NB: Long time member, first time diarist. Let me know what you think and if I'm following protocol.
Alright, so I admit that the thought of a President Obama makes me feel a bit warm and fuzzy after eight years of a president with the brains of a toddler and the powers of a dictator.
For me, the one reason that Obama is a more appealing candidate than others (including Hillary) is that he is being financed primarily by a grassroots base to which he might be accountable after he is elected. This introduces a long-forgotten concept into our political system: democracy. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions as to what an Obama presidency might bring. The obsession with the potential veep candidates that has sprung up here and in other spaces sometimes makes indirect reference to those questions, but offers up political compromise (Bloomberg??) instead of trying to force Obama to remain accountable to the grassroots constituencies that have made him the Democratic candidate and that will make him the president.
Will an Obama presidency mean a complete withdrawal from Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti and an end to U.S. empire?
As others have pointed out Obama has indicated that his idea of withdrawal from Iraq would keep in place permanent U.S. military bases, including the sprawling embassy complex in Baghdad. To leave these troops in place would not be a complete withdrawal and would repeat mistakes that the United States has made in Okinawa, Korea, Paraguay, Djibouti and in 737 military bases all around the world.
Seen from this point of view, Iraq is merely the tip of the iceberg of U.S. empire. And this makes Obama's statements about using more force in Afghanistan all the more dangerous. The answer is not to shift the focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, the answer is to dismantle U.S. empire (and revitalize the U.S. republic).
And Muslim countries are not the only places currently under occupation. The U.S. has worked with the United Nations in a brutal and bloody occupation of Haiti. The response from Obama (and just about everyone else in this country) is silence.
Eight years of imperial hubris has given us a chance. It's a chance not only to end the arrogance and foolishness, but also to end the imperialism altogether. It's not a chance we should allow Obama to miss.