They Should Have Hissed Barack Obama

[GoneOffShore]

Alexander Cockburn in The Nation
Beat the devil | posted April 6, 2006 (April 24, 2006 issue)
From the
>The war's coming home all right, in the form of people dreadfully wounded in body and spirit. Thousands of tragedies will unwind, often violently, for years to come. But for now, for the most part it's pictures on TV, not tears and terror on the hearth rug. So the Democrats in Congress aren't too worried about pressure from their antiwar constituents. The awful six-termer Jane Harman faces a primary challenge from Marcy Winograd in Southern California, after a couple of unions defied tradition and endorsed Winograd. Meanwhile, at the other end of the country in Connecticut, Senator Joe Lieberman faced a decidedly cool audience at a big Democratic dinner at the end of March and got bailed out by brother senator Barack Obama from Illinois, who told the crowd to haul out their checkbooks and make sure Lieberman gets returned for another term.

What kind of a signal is this? Here is Obama, endlessly hailed as the brightest rising star in the Democratic firmament, delivering (at a closely watched political dinner, with Lieberman's primary opponent, Ned Lamont, sitting in the crowd) a ringing endorsement of his "mentor," Lieberman, Bush's closest Democratic ally on the Iraq War, one of the architects of welfare "reform" and overall pretty much a symbol of everything that's been wrong with the Democratic Party for the past twenty years. What a slimy fellow Obama is, as befits a man symbolizing everything that will continue to be wrong with the Democratic Party for the next twenty years. Every time I look up he's doing something disgusting, like distancing himself from his fellow senator Dick Durbin for denouncing the torture center at Guantánamo or cheerleading the nuke-Iran crowd.>
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060424/cockburn

I've had my doubts about Mr Obama ever since he voted for the appalling bankruptcy bill.

And here he goes again, siding with the Administration. He's not the next star, he's a falling star.

[Master Mahon]

1. Yes it seems he has fallen

into lockstep with the good old boy, party boss machine where
he is either showing his true identity, or paying off favors
for getting where he is.
In either case he has been somewhat of a disappointment even though
he does 'talk the talk'.

[Solo_in_MD]

8. I have pointed out before that his is the child of privledge, regardless

of his skin color. Returning to his roots should not surprise anyone. He is very very establishment

[Kittycat]

2. I have sent Obama two letters in the past few months...

Not a single reply or acknowledgement. I'm also an Illinois resident and voted for him. I find this all very disturbing that I, one of his constituants, doesn't even deserve the courtesy of a form letter.

[GoneOffShore]

4. That's not good

I'm a PA resident and highly critical of Santorummy. He at least responds with a talking points form letter.

[Kittycat]

7. Apparently Obama doesn't have time for "we the little people of IL" anymor

eom.

[Rich Hunt]

5. really?

I'm from Illinois and one of his constituents, too, and I don't get why some people are so quick to tear him down. I'm proud of him. From talking to others here (offline), this Obama obsession is mighty suspicious and politically naive.

We've seen the fake Democrats before around here - we know their game pretty well.

Another Lieberman? Give me a break. You people write as if he had no record as a state senator.

And Cockburn has a long track record of criticizing Democrats - ALL of them.

I suppose you would prefer Alan Keyes, who lost in a landslide. Or, on the Democrat side, Blair Hull, a millionaire with some tarnish.

Please.

[Kittycat]

6. No, I wouldn't prefer Alan Keyes. I would however like...

The person that I voted for to show himself now and then.

And sorry, but I do think it's quite rude not to respond. I sent him my letter, which was well thought out. It wasn't a blast you letter, either. I introduced my self, told him a little about my family, and I was very considerate. I sought some answers to some questions about what his positions where are specific topics. I also raised some of my concerns as a constituent about a few specific and detailed topics. I wasn't rude or disrespectful in any way.

The lack of response however is deafening!

[GoneOffShore]

10. Are you proud that he voted with the Repukes

on the bankruptcy bill?

Are you proud that he's siding with Lieberman?

Yep, Cockburn does indeed have a track record of criticizing Dems. From my reading of him he goes after DINO's more than he goes after true progressives.

I had a lot of hope for Obama when he made that speech at the convention, and then he fell in line with the whole DLC agenda.

No, I don't prefer Alan Keyes. That lunatic has never been in the equation. But Obama has certainly become one of Lieberman's acolytes. And Lieberman is Republican Lite.

[Kittycat]

14. God I feel sick now. At least when you vote for keyes...

You know you're getting a republican. I voted for a democrat that portrayed himself as a leader, not another lieberman-lite whipping boy. :(

[Rich Hunt]

17. well, get the fuck out of Illinois, then

I'm tired of you fascist infiltrators coming here to harass and make veiled threats toward me and my family. You are frauds. Get. out.

And tell Mike McAuliffe, your mob boss, to kiss my ass.

[Kittycat]

23. What are you talking about? LOL

Oh please tell me that was a joke :rofl:

So now I can't point out that he doesn't even bother to send a form letter, after I've sent more than one letter to him?

[Name removed]

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[GoneOffShore]

11. And here's another look at him

from Mr Cockburn -
beat the devil | posted April 20, 2006 (May 8, 2006 issue)http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060508/cockburn
<
Obama: As He Rises, He Falls

I was harsh about Senator Barack Obama of Illinois here a couple of weeks ago, and the very next morning his press aide, Tommy Vietor, was on the phone howling about inaccuracies. It was an illuminating conversation.

Obama's man took grave exception to my use of the phrase "distancing himself" to describe what his boss had done when Illinois's senior senator, Dick Durbin, got into trouble for likening conditions at Guantanamo to those in a Nazi or Stalin-era camp. This was one of Durbin's finer moments, and he duly paid the penalty by having to eat crow on the Senate floor.

His fellow senator, Obama, did not support him in any way. Obama said, "We have a tendency to demonize and jump on and make mockery of each other across the aisle, and that is particularly pronounced when we make mistakes. Each and every one of us is going to make a mistake once in a while...and what we hope is that our track record of service, the scope of how we've operated and interacted with people, will override whatever particular mistake we make." That's three uses of the word "mistake." This isn't distancing?>

Snip

<Obama is concerned with the task of reassuring the masters of the Democratic Party, and beyond that the politico-corporate establishment, that he is safe. There are plenty of black people like that in Congress now, as Black Commentator.com describes on a weekly basis. After a decade or so of careful corporate funding, the Black Congressional Caucus is sinking under the weight of DLC clones like Artur Davis of Alabama, Albert Wynn of Maryland, Sanford Bishop and David Scott of Georgia, William Jefferson of Louisiana and Gregory Meeks of New York.

Hence Vietor's sensitivity to the allusion in my column to Obama's "mentor" being Senator Joe Lieberman. As a freshman senator, Vietor insisted, Obama had been assigned Lieberman as mentor. Read the Hartford Courant and you'll find Lieberman boasting that Obama picked him.>

So, what's it going to be? Is Obama a wonderful breath of fresh air in the Senate or a DLC clone anointed by Lieberman, et al?

Looks to me, based on his voting record and public statements, that despite his protestations he is only a short distance from being a Republican - hence a DINO.

Added this snippet from Cockburns column
<Obama, the constitutional law professor, fled Senator Russell Feingold's motion to censure the President. He voted Yea on March 2 to final passage of the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act, unlike ten of his Democratic colleagues.>

So, are you still proud of him?

[The Magistrate]

26. Any Democrat Not Attacked By Cockburn, Sir

Is not doing his or her job properly. Why you expect anyone to take the wretch's frothings as authoritative is quite beyond me: the croakings of a toad are generally dismissed, and properly so.

[pocket]

3. I used to support him, and now he's Leiberman Jr.

:(

[AndreaCG]

9. A journalist friend interviewed Obama

When he was campaigning and said he was an arrogant prick with a lily white staff.

My friend is black so can get away with the arrogant remark.

[Name removed]

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[Kittycat]

25. Speaking of horseshit...

Stop making an ass out of yourself. Calm down and breath - everyone here doesn't have to agree with your opinion on Obama. Like it or not :)

[The Magistrate]

12. Cockburn, Sir, Is The One Worth Hissing

Indeed, that is about the mildest expression possible of what that wrecker and endlessly slanderous reptile deserves. No thorough-going Leninist would have the slightest difficulty in asserting him to be a mere agent in fascist pay, and acting towards him accordingly, for, objectively, his energies are directed only in ways that materially assist the reactionaries.

[GoneOffShore]

13. So, you're saying that even though Obama

sides with Lieberman, has voted for the pernicious bankruptcy bill, voted for a renewal of the "Patriot Act" and has essentially betrayed his constituency, by portraying himself as a Democrat, because someone who you view as a "slanderous reptile" has told the truth that those truths are suspect?

The question here has to do with Obama and the positions he supports. And it would appear, based on his voting record, his responses to the press and his constituents that he is far more of a wrecker than Cockburn.

(added on edit)

It would also seem, sir, that you are in the minority here, as there are 5 posters (not including myself) who agree with Cockburn's premise.

[The Magistrate]

15. Oh, Thank You For The Laugh, Sir

That closing comment eased my heart greatly, and is very much appreciated on a cold night....

Being a conmstituent myself of Sen. Obama, let me assure you he has not betrayed me in any way, though he has acted on occassion in ways that would not have been my choice.

Cockburn, on the other hand, is a small and wriggly creature who has dedicated himself for years to destroying the Democratic Party, and indeed, the general run of the left and progressive movement, on the pitiful ground it is not radical enough for his personal tastes, formed quite literally in a Stalinist up-bringing, and has shown increasing bile in the matter over the years, as they have passed without bringing him the leadership role and wide recognition he feels he deserves. He is the sort of thing one scrapes off a shoe, hoping no one will notice....

[Rich Hunt]

20. well, you have a mature viewpoint

From the hysteria around this senator, you would think that one must agree with everything a man says and does to feel satisfied with his representation.

Sheesh. Take a course in civics, people.

But you're just a bunch of paid hacks, aren't you?

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Kittycat]

24. I concur, and just ignore the nutbag.

I mean holy heck - who's harrassing who in these threads. Apparently he doesn't like reading the truth of others thoughts and feelings. I also think he's a little detached from reality, but don't tell him I told you that... Oops ;)

[OKNancy]

27. Fact: Obama voted NO on the bankruptcy bill

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?vote_id=3480&can_id=BS030017

[depakid]

30. Just like Lieberman's it was a dishonest vote.

Sort of like what Cantwell did with Alito- vote to halt the filibuster and try to go on record against him. Pretty slimey thing to do, IMO.

[depakid]

21. Same positions as Lieberman on the bankruptcy bill

Voting to allow that bankruptcy bill to move forward, then casting a meaningless vote against it once it did.

Obama seems to like to have it both ways- that's one of Clinton's trait (and not an admirable one). Thus far, I've seen poor judgment in some things he's done and said. Some of that can be chalked up to rookie type mistakes, but down the line, I think it may end up causing trouble.

Goes to show what can happen when an organization elevates a person to prominence that they haven't earned yet.

[OKNancy]

28. 100% rating by the ADA

and NARAL and many other liberal groups

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=BS030017

[depakid]

29. and yet

During the Alito hearings, he opened his mouth and derrogated the process which should have been by the party as a whole to defend the very rights NARAL and others (like the ADA) stand for.

Like I said- he lacks good judgment- which leads to legitimate questions about his honesty and where his loyalties lie.