, God. Heaven help us all." Obviously the reporter is an Obama supporter.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_040308/content/01125111.guest.html

[muir_redwoods]

"I was on a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival this week..."

Along with every other human with at least a shred of self-respect, I wasn't

[ETL]

Michael Moore endorses Wesley Clark and Obama

From Michael Moore's website, September 12th, 2003:

Michael Moore to Wesley Clark: Run!
A Citizen's Appeal to a General in a Time of War (at Home)

Dear General Wesley Clark,

I've been meaning to write to you for some time. Two days after the Oscars, when I felt very alone and somewhat frightened by the level of hatred toward me for daring to suggest that we were being led into war for "fictitious reasons," one person stuck his neck out and came to my defense on national television.

And that person was you.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2003-09-12

__________________________________________________________________

From Moore's website, January 14th, 2004:

I'll Be Voting For Wesley Clark / Good-Bye Mr. Bush

Many of you have written to me in the past months asking, 'Who are you going to vote for this year?'

I have decided to cast my vote in the primary for Wesley Clark. That's right, a peacenik is voting for a general. What a country!

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-01-14

__________________________________________________________________

Michael (the "peacenik") Moore quote, also from his website...

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win. Get it, Mr. Bush?
[actual quote from Michael Moore (2004). It still appears on his website]
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-04-14

__________________________________________________________________

This one has been up for years, although I doubt if it's actually Michael Moore saying it...

The Communist Party USA (CPUSA):
"We are a party of unity in action. We are an integral part of every struggle and movement for change to eliminate poverty and joblessness, against racism and for full equality. We are participants, initiators and leaders of every movement to make life better now and much better in a socialist future." Yeah, so they supported an oppressive dictator, like the Repubs and Democrats haven't? The CP is still around, has apologized for that whole Stalin thing, and has a quickly growing youth section.
[see: MichaelMoore.com-->Links-->PoliticalAction (bottom of the page--CPUSA promo)]
http://www.michaelmoore.com/links/index.php?linkType=Political%20Action

__________________________________________________________________

From the Revolutionary Communist Party website
A Viewer's Guide to Fahrenheit 911

Revolutionary Worker #1246, July 18, 2004, posted at http://rwor.org

"People have been lied to. And many can see it. Invasion, occupation, police spying, round-ups, even torture camps--plus far-reaching changes in law, treaty and doctrine --they have all come wrapped in deceit. The President lies. His whole clique lies."

http://rwor.org/a/1246/fahrenheit_911_guide.htm

_________________________________________________________________

Monday, April 21st, 2008
My Vote's for Obama (if I could vote) ...by Michael Moore

Friends,

I don't get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted.

So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama?

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php

[ought-six]

Obambi is a fraud. It’s patently obvious. Yet, incredibly, many millions of American voters either don’t care he’s a fraud or refuse to admit the obvious.

[ETL]

Yet, incredibly, many millions of American voters either don’t care he’s a fraud or refuse to admit the obvious.

Most are simply clueless about what the communist left have in store for us. Lenin or Trotsky referred to them as his "useful idiots". They basically mean well, but just can't comprehend the reality of the situation.

[HerrBlucher]

Obamao is in the “by any means necessary” stage, so he will say or do anything to get alected. Any moonbats disheartened by bambi’s recent flip flops should take heart....he is lying and will revert to 24/7 communism if he gets elected. So all you moonbats, go out and do the moonbat hop, and eat drink and be fairy, your savior is still on course to the Presidency and will fulfill your dreams of servitude to big brother.

[BARLF]

Some entity has been grooming this marxist for decades.

I think the same thing.The first time I saw him I thought he looked like a Farrakhan slicked up guy. I kept watch for a connection as I found none in search. Finally, it surfaced through his church and J. Wright. Then up popped Ayers as his friend.

These aren't the type of people that a wantabe president of our country should be closely associated with,,,,,,,,IMO.

[litehaus]

"Yet, incredibly, many millions of American voters either don’t care he’s a fraud or refuse to admit the obvious."

Not exactly on topic, but in genre....

So I'm complaining to my internet/tv/phone provider and ask the young person if the names Eisenhower/McArthur/Patton mean anything to her...The response is --No ---...Being an ORF living on an ORF Farm in Flori-Duh where those are street names I merely moaned to myself....Oh Hell Bells....

[Jet Jaguar]

George Soros.

[ETL]

He just flip flopped on Iraq today so he is in trouble.

From NewsBusters.org:
BARACK OBAMA CLIP #1, DATED MAY 18: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us.

OBAMA CLIP #2, DATED MAY 18: Iran, they spend 1/100th of what we spend on the military. I mean, if Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance.

OBAMA CLIP #3, DATED MAY 20: Iran is a grave threat. It has an illicit nuclear program. It supports terrorism across the regions and militias in Iraq. It threatens Israel's existence. It denies the Holocaust.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2008/05/23/fnc-shows-obamas-iran-flip-flop-colmes-might-talk-hitler

[ridesthemiles]

Some entity has been grooming this marxist for decades.”

AMEN...

All I can think about again and again is “The Manchurian Candidate”...

[TornadoAlley3]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080703/D91MKQ681.html

[FlingWingFlyer]

After watching Obama constantly screwing up for the last few months, I’ve been getting a feeling that someone else is trying to grab the presidency and that Obama is only a ‘RAT puppet being manipulated by that entity in order for them to grab the greedy freeloader and dangerously stupid “young” college kiddie votes. JMO.