Nations..upon nations in crisis, hardly need pedestalled, pull-cord talking Presidents expressing "sympathy" for "the People" while certain allied drones swoop in, render flesh, and make murder on huddled masses below.
But Democratic Leadership, of the kind that President Barack Obama is said to espouse, requires Choices :: Choices involving War or Peace, for example.
Between surging troops or withdrawing them. In nations like... Egypt, say, ... where its President is also Commander in Chief of its Armed Services or in nations heavily invested in the Military, such choices can be between enriching politically and militarily connected interests or not.
This- whadya need? A Dictator Falling on your head? - is not about Mubarak now.
Politicians can choose between candor and credibility or rely on hopeful spin to suit their purposes. They can deploy the kind of inconsequential lip service recently offered amidst the audacity of decidedly un-democratic actors. There are other choices, too. Choices regarding whether Power and National Treasure should be measured for the many or offered for the purposes of a very elite few.
Obama has made his choices. We continue the NeoCon's Crusades, we're not supposed to use either word much anymore, but we continue the PNAC Crusades nonetheless, all public posturing aside. We continue to see a barely deniable American Oligarchy have their way. Oh we keep up our pretense, it would violate unspoken expectations: we participate in the mythology of Change, but we know it's a lie. Like Hollywood's hopeful stripes, we would-be stars and starlets trust in tripe and let our agents negotiate our performance contracts as mere walkons in the political studio system our moneylenders, corporate class, and assorted dynastic families have produced. Afterall, the Show must go on.
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I loathed the charlatan Clintons, still do, with their triangulation, their DLC double-speak, their dive-artist support of Graham Leach Bliley, the Banking deregulation; their pull-cord palaver that NAFTA was gonna be great for workers both here and abroad.
Not to mention all the shitheads from their Administration recycled through the Banks, the fixer Law Firms, and Hedgefunds, those Corporate Boardroom types equally at home in Academia or soft landings plopping down in one inflatable Think Tank or other. As bad luck would have it, most found "real" no-show jobs and mighty fine DC digs come January 21, 2009.
Over the last decade, I also came reluctantly to an undeniable conclusion: that the Democratic pushovers in Congress during
Cheney's management of the Bush Prince Regency were complicit in all that befell us since. They were, and since we're being honest, let's not lie about it now.
Three years ago, Like most people pondering the inevitably declining wages of Wars foreign and domestic, I too came to wonder whether there was no one to answer that last cry or call uttered in the night. Enter (right quickly) - alas - like his choices and recent talking point pressers on Egypt, and Exit Barack Obama.
Whether 3AM in Cairo, or here,
or complying with Clinton and Bush cadres over bailouts and tax policy,
or groveling before profiteers with their necessarily unwinnable War in Afghanistan,
a patent enabling of the perpetual profitmaking ruse of the "War on Terror",
Obama , time and again -
has delivered the pull-cord doll's message and left the answering machine on.
Leave a message. You willl be... HERD.
Oh we can continue to lie to ourselves, feign shock when violence rears its ugly head , even date-seat afterward if we wish, but just like "Denial isn't a river in Egypt", certainly not - there is no change.
And now, broken by Banks, worn by War and lobbyists for more, we have the present presidential prospect of Barack Obama and his leadership on the line. Yet only the bought-in supporters aside, Obama's flatfooted diffidence and his co-opted, surreal calls for "reforms" ,
Suuuch the recorded message,
the Egyptian Revolution - call it what it is - the Egyptian Revolution now stands on the brink with a very real prospect of turning into transnational Pan-Arab Civil War, with all the violence and death, social chaos and globally destructive economic impact to come along with it.
No worries? Not his fault? Or a matter of Leadership? Choose.
Feel free to leave a message after the beep.