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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=359213318-14022008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>I think very few of the people receiving this email vote
because of what "MSM" tells them. I think we are all conscientiously researching
our options learning as much as we can before we cast our votes in the primary
and in Nov. We care, too, Kris. I am especially deeply worried about the world
in which our grandchildren, our precious grandchildren, are going have to exist.
Lee Loe</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> discuss-bounces@paa-tx.org
[mailto:discuss-bounces@paa-tx.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Ron and Kris
Graham<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, February 14, 2008 11:07 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
Discuss@paa-tx.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [PAA-Discuss] The Two Faces of Barack
Obama<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=black size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">I
am going to keep posting articles on Barack Obama, so people will know who it is
they are voting for when they vote in the Democratic primary. If you are tired
of reading about Barack Obama then by all means delete this particular e-mail. I
have nothing against Obama personally. I don’t think he’s an evil man. I do,
however, think he is a part of the continuing problem in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and not a part of the solution. I believe people should be fully informed about
a person before he/she casts a vote. All too often people vote for whoever they
feel is the best candidate based upon what the MSM tells them or based upon how
they feel about the person personally i.e. looks, charisma, experience,
electability etc.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=black size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=black size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">It’s
not necessary that anyone comment unless he/she wants to. The information below
is merely food for thought. For the record, I don’t like Hillary Clinton one
bit, and she is definitely wrong for this
country.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=black size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=black size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'">Kris<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=black size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The two faces of Barack
Obama<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">by Bill Van Auken<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><A href="http://www.globalresearch.ca">Global
Research</A>, February 14, 2008<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><A href="http://wsws.org">wsws.org</A>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Appearing
before a packed auditorium at the University of Wisconsin Tuesday on the night
of his victories in the “Potomac primaries,” held in Maryland, Virginia and
Washington, D.C., Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate Barack
Obama delivered a speech that was notable for its populist demagogy, not only on
the war in Iraq but also social conditions in
America.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
Wisconsin rally is the latest in a series of campaign events that have drawn
large and predominantly younger crowds—20,000 at the University of Maryland and
17,000 in Virginia Beach on the eve of Tuesday’s primaries—and which have seen
Obama adopt a more “left” public face.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Illinois</st1:place></st1:State>
senator has the instincts of an agitator and seeks to give the crowds what he
senses they want. In <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Wisconsin</st1:place></st1:State>, he linked “record profits” for
Exxon to the rising “price at the pump,” provoking enthusiastic applause. He
spoke of trade agreements that “ship jobs overseas and force parents to compete
with their teenagers for minimum wage at Wal-Mart.” And he pledged to be a
“president who will listen to <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Main
Street</st1:address></st1:Street>—not just Wall Street; a president who will
stand with workers not just when it’s easy, but when it’s
hard.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Turning to
the question of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>, he declared that “our troops
are sent to fight tour after tour of duty in a war that should’ve never been
authorized and should’ve never been waged,” and derided those who “use 9/11 to
scare up votes.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">He
continued by citing deteriorating social conditions facing average Americans:
“the father who goes to work before dawn and then lies awake at night wondering
how he’s going to pay the bills;” “the woman who told me she works the night
shift after a full day at college and still can’t afford health care for a
sister who’s ill;” the retiree “who lost his pension when the company he gave
his life to went bankrupt;” and “the teacher who works at Dunkin Donuts after
school just to make ends meet.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">He
responded with promises of tax cuts for working people, health care reform,
better pay and a government that would “protect pensions, not CEO
bonuses.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Echoing the
rhetoric of Martin Luther King, he concluded his speech with the vow that “our
dream will not be deferred, our future will not be denied, and our time for
change has come.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">There is an
element in these speeches that would seem to give pause to the Democratic Party
establishment and the big business interests it represents. Obama’s rhetorical
excursions could be seen as leading into dangerous territory. After all, the
Democratic Party has served as an indispensable partner in the Bush
administration’s policies of war abroad and social reaction at
home.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">But this
populist primary rhetoric is only one face of Obama. There is another, and it is
turned firmly towards the very corporate interests he publicly criticizes, which
have poured tens of millions of dollars into his
campaign.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">On the day
after the <st1:place w:st="on">Potomac</st1:place> primaries, <I><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: italic">BusinessWeek</SPAN></I> ran a special report
entitled, “Is Obama Good for Business?” While the piece provided no direct
answer to this question, the attitude taken by the business magazine appeared to
be a qualified “yes,” based in large part on the private discussions that the
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Illinois</st1:place></st1:State>
senator is holding with top Wall Street and corporate insiders even as he is
delivering his public appeals for “change.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Thus,
<I><SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic">BusinessWeek</SPAN></I> noted, last Sunday,
after learning of his victory in the <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:State> Democratic caucuses, Obama sat down at
his computer to exchange emails with Robert Wolf, CEO of UBS America, one of his
major Wall Street “bundlers,” responsible for bringing in millions in donations
from fellow multi-millionaires to finance what Obama refers to as his
“movement.” According to estimates made by the Center for Responsive Politics,
80 percent of the money raised by the Obama campaign last year came from donors
affiliated with business, with Wall Street leading the pack. More than half of
the money came in the form of donations totaling $2,300 or
more.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In addition
to Wolf, Obama stays in regular touch with Warren Buffett, the second-wealthiest
individual in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>, with a net worth of some $52
billion. Among his leading economic advisors is Austan Goolsbee, a <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Chicago</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> professor and prominent advocate
of free market policies.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><STRONG><B><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Volcker
endorsement</SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG><o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Perhaps
most significant was last month’s little reported endorsement of Obama by Paul
Volcker, who was appointed Federal Reserve Board chairman by Democratic
President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and remained in charge of the US central bank for
nearly seven years under the right-wing Republican administration of Ronald
Reagan.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Volcker was
responsible for inaugurating a high-interest-rate regime demanded by the
dominant sections of finance capital in the name of the battle against
inflation. His monetary policy was inextricably linked to the offensive against
the working class begun with the firing of the air traffic controllers and the
breaking of the PATCO strike and continued with the shutdown of large sections
of basic industry and the unleashing of the worst economic downturn since the
Great Depression of the 1930s. The ultimate effect of these policies was a vast
transfer of wealth from the mass of working people to a narrow financial elite,
a process that has continued to this day.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In a
statement announcing his backing for Obama, Volcker noted that he had previously
avoided involvement in partisan politics. He said that he was moved to intervene
now not “by the current turmoil in markets,” but because of “the breadth and
depth of challenges that face our nation at home and abroad.” He added, “Those
challenges demand a new leadership and a fresh approach.” Obama’s leadership, he
concluded, would be able to “restore needed confidence in our vision, our
strength and our purposes right around the world.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Larry
Kudlow, the right-wing pundit and former Reagan administration economic advisor,
commented on the endorsement earlier this month, noting that he had once worked
as a speechwriter for Volcker and describing him as “a great American... a
classic conservative... a man of fiscal and monetary
rectitude.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Volcker,
Kudlow wrote, “would not have made this endorsement on a whim. Believe me. He
never gets involved in these kinds of political decisions.” He concluded by
asking: “Is Volcker the new Robert Rubin [the Wall Street insider who directed
the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:City>
administration’s economic policy]? Is it possible that Mr. Volcker is somehow
tutoring Obama? Is it possible that Obama is more financially conservative than
originally believed?”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">These are
the real relations that are being forged behind the scenes as Obama delivers
left phrases from the podium. Those like Volcker see the <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Illinois</st1:place></st1:State> senator as a
useful vehicle for effecting major changes aimed not at ameliorating the
conditions of life for masses of working people, but rather at securing the
global interests of American finance capital.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">No doubt,
they believe Obama, who would be <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s first African-American
president, is best suited to confront the dangers posed by continuing economic
crisis and rising social tensions. Who better to demand even greater sacrifices
from the working class, all in the name of national unity and “change?” At the
same time, he would present a fresh face to the world, which they hope would
help extricate <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> imperialism from the foreign
policy debacles and growing global isolation that are the legacy of the Bush
administration.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Given these
big business ties, Obama’s campaign rhetoric about confronting poverty and
social inequality involve a level of cynicism and demagogy that is truly
staggering. His incessant promises of change are not tied to any radical
economic program that fundamentally challenges the profit interests of the giant
corporations and Wall Street.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">On the
contrary, Obama has advanced a conservative fiscal policy, pledging himself to a
“pay as you go” approach and stressing the need to reduce debt and deficits.
Given that he would take office with a near-record $400 billion deficit
inherited from the Bush administration, this already determines an agenda of
austerity measures.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">On
Wednesday, the candidate toured a General Motors plant in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Janesville</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Wisconsin</st1:State></st1:place> and put forward a so-called jobs
program involving investments in infrastructure and alternative energy that
would total $210 billion over 10 years. In the face of the deep-going crisis
confronting American capitalism, this is less than a drop in the bucket—and even
this drop would quickly evaporate in the face of demands for deficit
reduction.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Those who
don’t want to talk about capitalism should by rights keep their mouths shut when
it comes to poverty and unemployment. One cannot deal with either seriously
without confronting the private ownership of society’s productive forces and the
immense social inequality that it has created. The defense of jobs and living
standards, the right to decent housing, health care and education for hundreds
of millions of Americans can be advanced only through a far-reaching
redistribution of wealth from the super rich to the broad mass of working
people.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Clearly,
the likes of Wolf, Buffett and Volcker are backing Obama because they know that
he has no intention of going anywhere near such a
policy.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">As for the
question of war, those looking to the Obama campaign as a means of ending
American militarism will be sorely disappointed. The Illinois Senator has vowed
not to reduce the ballooning <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> military budget—which consumes an
estimated $700 billion annually—but rather to increase it. He has called for the
recruitment of another 65,000 soldiers for the Army as well as 27,000 more
Marines. He has vowed to put “more boots on the ground” in the “war on terror,”
the pretext invented by the Bush administration to justify “preemptive war,”
i.e., military aggression aimed at asserting US hegemony over the oil-rich
regions of the Middle East and Central Asia.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">As for Iraq
itself, his promises to end the war are belied by his pledge to keep American
forces in Iraq to defend “US interests” and conduct “counterterrorism
operations,” a formula that would see tens of thousands of US soldiers and
Marines continuing to occupy Iraq and repress its population for many years to
come.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">To the
extent that Obama’s rhetoric arouses popular expectations—and there are
indications that it does—these will inevitably be dashed. In all probability,
this will happen once the primary season is over and Obama is confronted by the
Republican right as well as elements within the Democratic Party itself with the
demand that he clarify his program. Should he capture the White House in
November, he will head an administration committed to defending the interests of
the American oligarchy both at home and abroad.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Those
turning towards the Obama campaign as a means of effecting progressive social
change in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> and bringing
an end to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> militarism abroad will find that
the Democratic Party and the corporate and financial interests it represents
will allow neither.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">These
necessary goals can be achieved only through a decisive break with the Democrats
and the entire two-party system and the independent mobilization of the working
class through the building of a mass socialist
movement.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><BR> <A
href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=listByAuthor&authorFirst=Bill&authorName=Van%20Auken"><I><SPAN
style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Global Research Articles by Bill Van
Auken</SPAN></I></A> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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