Monday, July 14, 2008

Jim Hightower: "Mixed Emotions" on Obama

Yes, there is life outside of a) Lambeth and b) the U.S. presidential campaign.

Nevertheless, a tiny bit of writing from that energetic populist, Jim Hightower, on Obama's two sides and (as Howard Zinn has noted and I am repeating ad nauseam) our responsibility to keep up the pressure. A quick read here.

2 comments:

June Butler said...

Jane, my theory is that Obama has not really changed his positions and policies all that much. Could it be that we projected upon him the qualities that we wanted him to have, rather than the ones that were actually there? However, you and Jim are both right. We must press him to follow progressive policies if he is elected.

Ken said...

Hightower is right, Zinn is right. What I fear has happened to Obama...well, it hasn't quite happened so much as the reality of running as the nominee has finally surfaced the real man. He's doing cherchez le buck; he's going to play to where the money is because running a Presidential campaign costs a few dollars, y'might say. Most of his progressive base doesn't have two dimes to rub together; or at least not enough money to float so much as a month of what that campaign is going to cost.

When I called Sen. Obama a prostitute, I was not singling him out. The road to any high office in this country starts with laying on your back. Presumably he believes deep down that his attitude toward FISA--and the monstrous telecommunications companies behind it--will help provide him with the financial support to keep on going, after which he can somehow regain his sacrificed integrity. I'm not sure it works that way.

And I know there is no other choice. Don't remind me.