Let me begin by commending the millions of Americans who believed, and still believe, so deeply in the Presidency of Barack Obama, a belief I shared until the reality of his character became apparent. We all hoped in a common belief that he would clean up all that is so contrary to the national interest, and that he would restore a sense of dignity and honor to the White House that has been missing for decades. Sad to say, his record has proven to be the complete antithesis of all those hopes and dreams brought about, not through naiveté and inexperience but, rather, through cunning, deception and design. That he fails the test of leadership is self-evident. He has deliberately abrogated every trust we so willingly placed in him. We have been betrayed.
We were led to believe there would be transparency in government. Instead, we have secrecy and obfuscation.
We were led to believe he would hold to account those who committed war crimes and torture. Instead, we got, “I do not believe we should live in the past but, rather, it is more important for us to look to the future.”
We were led to believe that he would stop warrant-less wiretapping, only to see it trumped in the interest of “national security.”
We were led to believe the controls that were removed and paved the way for the deregulation of the financial industries, and other contributing factors leading us to the precipice of another depression, would be reinstated in the interest of the economic health of the country. Instead, he lost no time in handing the responsibility over to the very people and institutions that had precipitated the financial crisis in the first place.
We were led to believe he would re-open NAFTA. Instead, he joined with his counterparts from Canada and Mexico to reaffirm their collective support for NAFTA and free trade, all at the expense of American workers. He is now seeking to accelerate the pursuit of free-trade agreements to numerous other nations.
We were led to believe he would fight for a national health plan, including a robust public option. Instead, in private meetings, the President assured the healthcare insurance industry and big pharmaceutical companies that (a) there would be no public option in the final bill, and (b) the pharmaceutical companies would not have to negotiate prices for prescription drugs with the U.S. Government.
We were led to believe the President would not be using signing statements on legislation. Instead, he has already resorted to that notorious practice by George W. Bush.
We were led to believe that he would ratchet down on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, it appears he has caved in to the military establishment and, rather than reducing our commitment in Afghanistan, he has increased the troop compliment.
We were led to believe that he was going to require the large banking institutions on Wall Street to free up money given to them under the auspices of the TARP Program so community banks could loan to small businesses in order to stimulate the economy. The nation waits with baited breath.
His “Stimulus Program” was going to jump-start the economy, create jobs and get people back to work. Instead, we have an escalating unemployment rate with only meek assurances that there is a time lag to be expected between investment and results. Meanwhile, millions of people become ever more impoverished and foreclosure rates soar.
There are more examples, but I believe the point has been made. President Obama is skilled at making inspiring speeches that lifts ones hopes to the heavens. He is adroit in his ability to talk out of both sides of his mouth. He is masterful in his ability to pander to special interests and centers of power and influence, while convincing the nation that he really is doing something for the common man. He gives the sales pitch and Rahm Emanuel peddles the goods. We wait with baited breath.
I, like so many, wanted very much to believe in the person and the candidacy of Barack Obama. However, I am mindful of the hazards of believing without questioning the motives of the one who is asking me to accept his/her system of beliefs. Barack Obama is much too intelligent and shrewd to be accused of naiveté. He did not get to where he is, in such a short period of time, to have accepted very much on simple faith. As the old adage goes, “He is dumb like a fox.” In a short span of time, he has taken me from a state of complete trust to one of complete lack of trust. He is simply no longer credible.
While an entire nation of good and decent people cry out for the “change we can believe in,” with the leadership, commitment and dedication to make it all happen, we have instead one who only hears the call of the super-rich, the powerful, the greedy, those whose blind ambition overshadows any notion of compassion and, finally, the mesmerizing influence of gold braid, silver stars and the sheer perverse intoxication that comes only with the power to commit young lives to a violent and untimely death or, worse, a lifetime of suffering from the lasting wounds inflicted on distant battlefields.
When those without power and means plead for nothing more than the opportunity to earn an honest living and share in the American Dream, their cries go unnoticed by the White House, the Senate and the Congress - corruption being the common thread. When the rich and powerful call, it is almost as if I am hearing the stereotypical plantation owner saying, “C’mon now, boy. Ya hea?” Then the caricature of Step’n fetchit comes to life as the answer seems to echo from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, “Yassa, boss; yassa, boss.”
In the meantime, the ghosts of Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Brooks and countless numbers of others who suffered, marched and demanded an equal share of the American dream in the name of racial, social and economic justice simply hang their heads in silent shame for what the President has done to all they fought for.
The President, in 2004, so eloquently stated in his Keynote Address to the Democratic National Convention that “There is no black America and there is no white America; there is only the United States of America.” There is, also, an old adage that says, “One is known by the company he keeps.” Your actions, Mr. President, are not consistent with your words. You no longer have any credibility, and for that, you are far more to be pitied than scorned.
Difficult though the path may be, I have complete confidence that this nation will again be the beacon of hope and justice it once was. Those who are destined to share in that distant triumph will rightfully share in the euphoria of that moment in time. Meanwhile, the 44th President of the United States will likely find himself an old man, alone and forgotten, because of all we had hoped he would be, but which he squandered on the altar of his blind ambition, avarice and the dubious legitimacy of his truly being the First African-American President of the United States of America.
When the ideals, values and guiding principles upon which this nation was founded and prospered begin to erode by benign neglect, fertile ground has been cultivated for sowing the seeds of complete decay of the social, economic and moral values that are so essential to a healthy and progressive nation. When a people become too lazy to research and question what is being done in their name, they invite the very fate they most fear.
When we can no longer trust in the government we have elected to serve us, we have no alternative but to look for a better means to serve our national interests than what we now have in the seat of our Federal Government in Washington, D.C. It calls into question the benefits to society of the financial houses on Wall Street, the image makers on Madison Avenue and the “faux“ news organizations created by corporate journalism. When those very institutions recoil at the notion of any transparency and accountability to the society in which they operate, we know we are in trouble and the time has come for “change we can not only believe in, but can trust, as well.
The most urgent realization we must realize, as intelligent people and responsible citizens, is that the time has come to get our heads out of our posteriors, quit spending our every waking moment with our faces in a hand-held entertainment center, and worrying more about what we look like than what we are as members of the human race. Living beyond our means because we are more concerned about satisfying the baser aspects of our imperfect nature in order to impress others than in acquiring what we need to live a responsible life is a potent elixir for our ultimate demise. When we have become too lazy to go through the rigors of getting an education, and cultivating a sense of wonder and curiosity that will lead to a thirst for knowledge and a natural curiosity about the world around us, we have taken ourselves and the earth to the brink of total annihilation.
Regardless of one’s spiritual beliefs, when we have shared in and contributed to all that will surely take us to the brink, we have become a party to the ultimate affront to whatever higher power we seek to guide and protect us on this mortal journey we all share.
When those we have put in power to serve us violate and prostitute their solemn obligation to society and the institutions of which they are a part, then it is time to turn to that time-honored avenue of redress so effectively used throughout our history -- civil disobedience, as eloquently codified in an 1849 essay by Henry David Thoreau.
“The time has come for change we can believe in. The time is now.” Sound familiar?
Cowboy Bob
December 21, 2009
We were led to believe there would be transparency in government. Instead, we have secrecy and obfuscation.
We were led to believe he would hold to account those who committed war crimes and torture. Instead, we got, “I do not believe we should live in the past but, rather, it is more important for us to look to the future.”
We were led to believe that he would stop warrant-less wiretapping, only to see it trumped in the interest of “national security.”
We were led to believe the controls that were removed and paved the way for the deregulation of the financial industries, and other contributing factors leading us to the precipice of another depression, would be reinstated in the interest of the economic health of the country. Instead, he lost no time in handing the responsibility over to the very people and institutions that had precipitated the financial crisis in the first place.
We were led to believe he would re-open NAFTA. Instead, he joined with his counterparts from Canada and Mexico to reaffirm their collective support for NAFTA and free trade, all at the expense of American workers. He is now seeking to accelerate the pursuit of free-trade agreements to numerous other nations.
We were led to believe he would fight for a national health plan, including a robust public option. Instead, in private meetings, the President assured the healthcare insurance industry and big pharmaceutical companies that (a) there would be no public option in the final bill, and (b) the pharmaceutical companies would not have to negotiate prices for prescription drugs with the U.S. Government.
We were led to believe the President would not be using signing statements on legislation. Instead, he has already resorted to that notorious practice by George W. Bush.
We were led to believe that he would ratchet down on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, it appears he has caved in to the military establishment and, rather than reducing our commitment in Afghanistan, he has increased the troop compliment.
We were led to believe that he was going to require the large banking institutions on Wall Street to free up money given to them under the auspices of the TARP Program so community banks could loan to small businesses in order to stimulate the economy. The nation waits with baited breath.
His “Stimulus Program” was going to jump-start the economy, create jobs and get people back to work. Instead, we have an escalating unemployment rate with only meek assurances that there is a time lag to be expected between investment and results. Meanwhile, millions of people become ever more impoverished and foreclosure rates soar.
There are more examples, but I believe the point has been made. President Obama is skilled at making inspiring speeches that lifts ones hopes to the heavens. He is adroit in his ability to talk out of both sides of his mouth. He is masterful in his ability to pander to special interests and centers of power and influence, while convincing the nation that he really is doing something for the common man. He gives the sales pitch and Rahm Emanuel peddles the goods. We wait with baited breath.
I, like so many, wanted very much to believe in the person and the candidacy of Barack Obama. However, I am mindful of the hazards of believing without questioning the motives of the one who is asking me to accept his/her system of beliefs. Barack Obama is much too intelligent and shrewd to be accused of naiveté. He did not get to where he is, in such a short period of time, to have accepted very much on simple faith. As the old adage goes, “He is dumb like a fox.” In a short span of time, he has taken me from a state of complete trust to one of complete lack of trust. He is simply no longer credible.
While an entire nation of good and decent people cry out for the “change we can believe in,” with the leadership, commitment and dedication to make it all happen, we have instead one who only hears the call of the super-rich, the powerful, the greedy, those whose blind ambition overshadows any notion of compassion and, finally, the mesmerizing influence of gold braid, silver stars and the sheer perverse intoxication that comes only with the power to commit young lives to a violent and untimely death or, worse, a lifetime of suffering from the lasting wounds inflicted on distant battlefields.
When those without power and means plead for nothing more than the opportunity to earn an honest living and share in the American Dream, their cries go unnoticed by the White House, the Senate and the Congress - corruption being the common thread. When the rich and powerful call, it is almost as if I am hearing the stereotypical plantation owner saying, “C’mon now, boy. Ya hea?” Then the caricature of Step’n fetchit comes to life as the answer seems to echo from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, “Yassa, boss; yassa, boss.”
In the meantime, the ghosts of Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Brooks and countless numbers of others who suffered, marched and demanded an equal share of the American dream in the name of racial, social and economic justice simply hang their heads in silent shame for what the President has done to all they fought for.
The President, in 2004, so eloquently stated in his Keynote Address to the Democratic National Convention that “There is no black America and there is no white America; there is only the United States of America.” There is, also, an old adage that says, “One is known by the company he keeps.” Your actions, Mr. President, are not consistent with your words. You no longer have any credibility, and for that, you are far more to be pitied than scorned.
Difficult though the path may be, I have complete confidence that this nation will again be the beacon of hope and justice it once was. Those who are destined to share in that distant triumph will rightfully share in the euphoria of that moment in time. Meanwhile, the 44th President of the United States will likely find himself an old man, alone and forgotten, because of all we had hoped he would be, but which he squandered on the altar of his blind ambition, avarice and the dubious legitimacy of his truly being the First African-American President of the United States of America.
When the ideals, values and guiding principles upon which this nation was founded and prospered begin to erode by benign neglect, fertile ground has been cultivated for sowing the seeds of complete decay of the social, economic and moral values that are so essential to a healthy and progressive nation. When a people become too lazy to research and question what is being done in their name, they invite the very fate they most fear.
When we can no longer trust in the government we have elected to serve us, we have no alternative but to look for a better means to serve our national interests than what we now have in the seat of our Federal Government in Washington, D.C. It calls into question the benefits to society of the financial houses on Wall Street, the image makers on Madison Avenue and the “faux“ news organizations created by corporate journalism. When those very institutions recoil at the notion of any transparency and accountability to the society in which they operate, we know we are in trouble and the time has come for “change we can not only believe in, but can trust, as well.
The most urgent realization we must realize, as intelligent people and responsible citizens, is that the time has come to get our heads out of our posteriors, quit spending our every waking moment with our faces in a hand-held entertainment center, and worrying more about what we look like than what we are as members of the human race. Living beyond our means because we are more concerned about satisfying the baser aspects of our imperfect nature in order to impress others than in acquiring what we need to live a responsible life is a potent elixir for our ultimate demise. When we have become too lazy to go through the rigors of getting an education, and cultivating a sense of wonder and curiosity that will lead to a thirst for knowledge and a natural curiosity about the world around us, we have taken ourselves and the earth to the brink of total annihilation.
Regardless of one’s spiritual beliefs, when we have shared in and contributed to all that will surely take us to the brink, we have become a party to the ultimate affront to whatever higher power we seek to guide and protect us on this mortal journey we all share.
When those we have put in power to serve us violate and prostitute their solemn obligation to society and the institutions of which they are a part, then it is time to turn to that time-honored avenue of redress so effectively used throughout our history -- civil disobedience, as eloquently codified in an 1849 essay by Henry David Thoreau.
“The time has come for change we can believe in. The time is now.” Sound familiar?
Cowboy Bob
December 21, 2009
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