At some point one has to step back and look at the big picture. And when you see the Obama presidency in its current totality, one can only conclude that it is a disaster.
Barack Obama has now called George Bush a "patriot", a man who has never cared about anything but enriching his oil buddies and corporate cronies, a war criminal who lied to drag our country into a war that has murdered over 1 million Iraqis, and killed and maimed thousands of American soldiers, who facilitated the looting of Americans' hard earned wealth by criminally funneling untold millions to his friend's and contributor's pockets with no-bid contracts, who sanctioned torture, illegally violated the 4th Amendment of the constitution and criminal law by authorizing the tapping of American's phone including those of journalists, who drummed up false terror scares that horrified millions of Americans for the sole purpose of political manipulation.
George Bush is not a patriot. He is a traitor.
And Obama's decision to sanction the Bush presidency, to essentially endorse and validate it, is nothing but harmful to this country.
I've read many of the comments over Bush's criminality and Obama's failure to hold him accountable. And I'm sure I missed it, but I've yet to see one that actually grasped the true significance of letting Bush and his accomplices take a walk. The significance is this: it will allow another George Bush to come to power and do it all again. May next time, his name will be Jeb. In fact, on some of the issues, expansion of the illegal and unconstitutional surveillance state, violations of civil rights for example, that next president is actually Obama himself.
It was the corrupt Washington establishment's allowing of George Bush Sr. to walk free after Iran Contra that allowed his son and all of Bush Sr.'s accomplices to return to power. And it will be the allowing of Bush Jr. to walk that will allow Jeb Bush or some other such character to usher in a new era of war mongering and lawlessness.
But Obama hasn't just validated the criminal presidency of George Bush. He has validated the criminal banking cartel's ponzi economy. Once again, Obama covered for power run amok and allowed the guilty to walk. And the financial crisis wasn't even over before they went back to their old tricks and are now bragging about the record profits they are making.
Obama has continued nothing less than the Bush reign of lawlessness.
But NOTHING compares to the scandal unfolding in the Gulf. The Obama administration is nothing less than a partner in the coverup of the oil spill in the Gulf. From day one, Obama placed our national guard under the authority of a foreign corporation for the sole purpose of preventing the American people to know what has been done to OUR environment, our water, our ocean.
This is unacceptable. The Obama administration is putting the people of the Gulf in severe jeopardy with their lies about the dangers of the water there. They have put the people who unknowingly may buy seafood from Gulf in jeopardy by claiming the water is safe when even the fishermen down there won't play along with the lie.
The Gulf spill was bad enough. But the continued spraying of Corexit is a crime against nature and humanity. This will be Obama's legacy.
At every single turn, from protecting Wall Street thieves, to the corporate written health care giveaway, to the actual and unprecedented program to use the death penalty (assassination) on American citizens without even a hearing, to the coverup in the Gulf and consequent poisoning of the ocean is the mark of a presidency of corruption.
But more importantly is what it has done to the left wing in this country. Most are scared to even tell the truth about the Obama presidency. While Obama campaigned as a lover and not a fighter, a poison I greatly admired, his presidency, like so much other of his campaign promises, has been the opposite.
Oh, he's been a lover alright. To the rabid, completely discredited, and insanely harmful right wing. The last election was NOTHING if not a repudiation of the right in this country. And just as in Obama's speech last night, we have seen Obama repeatedly pander, cower, and comply with their every whim.
And what has Obama done for the left while he's been ridiculously pandering to the idiot, discredited right wing? He's sent out his thugs, over and over again to attack "progressives". So much so that his thugs in the blogosphere have actually started to try to make progressive a bad word.
If you had told me two years ago, when I was campaigning for Barack Obama, that I would be made to feel like I was one of the bad guys by Obama's own people, I wouldn't have believed you.
In fact, the real professional left has cowered from the fight. I've cowered from the fight too. But I've kept my mouth shut long enough.
Back Obama is bad for Democrats, and he's bad for the country. I'm not afraid to say it, and I don't even bother to read the ridiculous comments here anymore.
I remember well when the consensus here ruled that the DLC controlled "Republican-lite" wing of the Democratic party was bad for the country, and bad for the electoral chances of Democrats.
The 2010 election hasn't occurred yet. But we have more than enough evidence to know that that concensus was right then and it's right now.
I'm sick of being seen as an impediment to electoral progress when it is the Republican wing of the party, including Mr Obama, that is dragging this party down. They have always been the ones dragging the party down.
The people need a clear choice between the corporatist policies of the ideological right (whether their packed in red or blue ribbons) and real progressive change. Why? Because it's our turn? Because we want our way?
No. Because we are right.