That is how I would describe the trajectory of the Obama administration to date.Or maybe this way: a colossal waste of personal charisma.
It was Obama's alleged left-leaning political convictions and his personal charm that led many of us to place our bets on his promise to effect real change in this country. But as the course of the health-care "debate" has unfolded (I put "debate" in scare quotes because there is no genuine debate, and there never has been; what we have been treated to is just more political theater--what I like to call the "theater of the corrupt"--that passes for debate in the era of manufactured consent), it has become painfully obvious that something is terribly wrong with the picture Obama painted for us of himself during the Presidential campaign.
Perhaps he really is one of the "best" among us--and as one of the "best" lacks all conviction (as Yeats profoundly noted in "The Second Coming"); or, perhaps, he is hamstrung by an almost pathological desire to please...But who does he desire to please? That, it seems to me, is the $ 64 Billion question...
Certainly not the "people" who continue under the illusion that they actually elected him; there must be someone else: those to whom he owes his political career and his present "historical" position as a person of color in the otherwise solidly White House.
As his tenure in the presidency has evolved, this "historical" position has been celebrated time and time again--no one mentioning the fact that Obama is not descended from Africans enslaved in the Americas--it's all about his complexion.
Well, OK. That is historical. And that appears to be the role he was assigned to play. A handsome black face in a high place to keep the liberals at bay.
Meanwhile, nothing really changes.
When I think of American political figures who have possessed real charisma--the kind that could galvanize public opinion and potentially force the plutocracy to grant concessions--I think of the Kennedy brothers (Jack and Bobby), Martin and Malcolm, and Barack Hussein Obama...
Hmmmm. Perhaps what really stands between BHO and his convictions is his completely understandable desire to see old age.
As Cindy Sheehan has argued, it is time for the "left" (if there is such a thing in this country) to wake up from the drowse of "hope-nosis" and take to the streets demanding real change.
They can't shoot us all.
In any event, it is time that we accept the fact that Obama has been effectively side-lined for the remainder of his term. We can no longer look to him for leadership but must cultivate leadership from the ground up. And we must find a way to do this en masse. Otherwise we will be ignored.
The demand for a single-payer health care program (not option--screw that "option" business--we want single payer health care like the rest of the civilized world) is a good place to begin.
In late 2006, I had the good fortune (if you can call it that) to require medical attention while on a research trip to Holland. Since I am not a Dutch citizen, I had some difficulty gaining access to the level of care my symptoms suggested that I needed. But I was befriended by a Dutch family who took me under their wing and saw to it that I was examined by a specialist. Once I had been admitted into the system, I saw first-hand what "socialized medicine" is all about. I received the absolute best medical care I have ever received in my life.
Fortunately, my symptoms were far worse than the underlying medical condition that caused them. The Dutch physicians who examined me made certain that that was the case before releasing me from their care. They were smart, multi-lingual, good-humored, caring, and conducted themselves with matchless professionalism. The hospital I was admitted to for testing was shockingly clean and the nursing staff and other professionals with whom I had to interact throughout the administration of a battery of tests were wonderfully kind to me and unfailingly attentive.
When I returned to the United States I sought follow-up treatment at a University Hospital (per the instructions of my Dutch physicians). The medical personnel refused to accept any of the findings of the Dutch doctors and proceeded to subject me to the same battery of tests that the Dutch had administered, plus some, yielding the same negative results. The tests were conducted in facilities that were dirty and shabby in comparison with what I had experienced in Holland. But the doctors and the hospital got what they wanted: about $10,000.
We must turn our backs on the theater of the corrupt that the media has been show-casing in its coverage of "town hall" meetings--the media is largely in the pocket of the plutocrats--and demand a SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE system, and nothing less.
If we cannot do this one thing for ourselves, then I suppose we get what we deserve; but how dare we foist this pathetic excuse for a health care system on the children we claim to love?
3 comments:
Where to begin? First off, it *is* about color and not slavery. To minimize b. hussein's historic achievement is to fail to see that in America real group membership is largely defined by complexion. Do the bigots at the town hall meetings care about ancestry? No. The "other" is all about our need to quickly categorize according to salient features. Its a relic of our hunter-gatherer past.
Secondly, no sentient human who has considered the health-care system would argue that a single-payer system would be the most humane. B. Hussein himself once admitted this. But there is such a thing as political reality, and BHO is nothing if not a realist and a pragmatist. He would rather reform the present system as best he can than tilt at windmills. He could not achieve a single-payer system no matter what he did. Which is more humane, to reform the system with the still amorphous "public option" proposal, or allow the status quo to continue unabated? Perhaps your quarrel is with the constitution and its separation of powers? (I know for a fact that you do have a quarrel with that system, so why not rail against that?)
Thirdly, to say that B. Hussein has squandered his charisma is to ignore the facts of his presidency so far. In foreign affairs, he has already accomplished more than monkey-boy, nevermind his undoing of the Bush legacy of isolationism and hatred for America. What would you have him do? He already is the most accessible president we may ever have seen. Moreover, this is a country that cannot be brute-force "charismaed" into real change. He is fighting not only the right-wing hatemongers (whom he will never persuade, but a citizenry who get their news from comedy shows and laughable "news" from the cable channels, which are neither fair nor balanced.
Give a negro a break! I admire and deeply share in your idealism. But B. Hussein operates in a political reality wholly unlike the one you envision. Yes we can make (some) change, and God willing we will, inshallah!
I think these same thoughts myself, but I'm not going to make excuses for the man. He wanted this job, and he seemed to have the unique abilities to pull it off. With style. But all I see happening is window dressing.
As for health care, why hasn't BHO gone on national television to make his case for a true re-vamping of the nation's health care system? Why not give it a shot? If anybody could have set the terms of the "debate," it was our gifted President. What stopped him?
Non-profit, government paid/tax-payer supported healthcare works around the world--but not here? What makes us so special? We have public education, public housing, public funding of private military ventures--but no public health care.
There's a difference in my lexicon between realism, pragmatism, and selling out to the special interests. If I'd wanted the latter, I would have voted for the first woman to be President. As First Lady, she already showed us what she was capable of.
BHO promised real change. He got my vote, he got my money, he got me knocking on doors for him. All I want him to do is act as if he really does have a vision for a different America. What I see is just another Chicago politician, making deals, selling us out.
Shame on him.
I know its been some weeks since this thread was last updated, but I only just now stumbled-on the reply to my comment.
Looks like B. Hussein is taking your advice and delivering the sort of speech you recommend. Perhaps he reads GKS?
There may be a fine line between realism and selling out. My only comment here would be to say that its still early in his Presidency and the "vision thing" is still a work in progress.
Finally, with some pondering of the initial blog post, I conclude that it isn't so pie-in-the-sky after all. We must always be the men who dream things that never were and ask why not.
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