Congratulations, Mr President. All of us who voted for you

[truedelphi]

Are very proud of you.

I wish I could say that all Americans are proud of you, but apparently, regrettably, the Right wing nut jobs will not be able to put aside their partisan stance and offer you congrats.

I am also excited at the new prospects that this new award may bring to your political processes. Now that you have such an esteemed group as those at the Nobel Peace Prize committee backing you, perhaps you could remember that Peace, to be truly a universal quality of life, asks (or demands?) that you consider the rights of people to live in peace.

Will drones flying over the rural areas of Afghanistan really help to bring about peace? Will we Americans be proud of knowing that those killed by such drones may be victims of "Computer error?" And how will such a program win the hearts and minds of that populace?

Neighbors of mine who continue to believe that we must be fighting in Afghanistan keep telling me that we HAVE TO BE there on account of women in Afghanistan needing to be freed from the Taliban. But IMHO, women in this nation face a Taliban of sorts.

Perhaps Mr President if you could take a moment and view this video, you would see what I mean.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

For as I watch my nation ONCE AGAIN attempt to bomb a people into democracy, I say we need democracy here first. And no nation that is unwilling as my nation to provide for its own people's health, but instead leaves them physical and economic slaves to the Corporate Insurance Death Panels and Money Grabbers, has any right what so ever to be telling the rest of the world to suffer for what might be decades all of our bombs and our drones


In fact, the expense of those bombs and those drones (14% of our budget goes to the military) is exactly the amount needed to bring about

Universal Single Payer Health Care

which I know that you know all about Mr President, as you ran on that ticket back in 2003 when first asking the good people of Illinois for their vote.



Sincerely

Carol S. F.

[ihavenobias]

1. Difficult questions.

Hopefully this helps push everyone in the right direction.*


*It sucks that 'right' came to mean 'correct'. How did that come to be? It's incredibly stupid and confusing at times. Is there any other language where a direction and confirmation are the same word? Just think about giving directions from the passenger seat ('Ok, so I turn left'. ''Right''. 'Right?' ''No, left.'').

[truedelphi]

3. To make it even worse, I once had a RW neighbor

Who was running for office and his last name was Wright.

My child hood buddy Mike and I had to listen to endless phone calls that Mike's RW dad would place - "You have to vote for Wright. It's right to do that. Otherwise you are wrong!"

[omega minimo]

8. Was he a

wright-in candidate?

[truedelphi]

11. Gawd. that was good.

Pun-ishing, but good!

[omega minimo]

16. wright on

[ixion]

2. Not all of us

I, for one, am not at all happy with his performance. I feel disappointed, just as I was disappointed when Clinton took over for Bush.

[truedelphi]

4. In the matter of Afghanistan, it is not yet too late.

He could stop right NOW.

Like your sig line states, such a war is pretty much a turkey shoot.

[ixion]

5. Now, THAT would make me happy.

really... then if he could end the war on We, the People, then I'd be totally satisfied.

[omega minimo]

10. Troops out of Afghanistan

Toxics out of our assets

Health care not wealth care

Free and fair and verifiable elections

That would do.

[omega minimo]

9. True Delphi's OP also suggests that now the onus is on him to BE the peace president.

[shireen]

6. k & r

i may not agree with everything he's done so far, but right now i am really really proud of him!!

[omega minimo]

7. Spot. On.

Excellent post. Perfect. Recommended.


Swamp Rat art

[truedelphi]

12. Thanks for the K and the rec and also for deploying

Swamp Rat's art work.

[HughBeaumont]

21. Oh . . . I'm SAVING that one.

[Echo In Light]

13. K&R

[truedelphi]

14. Thanks for the K & R, and any friend of

Phillip K Dick is a friend of mine.

[omega minimo]

17. Echo in Light

is a tower of astuteness.

[Laelth]

15. Well said. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[rug]

18. He's been given an extraordinary platform.

There really is no need any longer to cater to reactionaries.

[dflprincess]

19. +1

and a rec to the OP. Very well said.

[snappyturtle]

20. K&R Veery good! My feelings too. nt

[HughBeaumont]

22. It does pressure him, and that's only a good thing.

He has the backing of the WORLD with this new accolade that he didn't ask for. Time to get some serious change in place before this nation becomes a hole.

[omega minimo]

23. FWIW a Congratulations OP with text from Nobel announcement and NYT article

[John Q. Citizen]

24. Very nice piece!

[truedelphi]

27. Thanks John Q. n/t

[autorank]

25. k*r $128 Bil for Iraq/Afghanistan in 2010

This is an excellent thread. The budget for 2010 is well over the amount that's budgeted for Iraq and Afghanistan. The defense appropriate is clearly a deficit producer, therefore, getting rid of that is a double benefit. It eases the budget problem and it assures money for health care.

Go for it!

[truedelphi]

28. Hmmm. I wonder if President Obama considers my idea

And the Afghanistan and Iraq war budgets are curtailed, will I get a bird dog fee?

I'll offer my share to those nice folks from Australia that print up the Michael Collins articles.

[autorank]

29. Bird dogs r' us!

It will be known as the "pet peace dividend."

[defendandprotect]

26. Brilliant post --

My feelings are quite like yours --

but as the State Dept said, it's better than getting hit with a shoe --

I think the prize was given in HOPE --

as we all are hoping for a turn around in this new Vietnam-Iraq-Afghanistan --

8 years now !!!

And, while we wait as you've so well pointed out for help for Americans re health

care and new jobs --

even waiting for the very mention of our HOMELESS --

and our impoverished children -- evidently now a taboo subject/??????????

we've spent $79 million on a new nonsense venture into space which will push the

elites a little further into controlling and militarizing the skies -- !!!!

Thank you Carol!!!

[otherlander]

30. Not all of us who voted for him,

actually.

[truedelphi]

31. I can understand those others and their frustrations

My biggest frustration is his team of economic people. Also of course, the notion of amping up the war in Afghanistan.

And yet, right now, he is the man in The WH. It's no longer George W, and it's not McCain.

Last year, he ran as a centrist, having already dumped the passionate young Obama who said that we would have Universal Single PAyer HC if we wever got a majority in Congress and control of the WH.

By January of '08, he was already saying we'd have to work within the system that we have, which is one of the least logical statements I have heard from any Dem I have ever voted for.


How to do an end run against the Centrism so pervasive in places of power, and how to keep the powers of Evil as represented by the most Repugnant of the Repugs at bay while we do that end run, is something we progressives ponder a great deal of the time. Perhaps there will be a tipping point?

[Emit]

32. This was a huge message sent to Obama, imho.

Holding his feet to the fire, so to speak.

truedelphi, your post reminds me of some things Cornel West said to Tavis Smiley Thursday night:

SMILEY: In the era of Obama what is the role of the black intellectual?

WEST: The role of any intellectual, any color, any civilization, any culture is the same, any regime, any administration. Tell the truth with humility, be willing to bear the cost, and then bear witness to justice, and for me, accenting the least of these beginning with the orphan, the widow, the poor, the marginalized, working people, gay brothers, lesbian sisters, elderly across the board. And that's true in age of Obama, it's true in the age of Reagan, was true in the age of Roosevelt, and if I had lived, was true in the age of Lincoln. I would've been right there with brother Frederick Douglas.

SMILEY: The difference, of course, this time around, is that black intellectuals have a black president they have to critique. Let me ask again, in that regard, what's the role of the black intellectual?

WEST: They still gotta tell the truth. When Obama is right, you praise him, when he's wrong you criticize him. You do it out of love, and most importantly in the end, it's not about Barack Obama, it's about the precious and priceless working people, poor people, fellow citizens who deserve fairness and who deserve to live a life of decency and dignity. If we have now a president who is the head of the American Empire, we have to make sure that there's democratic activity, democratic procedures, rule of law, in place, and it ought to tilt toward those who have been marginalized, especially during the age of Reagan where we had, of course, you know, the indifference toward the poor, the greed running amok, and the polarized body politic, so that someone like myself, for example, who of course was a critical supporter of Barack Obama, when I see that he is not accenting poor people, and working people, we have to tell the truth and say, "You're tilting toward the well-to-do. Why're you mesmerized by Wall Street? Why are you in love with The Establishment? What about working people? Why bailing out the bankers and what about working people?" and so forth. And you say that out of love, because you know in some ways, that, uhm, he comes out of a history of community organizing, he knows what you're talking about, you see. But in that sense, it's a matter of just bearing witness to one's own calling, because being an intellectual is a beautiful thing. It's like being a Blues man, it's like being a Jazz man, you find your voice, you find your calling, you have your vision, you give it all, and when you die, you are used up ... you have done everything you possibly could to be true to who you are, and you had a whole lotta fun in the meantime.

They then go on to discuss West's conflict with Larry Summers.

And West continues,

...So I was deeply surprised when saw, ah, President Obama, brother Barack, choose, ah, Larry Summers. Larry Summers has no history of being concerned with poor people, or working people, he was supporting of deregulation of markets, that he'd been part of the Robin Rubin group that's been very Neoliberal in terms of economic policies that's been tilted toward the well-to-do, tied to investment bankers, we know as president he was making money on hedge funds, he's criticizing me for making a CD, he was making millions of dollars on hedge funds, that's hypocrisy. Now I think brother Barack was completely mesmerized by the acceptance of the establishment, and of course, Larry Summers is a brilliant brother..." So I think Barack was mesmerized by Larry Summers' brilliance and ends up, I think now, in some ways, captive to Neoliberal policy and it's a very dangerous things, I wish he'd listened to Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz and some of the others.

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/video /


The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize was a huge message sent to Obama ~~ edited to add, sent to all of us.

We all have to keep speaking out and telling the truth. Obama needs to hear our message.

[Emit]

33. Cornel West Comments On Obama's Nobel Peace Prize: Hard To Be War President With Peace Prize

Cornel West Comments On Obama's Nobel Peace Prize: Hard To Be War President With Peace Prize


"It's gonna be hard to be a war president with a peace prize. Gonna be difficult. Very, very difficult. And so I think he knows that and we as fellow citizens have to, um, as brother Tavis would say in his wonderful book Accountability, keep him accountable and loving and self critical, not self-righteous way. I think it's very difficult for any head of an empire to be under the pressure of peace. 'Cause you're head of the largest military in the world, you got over a thousand military installments on the globe, you got ships in every sea. It's very difficult. And I think following brother Martin King, we know that peace is not the absence of conflict, peace is the presence of justice. So They go hand in hand. Thank god for Hebrew scripture, Amos is no joke. Connected.

So now the whole world is watching, saying, what are the ways in which as president, you will be a promoter of justice here at home for poor people, for working people. So jobs can't be an afterthought to your economic policy. But you all get my point. It becomes a challenge now, you see. It's going to be difficult to have a peace prize and not investigate folk who have been torturing people, you see. It's going to be difficult having that moral authority in office and the tension that goes along with that, you see.

So my response is congratulations, celebration, and I wish your precious mother and father were around. I wish your grandparents were around to see it, that just died. And yet the challenge becomes now even more intense, you see!

You think of Nelson Mandela and Martin King, Ralph Bunch. What a standard! Whew! But then I also recall Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger won the peace prize too. De Klerk won the peace prize too, so we gotta pray for our brothers and sisters in Sweden sometimes. But for the moment, we all ought to celebrate and help our dear president."



Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/10/cornel-west-co...

Audio:
http://www.tavissmileyradio.com/guests09/100909/CornelW...