American Presidential Candidates

[nikhil25]

Re: American Presidential Candidates

@chaibiskut

He wasn’t voted in by progressives, nor does he owe them anything. But would it be accurate to say he won by projecting progressive stances, namely the semblance of being anti-war (for those who weren’t paying attention to his congressional voting record)? That his campaign promised a departure from realpolitik as usual?

no, i don’t think that’s accurate. obama’s stated position was anti-“dumb war”, not anti-war. he openly subscribed to the good war/bad war view re: afghanistan and iraq. he ran on the prescription of intensifying efforts in the good war and putting an end to the bad war.

as i mentioned earlier, although he openly criticized the neocon hawks and rejected their worldview, he never ran as a dove. in fact he was the one who took heat for saying he would authorize military action inside pakistan to kill bin laden if there was actionable intelligence.

Is there a (symbolic) alternative that doesn’t include punishing liberals or rewarding Republicans (the reasoning that Nader cost Gore the election is getting tiresome). That our electoral system is hostage to corporate money aside, that voting in the U.S. is essentially futile, grudging acceptance isn’t an option for some anymore.

the sad fact is that the numbers are simply not on the side of liberals/progressives. many people like yourself are frustrated because you have not reconciled this fact. it’s not much different for conservatives who would also be extremely disappointed by a barely-conservative romney presidency.

the alternative is to persuade the electorate’s fence-sitters (anywhere between 20-30%) that liberal/progressive views are superior. this task speaks to a much larger and more fundamental issue than political strategy. it requires a large scale societal reexamination of political identity vis a vis socioeconomic, racial, and religious identity. i’m not holding my breath.

Maybe this isn’t even about Obama, or one President who has little clout in the grand scheme of the military-industrial-corporate complex. Your posts are valuable as far as pragmatic political strategy is concerned, but after the Wall Street Swindle this dialogue has to include a moral/ethical angle. Many realize this is no longer about Democrats and Republicans, but a war between average citizens and the corporate/financial elite.

i don’t really buy this. i don’t even consider the financial crisis a “wall street swindle”. that narrative is tailor-made for main street consumption but it’s very weak, fundamentally. the reality is that unemployment is the ultimate driver of phenomena like occupy wall street and the causes of unemployment are manifold. congress’s susceptibility to lobbyist influence is a major problem but it’s really not the main problem.

the reality is that these are hard times and americans are simply not used to hard times. i wouldn’t read too much into it.