Reply #4: The RW wurlitzer will certainly try. It is already forcing Obama to dance on its

[Peace Patriot]

tightrope: 'Appeal to the awesome hunger for change in the American people, but don't go too far and propose anything even remotely adequate to addressing the humongous, multi-front crisis that the Bush junta and corporate looters have created, or we will destroy you.'

I am not at all happy about Obama's Latin American policy. It is little better than the old "Manifest Destiny." The arrogance of his statement in Miami that Latin America needs "U.S. leadership" and his parroting of the Bushite/corporate line that Hugo Chavez is an "autocrat," lacked his more usual well-tuned ear, and diplomatic/political finesse. He was pandering to the right, to the "war on drugs" military/police state profiteers, and Exxon Mobile & co., and the fascist anti-Castro mafia in Miami. And these forces will destroy or kill him, if he doesn't. So it's hard to assess his statements and policies, and what he really intends.

I think that IS the situation, generally: If the Corporate Rulers feel threatened, they will destroy him. And they have many weapons with which to do so--starting with our totally non-transparent and rightwing corporate owned 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY vote counting system. (Thank you, Sens. Daschle and Dodd!) If they just outright steal it, what can we do? Nothing! (And one sign that they might be intending to is the corporate-run opinion polls--showing a "close race"--which I am more and more convinced are being fiddled, as the preliminary.) If they're smarter, and permit Obama to win (thus putting the kabosh on the election reform movement, among other things), they will then proceed to curtail him, as they did Clinton (insofar as Clinton had any populist tendencies), with non-stop attacks, lies, disinformation, focus on the trivial, and fascist propaganda. Another way they can curtail him (if he intends reform that might cut into their highway robbery of the American people) is by (s)electing a 'Blue Dog' Congress (so-called Democrats--now dominant in Congress--who want to cut everything but the war budget). And I'm sure they intend to blame every Bush-caused, potential upcoming disaster on him. That's what I mean by "smart." As the economic, environmental, diplomatic and social (food riots? grannies in wheelchairs protesting loss of Medicare/Social Security? military Draft riots?) shit hits the fan--from eight years of out-of-control looting of the treasury, corporate destruction of the middle class and looting of the poor, financial speculation, and every kind of government/corporate crime--it will be convenient to have a "liberal" in the White House to blame it all on.

If we can get Obama elected, by an overwhelming turnout (my guestimate: they are putting a 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" against real representatives of the people, and can go even further than that--with complete impunity--if the stakes are high; so we need to produce at least 5% to 10% more votes than a transparently counted contest would require to defeat McBush)--if we can do this, then our other problems will be their having shaved Obama's mandate (they could make it a squeaker, to hamper him on any reform) and a "Blue Dog" Congress, which will be an obstacle to reform. (I don't think there's any chance of a--horror of horrors!--Puke Congress, but we need to know that Diebold & brethren CAN do this--can EASILY do it. They can steal it from Obama. They can (s)elect a Puke Congress. EASILY!)

So that will be our next task: Helping Obama to get something done, in these circumstances, if he intends to. (I really don't know if he does.) Primarily--priority no. 1--we have got to get our vote counting system back into PUBLIC control. Without transparent vote counting--and considering also the private entities who now control it and their rightwing ties--our leaders are no longer beholden to us; they are beholden to the ones who can fiddle the votes. This so-called Democratic Congress, with an approval rating worse than Bush's, is evidence enough that our leaders don't give a fuck what we think and don't need to. And there is hardly a member of Congress who can prove that he or she was actually elected--even the better ones. It all goes through the "black boxes" now, where the public is not permitted to see the vote counting.

It's a possibility that the Corporate Rulers want Obama to win--either because they don't consider him a threat, or else to implement their "liberal in the White House" strategy (crash the economy, blame it on him, then 'Diebold' Hitler II into the White House in 2012).

I'm inclined these days to think that Obama is a threat to the Corporate Rulers. They are so lawless and out of control that mere honest government is a threat to them--and certainly even the slightest assertion of national sovereignty, and the will of the people, re their power. So we will need that 5% to 10%-plus edge to elect him--just to achieve basic, law-abiding, decent government, even if it is no great shakes as to desperately needed, thorough reform.

Then we will have to find ways to support him, and to defend decent government. And we know that, once he has started taking the deficit out of the hides of the poor, and has restored "fiscal responsibility" ("Blue Dog" policy), they will be back, to loot us again. That is my problem with Obama. Possibly because of our fascist 'news' media, he doesn't address the utter lawlessness of the Bushites and their corporate sponsors, at the fundamental, structural level that needs a "Big Stick" radical democratic reform agenda. (My favorite planks for such an agenda: Cut the war budget by 90%, down to a true defensive posture (no more wars of choice!), and go after the worst malefactors of the Corporate monarchy--pull their corporate charters, dismantle them, seize their assets for the common good, as a lesson to the others, and an assertion of our sovereignty.)

It is simply mind-boggling that the following things have occurred, with NO presidential defense of the American people (--in fact, the opposite--Bush/Cheney are all for these things):

Gas-gouging.
War profiteering.
Credit card gouging.
The mortgage meltdown.
Wild speculation (on gas, mortgages, food and other vitals.)
Massive job outsourcing.
Loss of our manufacturing capability.
A ten trillion dollar deficit.
Huge indebtedness to Saudi Arabia and China.

Some of these things are TREASON, and some border on treason. They are a failure to attend to our fundamental viability as a nation. Add the Forever War, and we have a situation of treason and lawlessness that is UNBELIEVABLE. Shocking. Unprecedented. And that's without even mentioning the torture of prisoners, Executive "signing statements," domestic spying, outright thievery and other great crimes. Our government has flipped out. It has become our chief and most dangerous enemy. And Obama talks "win/win" ("Blue Dog" talk). Well, things are that bad. If he was inclined to speak the truth, and did so, he would be dead. His getting his initial push from the caucus states (not counted by Diebold & brethren) makes me think that he is genuine leader, and would like to address these problems. He is a very intelligent guy, and his heart is in the right place, it seems to me. But our situation is very dangerous and very volatile. These are not normal times. Who knows what will happen? I don't. We are all reduced to guessing and reading entrails. We are not citizens of a democracy any more. We are subjects. This is how subjects talk. Who will be king? And will it be good for the barons or good for people? The people have their choice, but there is no guarantee that the people's will will be done. None. It will be surprising if it is--and we will be on shaky ground for decades to come, ever in peril from another fascist/corporate coup, if we do not address our structural problems, such as privatization of our vote counting system. The Corporates have that much power--they've taken over the vote counting with 'TRADE SECRET' code. That is too much power. They are like Medieval Church, I'm afraid. (And that transnational monarchy took more than a thousand years to overturn.)