{news} Nader: Obama fans falling away, one by one

[Tim McKee]

The Register Citizen <http://www.registercitizen.com/>
(registercitizen.com<http://www.registercitizen.com/>),
Serving Torrington, CT

Opinion
RALPH NADER: Obama fans falling away, one by one

Monday, January 4, 2010

Those long-hoping, long-enduring members of the liberal intelligentsia are
starting to break away from the least-worst mindset that muted their
criticisms of Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign.

They still believe that the president is far better than his Republican
counterpart would have been. Some still believe that sometime, somewhere,
Obama will show his liberal stripes. But they no longer believe they should
stay loyally silent in the face of the escalating war in Afghanistan, the
near-collapse of key provisions in the health insurance legislation, the
likely anemic financial regulation bill, or the obeisance to the bailed out
Wall Street gamblers. Remember this Administration more easily embraces
bonuses for fat cats than adequate investment in public jobs.

Of all the loyalists, among the first to stray was Bob Herbert, columnist
for The New York Times. He wondered about his friends telling him that Obama
treats their causes and them “as if they have nowhere to go.” Then there was
the stalwart Obama-ist, the brainy Gary Wills, who broke with Obama over
Afghanistan in a stern essay of admonition.

If you read the biweekly compilation of progressive and liberal columnists
and pundits in The Progressive Populist, one of my favorite publications,
the velvet verbal gloves are coming off.

Jim Hightower writes that “Obama is sinking us into ‘Absurdistan.’” He
bewails: “I had hoped Obama might be a more forceful leader who would reject
the same old interventionist mindset of those who profit from permanent war.
But his newly-announced Afghan policy shows he is not that leader.”

Norman Solomon, expressed his sharp deviation from his long-time admiration
of the politician from Chicago. He writes: “President Obama accepted the
2009 Nobel Peace Prize while delivering — to the world as it is — a pro-war
speech. The context instantly turned the speech’s insights into flackery for
more war.” Strong words indeed!

Arianna Huffington has broken in installments. But her disillusionment is
expanding. She writes: “Obama isn’t distancing himself from ‘the Left’ with
his decision to escalate this deepening disaster [in Afghanistan]. He’s
distancing himself from the national interests of the country.”

John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s Magazine, was never an Obama fan
and has been upset with what he calls “the liberal adoration of Obama.” In a
piece for the Providence Journal, he cites some writers still loyal to
Obama, such as Frank Rich of The New York Times, Hendrick Hertzberg of The
New Yorker, and Tom Hayden, who are showing mild discomfort in the midst of
retained hope over Obama’s coming months. They have not yet cut their ties
to the masterspeaker of “Hope and Change.”

Gary Wills has crossed his Rubicon, calling Obamaâ’s Afghanistan escalation
“a betrayal.” Wills is a scholar of both the Presidency and of political
oratory (his small book on Lincoln’s Gettysburg address is a classic
interpretation). So he uses words carefully, to wit: “If we had wanted
Bush’s wars, and contractors, and corruption, we could have voted for John
McCain. At least we would have seen our foe facing us, not felt him at our
back, as now we do.”Rest assured the liberal-progressive commentariat has
another two years to engage in challenge and chagrin. For in 2012, silence
will mute their criticisms as the stark choices of the two-party tyranny
come into view and incarcerate their minds into the least-worst voting
syndrome (just as they have done in recent Presidential election years).

It is hard to accord them any moral breaking point under such self-imposed
censorship. Not much leverage in that approach, is there?



*URL:
http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2010/01/04/opinion/doc4b414799dee46602146247.prt
*

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*************************************************
Tim McKee -National Committee of the Green Party for the state of
Connecticut, New Britain,CT
(860)778-1304 Cell- best way to reach me
(860) 505-8454 (H)
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