The shallowness of national election campaigns, the deliberate exclusion of third parties from debates, the unlimited corporate campaign financial contributions, the lock on elections by a one-party outfit posing as a two-party adversarial system, assure that nothing will ever change.
There was skulduggery in both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections: the vote count and voter exclusion in Florida; the conservative block of the U.S. Supreme Court selecting a president; the computer count rigging in Ohio; and the failure of Gore and Kerry and the Democratic Party to challenge the strange electoral phenomena that was unfolding and so obviously a subversion of the democratic process. With the Supreme Court action alone, it is not hyperbole to stat that the U.S. qualifies as a Banana Republic, as if there were any doubts over many decades.
The Bush administration gave rise to a situation where a novice politician could capitalize on the frustrations of the electorate by exploiting a meaningless campaign slogan of "Yes! We Can! Obama's 2008 run for the White House was based on playing with words to deceive the population. He used eloquent rhetoric with messianic zeal. Obama now deserves the label of "Bush Lite". And I might add with a Clinton chaser.
Many Barack Obama decisions and indecision have led me to conclude that the Obama administration (and the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress) have failed to do what is needed: radical vision to break out of the box of conventional thinking. Obama is tied to the values he learned from childhood on. This is why he appointed so many former Clinton operatives and why he chose the very people who designed the Wall Street meltdown to key positions in his administration. Change only comes about through conflict; and Obama is not going to take on powerful interests.
Obama's acceptance of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize can only be seen as delusional, and telegraphs the message that he stands for nothing! Shortly after making his acceptance speech, when he seemed to claim that war is justified to bring about peace, he ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan! He is after all, Commander-in-Chief. And, he has made Afghanistan his war! As a candidate he made his intentions concerning Afghanistan quite clear! Obama seems to believe in his own infallibility. The Shirley Sherrod debacle was something of a comeuppance. There have been a number of faux pas situations and stark reversals that lead me to to yell "Foul", but only in the privacy of my shower stall. His conduct toward Sherrod is another reminder that African-Americans in his administration are often on their own. Van Jones, one of the best energy strategists, suffered a similar fate. Obama is rather quick to abandon or throw overboard any Blacks in the administration that Republicans in Congress consider effective voices against the status quo.
Obama is at his best working audiences at National Urban League and NAACP conventions. However, he has little in common with African-Americans and their plight. In this context as an "outsider", he can perform his oratory as an exercise. His outsider status, knowing nothing of the ghetto experience of urban America, enables him to speak in a detached manner; it's more imagery than belief. His personal upbringing was a political asset in the 2008 elections, both Primary and General.
I am of the notion that Obama is America's first bi-partisan president. He seems to believe that Republicans in Congress have equal standing with majority Democrats. Legislation is tailored to accommodate Republican demands, and as a consequence there is no real change. "Yes! We can", has become No! We can't". The Senate's super majority rule ensures that the minority party has full control as to what gets passed and what doesn't. It even decides what gets debated! Therefore, most proposals fall into a Black Hole. And the Senate could be called just that!
Most Senate Democrats (and Obama, too) seem to like the super majority rule. They never have to test their resolve on any controversial issue. They don't even propose legislation because Republican filibusters would block it. Therefore, nothing of a progressive nature moves through the Senate. It has become the graveyard of bills.
The predictions for the 2010 mid-term election is that the Republicans will win big; it's a matter of how big. The Senate stalemate will only deepen; and we can expect nothing, zippo, for two years leading up to the 2012 elections. Obama, like Herbert Hoover nearly eighty years ago, will leave Washington as a pathetic failure. He would return to Chicago, where he could resume playing pick-up basketball with the likes of Arnie Duncan, the then Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel and assorted others. Not even Hilary Clinton as his vice-presidential candidate could save Obama.
In a negative fashion, Republicans already dominate the Senate, so it doesn't matter if they become the majority party. And therefore, it really doesn't matter what happens in House of
Representative elections. The only thing I will act upon on my November ballot are the many propositions. The decisions of rank and file voters have immediate and usually troubling consequences. So, I do not take the propositions as lightly as I do for Congressional elections!
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