President Barack Obama attends the memorial service in Tucson, Arizona for victims of the shooting there. 01/12/11. (photo: Getty Images)
Reader Supported News | Perspective
01 November 12
hat
died along with Jack Kennedy on November 22, 1963, was the notion that a
popularly-elected leader could effect change from the Oval Office. The
remains of that day were an understanding that attempting to challenge
the power structure could have consequences even for the president.
Barack Obama brings deep flaws to his perspective of
the presidency. The administration's ongoing campaign of extra-judicial
assassination, a cold shoulder to the systemic oppression of civil
liberties, a Justice Department that stands blind and mute as corporate
corruption devours the soul of the nation, an indifference to
environmental suicide that borders on contempt. It's all there. Yet,
somehow there is a crucial glimmer of understanding in him that will not
allow hope to be extinguished.
It is difficult to know if Mitt Romney's bald-face
lying is intended to convince voters or himself, or is simply
symptomatic of some pathological disorder. When he says that he wants to
be president without releasing his tax returns or information about his
Cayman Islands bank accounts, what he is really saying is that he views
the Oval Office as an acquisition, a commodity to be bought and sold to
the highest bidder - at a profit of course.
What we learned in the Occupy encampments is that
change does not come from the top, it comes from the bottom. The
struggle to reestablish American democracy has only just begun. It's not
likely that a leader of the American Pro-Democracy Movement will occupy
the Oval Office any time soon. But Obama is by orders of magnitude more
likely to recognize and respect change when confronted with it than
Romney would ever be.
He is not the progressive lion we dreamed he would be,
but he still stands. We must construct a strategy for grass-roots
change around the better man. Barack Obama is clearly that.
Marc Ash was formerly the founder and Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
READER COMMENTS
+47
#
2012-11-01 17:47
Yes President Obama
has made blunders in his first term. He has not affected the change we
all envisioned. He has the faults, biases, and ego of a career
politician. He is not a savior as some of us hoped. But we need to voted
for him again and subsequently get him to pursue oft promised change.
Some may need to hold their nose while pulling the lever for Barak....
that's fine, I will supply the clothes pins! But we must keep that Rat
Mittens from getting his mitts all over the White House. This election
scares me..... Sandy may have been the October surprise. But I fear what
Rove may wrought. And I would really like to see a follow up to news I
hearrd through the grapevine, that the Romney family has ownership
connections to vote tallying equipment in OHIO! Talk about a conflict of
interest. If true.....Romney has NO business being on the ballot in
that state. If someone knows more about this....make a stink. Vote Obama
to snub Mittens.
+42
#
2012-11-01 20:13
If Robmey has family
connections to the ownership of the vote tallying equipment in Ohio,
then Eric Holder has a duty to the nation to be all over this. Enough is
enough. I think this nation is just about reaching the end of its
tether where this rampant corruption is concerned.
-2
#
2012-11-01 23:37
If the election is
again fraudulent as it has been for the past two decades, how will your
vote stop Wilbur? We are faced with a two party illusion not very
different from the Stalinist one party state. It's not the the voters
who count, it's those who count the votes. We now have a Stalinist
government under the facade of democracy. The Gulag already has people
in indefinite detention and how would you know? Falling for the weak
vote Obama to snub Wilbur is as weak an excuse for voting as it is
possible to achieve.
+5
#
2012-11-02 06:04
When you don't know where you are driving to you still hold the steering wheel.
This is the same here: you may not be sure where to go on politics but if you don't vote you'll visit the ditch.
This is the same here: you may not be sure where to go on politics but if you don't vote you'll visit the ditch.
+4
#
2012-11-02 01:11
Yep, Kayjay, hold my
nose I will, as I put in my vote for Oh Bomb Ah. Then, should he win
(who the hell knows if any of our votes count or get honestly counted
these days, including in such vote pretend states as Ohio, Florida, et.
al.), I'll do what Michael Moore advises: vote for Obama, then push on
him harder than hard to get out of either being scared off or bought off
m.o..
Lots and lots of real McCoy change is soooo needed, in order to...UNDO THE COUP
Lots and lots of real McCoy change is soooo needed, in order to...UNDO THE COUP
+4
#
2012-11-02 05:18
We would have a very
different country now if the left hadn't turned on President Obama right
after he took office. If they had stood with him, while at the same
time putting serious and persistent pressure on him to move left, we
would now see a much better situation. Instead, Obama was quickly
deserted by progressives who turned up their collective noses at his
efforts to work with Republicans, and all the responsibility for change
was dumped on his shoulders alone. I can't remember ever having a
perfect President, yet Obama is harshly criticized for the things he
does wrong, while his many good accomplishments are damned with faint
praise, or simply ignored. He is held to a much higher standard than
that good old white boy, Bill Clinton, who did much to pave the way for
Bush to destroy our economy yet gets a pass. I ask you progressives why
this is so? I have my suspicions, but my mind is open. Please enlighten
me.
+6
#
2012-11-02 04:43
Kayjay: If anyone has
any doubts, check out this site and see what the Romneyhoods are doing.
I've been wondering why Romney was running for President. It is obvious
now that he is coming after OUR taxpayer money. Everyone, please check
this out and PASS it on to all you know before it is too late:
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019582123_harropcolumntaggxml.html
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019582123_harropcolumntaggxml.html
+57
#
2012-11-01 19:54
I've long since given
up judging Romney over his inability to distinguish truth from fiction
---- also over his habitually taking the major faults of himself and his
own party, turning them around and attributing them to the Democrats
and President Obama.
Those whom I DO NOT understand and whom I DO judge harshly are those individuals and groups that refuse to recognize just what the hell is going on --- and why. Let there be no doubt in ANYONE's mind: If Obama were a white anglo-saxon, he would be leading Romney by 20, points right now.
Those whom I DO NOT understand and whom I DO judge harshly are those individuals and groups that refuse to recognize just what the hell is going on --- and why. Let there be no doubt in ANYONE's mind: If Obama were a white anglo-saxon, he would be leading Romney by 20, points right now.
+54
#
2012-11-01 19:42
Romney's lying is not
symptomatic of a pathological disorder. It's symptomatic of his party's
zeal to win. Romney has investors to please, so he must win —
regardless of the cost, regardless of the rules, regardless of who he
steps on or whose lives he ruins. He will do anything, say anything,
promise anything, to win. He must be stopped.
+24
#
2012-11-01 20:18
Then this should be an easy decision:
Good people play by the rules and play fair. Conversely, bad people don't play by the rules and don't play fair. They are always looking for, or taking, or precipitating unfair leverage for an unfair (and unearned) advantage.
Good people play by the rules and play fair. Conversely, bad people don't play by the rules and don't play fair. They are always looking for, or taking, or precipitating unfair leverage for an unfair (and unearned) advantage.
+9
#
2012-11-02 05:38
Many intelligent,
thoughtful people think that we are in the middle of a transition into a
higher reality, and this polarization must happen in order to "separate
the wheat from the chaff". I have never in my lifetime seen such a
stark divide between the honest and dishonest people in this country.
The Republican Party has always drawn the more corrupt persons in
society, the ones who are the most selfish and mean-spirited, but now it
is much worse. Democrats on the other hand, have drawn the people who
care the most about others and want to make this country work for all of
us. I am an independent so I am not partisan, and favoring Democrats is
not being partisan anyway, it is simply choosing the party that cares
about and supports the common good. If Obama and the Democrats take the
majority, then we will move into the future with real change, but if
Romney and the Republicans prevail we will regress. We are right on the
tipping-point and not one person who cares about this country can afford
to stay home on Tuesday.
