I don’t know why I’m bogging myself down even discussing this. It’s not as though I voted for Obama, or ever genuinely extended any sort of hope confidence in the notion of him being a progressive candidate. I think the words “democrat” and “progressive” are mutually exclusive terms in our democracy-for-sale. But, regardless, I find myself increasingly infuriated by his back-peddling.
A few days ago I was irked to discover Hillary would be his Secretary of State. Then, I looked over the list of his other appointees; a long list of pro-free market Clintonian warhawks.
In the words of Vice President-Elect Joe Biden, “that’s not change, that’s more of the same.”
Then, this evening I read about how Obama has stated he will not be repealing Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% (at least right away), due to the financial crisis. Huh? As far as I can gather, the offered “logic” for this seems to be that, due to the financial crisis, expected incomes have decreased (duh) so revenue will not be as high (duh), so there won’t be as much to tax, so the government won’t get enough money to cover the tax cuts Obama has promised to the middle and lower-class. I’m not sure who’s teaching these fellows math, but from experience I think most people can tell you some money is better than no money.
Obama has also expressed that despite promises to withdraw troops from Iraq he now intends to keep some forces there to counter terrorism, which is not at all surprising.
“Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.” -Noam Chomsky
I have this rant categorized as “in progress” because I’m sure over the next 4-8 years I will find plenty more to add.
