Between Hope and Despair: Martin Luther King, Barack Obama and War

[Mari333]

The Washington DC memorial to Martin Luther King, located on the Tidal Basin between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, was supposed to be completed by now. President Clinton authorized the memorial in 1996; President Bush appeared at a groundbreaking ceremony in 2006, as did Senator Barack Obama. But the memorial, designed with a massive statue of King and two huge rocks representing the Mountain of Despair and the Stone of Hope, was left hovering in legal and bureaucratic limbo for a dozen years.

In the meantime, Senator Obama became President Obama. And in the course of one year, those who thought President Obama would move our nation closer towards Dr. King's vision find themselves tottering, like King's memorial, between hope and despair.

Obama certainly gave the world hope when he spoke of the importance of diplomacy, global cooperation, re-engaging with the Muslim world and respecting international law.

But his actions speak another language. He promised to end torture and close Guantanamo but extraordinary renditions continue, Guantanamo is still open, and the Bagram prison in Afghanistan is still filled with over 600 prisoners who have been held indefinitely -- some for six years -- with no charges and no trials.







http://www.alternet.org/action/145219/between_hope_and_despair:_martin_luther_king,_barack_obama_and_war/

[StarfarerBill]

1. K&R

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. And there's this, from The Nation:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/517878/how_barack_obama_is_like_martin_luther_king_jr

[Spazito]

4. All I can say re your post is...

a BIG :thumbsup: !

[Mari333]

5. well, he is also a black man.

thats about the only similarity I see.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Melissa Harris-Lacewell is black, too, and a professor of black history.

Something to consider. Read the article.

[Mari333]

11. as is Cornel West, who disagrees with Obama

I did read the article.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Well, then, under the bus with her!

[Mari333]

13. the DLC drives the bus

Im sure Rahm and Tim are quite delighted with anyone who never critiques their man.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Oh, come on.

Harris-Lacewell is anything but a DLCer. She appears regularly on Rachel Maddow's show, and she's clearly no apologist for anybody.

[Mari333]

16. I read the article, I felt her angst, also

but I am not as hopeful as she wants me to be. I think she is probably a nice person, trying to put the best spin on DC policies as she can.
peace.

[dionysus]

3. is MLK todays excuse to yet again wail how awful that mean old president is?

i'm noticing a trend here.

[Spazito]

6. LOL, you too? I am sure it is just...

coincidence, no coordination at all! :sarcasm: just in case it's needed!

[jpak]

7. Obama is Bull Connor! er Lester Moddox! er George Wallace!...er...whatever!!111

:thumbsdown:

[Don Caballero]

8. More anti-Obama garbage

MLK was a great man do not get me wrong. He never was in charge of foreign policy. He did not get the intel about terrorists as our President does. President Obama is ending the wrong war in Iraq.

[LWolf]

10. K & R

[DelPotro]

14. It's an insult to MLK's legacy to compare the two

Would Obama even in his wildest moment come even vaguely close to saying the following?

“For years I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions of society, a little change here, a little change there. Now I feel quite differently. I think you’ve got to have a reconstruction of the entire society...a radical redistribution of political and economic power.”

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

Of course not. All along the way Obama has been all about accommodating to the power structures. Obama's political career and record, as unimpressive as it is, has been one where he consistently panders to the institutions of power and money. This record does not change simply because others who wish to follow some icon paste their fantasies upon the story.