Obama "Wins"

Enjoy this if you wish.

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McJ's picture

The Feel Good Moment

Well, I admit to getting caught up in the excitement of the election coverage last night. The emotional side of me really wanted to believe there is hope for change in America; the cynical side was in overdrive wondering just how 'engineered' the moment was. It certainly was a sight to behold. The nauseating talking head coverage (on CNN and MSNBC) was to say the least, disconcerting. Chris puts it into perspective with his post this morning. He's right on target and this is exactly what was reiterated over and over:"America is uniquely great and divinely special, because we've allowed a black man to win [the presidency] -- and he's still alive! That's the kind of people we are. USA! USA!

As an aside, the sentiment I hear expressed the most by people I'm talking to (up here in Canada smiling ) about an Obama presidency is " I wonder how long it will be before they assassinate him".

"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

Obama won't be shot, McJ --

Obama won't be shot, McJ -- unless or until he starts acting in ways that piss off the same people who shot JFK, MLK, RFK, etc. As long as he gives good head, they'll let him live and put on a show in the White House. He looks good to the rest of the world, and his thuggish bosses appreciate appearances more than anything -- except power.

Jimmy

"It may be thought that I am prejudiced. Perhaps I am. I would be ashamed of myself if I were not." Mark Twain

McJ's picture

I don't actually share those sentiments

I don't actually share those sentiments, just offering them FYI. I agree with you and no matter how much we, in the rest of world, want to believe an Obama presidency is going to make a difference there is just no evidence that I can see, it will. As you suggest (even if he wanted to) the PTB would stop Obama from making meaningful changes. You probably can't overstate the perception outside your borders that the American people are rising up to take back their country. Especially considering the shock and awe we all felt after the 2004 Bush win. Hope springs eternal, as they say, and it would be so-o-o much easier just to immerse oneself in the fantasy that this 'win' actually means something.

He had barely finished his speech when the talking heads were excitedly announcing he had picked Rahm Emanuel for his chief of staff. His first official presidential decision, a real dose of ice water IMHO.

It's a 'new America', don't ya know, same old guys running it tho. sad

"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

Well the first part of my

Well the first part of my Hollywood script has come true...now they just need to use him as a patsy for something or another. wink

Getting Emanuel out of his

Getting Emanuel out of his position where he could influence who ran for Congress is a good thing. The COS has no real power.

I tend to disagree

The COS controls who gets to see the President.

Emanuel is now positioned to bar from the Oval Office the very same sorts of people he barred from Congress.

This tells me that the Obama White House will be off limits anyone with an interest in Election Integrity or 9/11 Truth, anyone critical of Israel, and so on ... nobody with progressive foreign policy views will get near this "transformative figure" of a presidential figurehead.

And surely Emanuel's role in the Party will be filled by someone who will do the same things he did.

McJ's picture

Obama's Ear

I read that Obama and Emanuel are long time associates/friends. I'm not exactly sure how much power the Chief of Staff has but doesn't it mean he will have Obama's ear? Seems to me that alone would give him a lot of power.

"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

it does!

access to Obama's ear does indeed confer power, but there's even more power, in my opinion, in deciding who else gets to whisper sweet nothings to our transformative leader.

McJ's picture

Some takes on the Emanuel appointment

Why did they make this announcement on the night of the election? Is that the usual? I don't know the answer but I am wondering:

Was it to soften the blow of this awful choice by announcing it during the election celebrations?
Or to immediately send a message that America is still looking after Israel's interests?

From John V. Whitbeck: (my emphasis)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=WHI20081...
In the first major appointment of his administration, President-elect Barack Obama has named as his chief of staff Congressman Rahm Emanuel, an Israeli citizen and Israeli army veteran whose father, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, was a member of Menachem Begin's Irgun forces during the Nakba [here and here] and named his son after "a Lehi combatant who was killed" -- i.e., a member of Yitzhak Shamir's terrorist Stern Gang , responsible for, in addition to other atrocities against Palestinians, the more famous bombing of the King David Hotel and assassination of the UN peace envoy Count Folke Bernadotte.
In rapid response to this news, the editorial in the next day's Arab News (Jeddah) was entitled "Don't pin much hope on Obama -- Emanuel is his chief of staff and that sends a message". This editorial referred to the Irgun as a "terror organization" (a judgment call) and concluded: "Far from challenging Israel, the new team may turn out to be as pro-Israel as the one it is replacing."
That was always likely. Obama repeatedly pledged unconditional allegiance to Israel during his campaign, most memorably in an address to the AIPAC national convention which Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery characterized as "a speech that broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning", and America's electing a black president has always been more easily imagined than any American president's declaring his country's independence from Israeli domination.

And GG's take???
http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/08/various_matters/pe...
Rahm Emanuel is horrible. Most of the bad things Democrats have done can be traced to him.
But nobody knows what he's going to be doing for Obama. Will his role be policy-based and substantive? Was he brought on to be a hard-nosed strategist and ruthless administrator to get Obama's agenda through? Is he there for his knowledge of how the White House and Congress work -- knowledge that is, by all accounts, deep and impressive?

Or is he there to look after Israel's interests first?

And this from comments (Que Pasa) on GG's post:
http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/08/various_matters/pe...
It's fair to say that Rahm's position is that of Chief Eunuch and Gatekeeper of the Imperial Person and Precinct; and it's fair to say that he will probably be very good at it. One could argue that he is already being very good at it.
Do any of us really know what the "Obama Agenda" is? I don't think so. People have been projecting their own issues, agendas, hopes, and desires onto what has amounted to a nearly blank slate all through Obama's campaign. One of the fears that's being projected onto the forming Obama regime right now is that Rahm will take on the role Cheney has had in Bush's regime -- the last to whisper into the Imperial Ear, and thus be the most influential on the Imperial Will. Could be. We'll see.
If that's the kind of authority his position will have, then we're in for a world of hurt. Needless to say, Rahm has not shown himself to be The People's Friend.

"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

McJ's picture

Sweet nothings...

Other than Michele you mean wink

It sure would make life a lot easier if one could get all excited about this guy - like say the rest of the world.
The pundits are absolutely gushing over him and I even caught Pat Robertson on Larry King singing Obama's praises. What a pack of f***ing hypocrites. It's an Obama love fest out there and listening to it you might imagine the guy is the second coming of Christ.

"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

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