I really want President Obama to succeed.  And, when I talk about him succeeding, it’s not just winning a second term and getting eight years in the White House – although, that is far preferable to any of the alternatives I can see out there right now.  I’m talking about actually bringing “the change we can believe in” to Washington DC.  While I realize his supporters are championing all the things he’s attempting to do as opposed to Bush/Cheney – and they do have a good point – I simply wasn’t looking for another center-right Democrat when I voted for Obama.  There are those who claim he’s doing exactly what he promised to do, but I would beg to differ.  I also realize – who couldn’t see this – what a TOXIC atmosphere he’s dealing with in the nation’s capital, but how long are we going to use that as an excuse?  Some of the issues which are “pressing” don’t have 30 or 40 years to “grow” as our system struggles with throwing off the mantra left behind by the Reagan “revolution” and what George W Bush did to it.

In fact, I often feel that Obama is trying to be the democratic version of Reagan.  If you were around in the eighties, Reagan could give stirring speeches with the best of them, and the reality of what came out of Congress and WAS SIGNED BY HIM was altogether different from his rhetoric.  Reagan started the “trickle down” economic theory which George W Bush’s own father labled as “Voodoo economics,” that is – it NEVER MADE SENSE to propose cutting taxes and balancing the budget (although republicans are still spewing the same b___sh__ even after piling up 12 TRILLION dollars in debt).  Especially, when the fundamental purpose of their party is to FEED the military industrial complex that our last good republican president – Dwight Eisenhower – warned us ALL about (back in the 50’s).  Clearly, the “engine” of our economy – from a manufacturing point of view is WEAPONS, WEAPONS SYSTEMS, and military hardware.  We supply a lot of the very weapons our troops get attacked with by our enemies as our leaders continue to view us as the “world’s policemen.”  I would be pumped up to participate in the process if I saw Obama as the one who’s going to FIGHT to change all of this.

However, that’s not what I’m seeing – AT ALL!  I listened again, while driving home from work today, as one of the top progressive radio talk hosts championed Obama for “bringing the troops home from Iraq,” and sending them to Afganistan to defend the Afgan people against the Taliban “who would instill an authoritarian government with abusive treatment of women.”  Let me first talk about Iraq.  Evidently, Obama is FINALLY bringing some of the troops home.  However, his CLAIMS that “all combat forces will be home by the end of August” is one of the things that truly PISSES me off!  (sorry to all my friends who never hear me say words like that – but, I’m not at all happy about this one)  The TRUTH is – President Obama has NO INTENTION of having all the “combat troops” home by the end of August.  This abuse of the English language is very “Bushlike.”  There will still be 50 – 75,000 American troops stationed in Iraq after August – and, if our generals have their way, those troops will be in Iraq for the next 10 – 20 YEARS!  Even if President Obama follows through with the latest “PROMISE,” he will have shown ZERO leadership regarding Iraq – remember, this is the war he would have voted against.

While I really struggle with the concept of “non-combat” troops in Iraq, I still CLEARLY remember Obama PROMISING that ALL THE TROOPS would be home from Iraq within 16 months of him taking office.  Well, 16 months from him taking office would be this coming MAY!  So, he’s going to be TREE MONTHS late getting roughly HALF of the troops home from Iraq with the promise now being he’s going to follow the timetable set up by President Bush.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  And, Rahm Emanuel is calling people like me a f___ing RETARD!  Maybe he should go look in a mirror – HE’S THE ONE ADVISING THE PRESIDENT!  The only thing that’s keeping this from being more of an issue RIGHT NOW is the HORRIBLE condition of the economy.  But, I guarantee you – the republicans will be playing back Obama’s own words when it’s time for him to be re-elected.  Of course, the reality is the republicans won’t be talking about how they created the MESS, but the question is – will anyone remember?  It will be Obama’s war if we still have troops there during the next election cycle.  I believe following any Bush directive – but ESPECIALLY REGARDING IRAQ – is politically STUPID!

Then there’s Afganistan.  I’m surprised at how many of Obama’s supporters now think it’s a good idea to escalate this war.  After reading Greg Mortenson’s books “Three Cups of Tea,” and “Stones into Schools” I can certainly see how anyone could have a “soft spot” for the Afgan people and all the grief they’ve experienced in the past several decades.  In fact, the United States has essentially abandoned them twice – once after the Mujahideen had kicked the Russians out in the late 80’s (it was the Reaganites and the first Bush who abandoned them then) and then again after “WE” kicked the Taliban out while supposedly going after Osama bin Laden in 2001 (OK, you guessed it – that was the second Bush).  And, I have to TOTALLY ADMIT that I hope my instincts are completely wrong on this one because I would love to see America help the Afgans set up a functioning central government.

The problem with that, however, as I see it is that WE CAN’T DO THIS FOR THEM.  President Obama is going to be spending another $65 BILLION dollars per YEAR in this endeavor that could conceivably go on indefinitely.  The issues in that part of the world are HUGE, and most everyone over there HATES Americans.  Well, I need to restate that, because Mortenson is totally welcomed over there, because he understands the culture and the people.  His approach is COMPLETELY NON-VIOLENT, he shows respect for the Afgan people, and he recognizes that nothing of consequence will happen there unless THEY buy into it and DO IT THEMSELVES.  If you’re interested in this area of the world, I would recommend you read these two books – they were the kind I couldn’t put down until finished!  I can’t help but believe that the $65 BILLION could be spent much more effectively and could produce MUCH BETTER results, if we had people helping the Afgans to help themselves.  Whatever we do, we’ve got to totally HONOR their culture to have any chance of helping them, but unless we want to have our troops there indefinitely, I believe a different approach is in order.  I know President Obama stated that this buildup would be for just 18 months, but do you really believe that – based on the promises made in Iraq?  They’ll find ways to twist the English language to make it look like they’re doing what they said they would – but, people like bin Laden (or his compatriots – should he be dead) would like nothing better than to provide the opposition necessary to keep the United States MIRED in Afganistan until our nation is totally bankrupt!  We don’t have the money to provide health care for our own citizens, or an effective jobs bill, but we can squander a couple hundred BILLION dollars per year in Iraq and Afganistan!  Ughhhh!

Getting back to the “home front” things are going to get tougher SOON instead of easier.  I’ve noticed that President Obama is still playing the “cat and mouse” game with the republicans over what they (both democrats and republicans) most certainly must view as the “court of public opinion.”  Obama’s still courting republicans, and I’ve heard some people suggest that he’s “playing chess” with them.  I certainly hope that’s correct.  However, if I’m even close to understanding the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, where the court essentially gave “free speech rights” to corporations and struck down key elements of the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform legislation which was designed to limit corporate donations in elections, Obama’s game of “cat and mouse” could ultimately be a real loser.

The reason the republicans had such big smiles on their faces when the verdict was read was because they fully intend to be the recipients of MOST OF THE MONEY that is going to be flowing into the process.  If the fears of many are realized, this next election could be a MAJOR TURNING point in the governance of this nation.  Remember, fascist society’s are ones where the politicians (and, indirectly the people) are beholden to the large corporations.  We saw the effect of huge amounts of corporate money flowing into Washington during the health care debate.  When 70+% of Americans wanted a “robust public option” – with a clear majority willing to go so far as to favor SINGLE PAYER health insurance reform – and then we end up with a bill that is a boon to the very companies who are suppposedly being regulated – AND, these companies spent OVER A BILLION dollars to FIGHT REFORM – well, what do you think the future holds?  The large corporations are making money in the TENS OF BILLIONS of dollars.  It will just be “good business” to “invest” in the best politicians MONEY CAN BUY!  Do you really think our present congressional leaders are going to vote against Wall Street’s interests, or the interests of the major oil companies NOW?

So, I’m saying that President Obama doesn’t have time for a “game of chess” with the republicans.  He needs to DEFEAT THEM while he still can.  Maybe that’s what he’s trying to do in a nice passive way.  However, I can say with certainty that there’s a better way – and, it would be embarrassing if another country had to do this for us – something we should be doing for ourselves.  I’m reading another book on the Bush years which puts this into perspective, it’s titled “The Greatest Story ever Sold” by Frank Rich and it’s a wonderful, sequential report of the PURPOSEFUL LIES used to get us MIRED into Iraq at the cost of thousands of American and Iraqi lives and approaching a TRILLION dollars of DEBT (not one cent of this war has been paid for as yet – it’s been prosecuted with ALL BORROWED money!)  Both President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and many others are legally VULNERABLE based on their decisions surrounding this misadventure.  People all around the world are ANGRY at what the Bush administration did – including the torture.  And, some of them are talking like “they’re not going to take it any more.”

First it was the Spaniards who wanted to hold American leaders accountable for the torture which EVERYONE knows took place under the authorization of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others.  Somehow, the Obama administration managed to get them (the Spaniards) to back down.  At the time, I was hopeful that this meant President Obama would follow through on his promise that “if laws were violated, people would be prosecuted – NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.”  That turned out to be a “false hope” on my part and has led me to write a lot of these posts and has turned me into a “f___ing retard” according to Rahm Emanuel because I’m in the “I hope Obama succeeds, but I’m not going to vote for him” camp – due to the FACT that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES can I condone TORTURE – no matter who the guilty party is (do you find it as cruel as I do that the only Americans EVER held accountable for our HORRIFIC treatment of prisoners from Iraq and Afganistan – many of whom were totally innocent – was a few Army “grunts” who made the mistake of taking pictures of what they were doing at Abu Ghraib?).  In my mind, despite Obama’s claim that “the US doesn’t torture” – by letting Bush/Cheney and company off the hook, he becomes complicit.

The worst part of this is that if Obama had allowed the investigations THAT WERE TOTALLY WARRANTED to proceed, the republican party would be right up front and center WHERE THEY BELONG regarding their past behavior.  The American public would get a clear view of the alternative to the democrats.  And, these republicans are a lot like the sixth graders I teach – if you don’t hold them accountable for their misbehavior, they will then think “it must be OK.”  (and they’ll do it again, the first chance they get)  Has anyone heard an “I’m sorry” whimper from these brutal thugs?  The new senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, campaigned saying that he believes torture works!  The only way these people will get the message is in a court of law.

Now, we have another embarrassing situation on the horizon.  The BRITISH of all people are threatening to call American leaders of the Bush/Cheney era to testify about the “run-up” to Iraq.  And, they have something like 10,000 classified documents to use to verify who’s telling the truth and who’s lying (they’ve already put Tony Blair on the spot as he tried to lie his way out from the reality of the decisions he participated in).  I don’t know about you, but I find it embarrassing that our own leaders – of an entirely different party from Bush/Cheney (I would understand this – although it would still be wrong – if it was republicans ignoring the lawbreaking of the Bush administration) are ignoring INVESTIGATIONS of the lies which led to the Iraq invasion and that now the British are threatening to hold these investigations for us.  Again, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  What is wrong with our politicians?

Reading “The Greatest Story ever Sold” is just a HUGE REMINDER that Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Feith and others were planning the invasion of Iraq well before Bush’s inauguration day in January of 2001.  I’m not going to say that they ignored the OBVIOUS WARNING signs of 9/11 in order to get an excuse to do what they had planned to do all along in Iraq, BUT IT SURE LOOKS LIKE A POSSIBILITY.  If you’ve ever read Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” you would understand how these thugs work.  Based on the unmistakeable theory that comes from that book, the “shock” of 9/11 gave the perfect “cover” for the planned excursion into Iraq.  And, book after book (I’ve read a BUNCH of them) on Iraq would imply EXACTLY that – the Bush administration was just waiting for a circumstance that would “justify” their ambitions to take out Saddam Hussein (and get Iraq’s oil).  So, where’s our new president on all of this?  I don’t think I will be able to forgive President Obama if he fails to allow the investigations of Iraq and the torture that was condoned by Bush/Cheney et al.  Do we really need the British to investigate the Bush White House for us?  To me, “the change we can believe in” doesn’t include decsions which will allow the policies which so desperately need changed to HAPPEN AGAIN! 

(It’s almost getting to the point where, even if Obama came to his senses, the investigations of Bush/Cheney would be strictly for political reasons and not because they are the “right thing to do” which is why they should have been initiated last year)