btw, i think ive read enough of boyarsky to form an opinion about his world view.  i wouldnt exactly say that it lines up with mine.

how about how the speech is intentionally worded to be as ambiguous and as “all things to all people,” as possible.

everyone crowing about the exodus of bushco. but the O admin. intends to run a perpetual campaign as well.  that much seems self evident to me.

the hawkish rhetorical flourishes were particularly repugnant.  everyone was in a tizzy about a the absence of the war on terror phrase, which was quickly reincorporated into a subsequent speech, but “vast network of violence and hatred?”  please

spiritgirl—I agree. But, wouldnt it help alot if some of the people in power agreed, also? The way both parties locked down power at their conventions and at the debates, etc, is not a good omen that just rolling up your sleeves will do anything, except perhaps locally.

I was going to go with moveon.org to the polls again. But, you had to be 100% Obama. I was not and was not going to pretend I was.
So Obama supporters can “reach out” to George Will, but not a Nader (or other) supporter? Thats just stupid.

Folk, is right, if we dont find some way to pull it all together, they will just beat us down. First, we have to make them give a damn about the guy working in the gas station (I have many friedns like that—they used to work at GM). That would mean taking the rich, powerful interests out, which mean taking the money out.

We could start by taking the business tax cuts out of the so-oalled stimulus.

I DO get that we are letting criminals go free. I dont like it one fricking bit! But, everytime I have called for justice, people say that it is “revenge” or that we must “move on”. Bullshit.

No, we’re nto wrong, Spiritgirl, you ARE naive.  But there are much worse things to be, and you have a lot of spirit.  An individual trying to make effective political actions by herself is hopeless.  It is necessary to develop a united movement that encompass the progressive issues and values that can effect historical change.

this means that we have to agree not only on values and issues, but on the means to implement them.  Forming such a movment in the US is very diffiuclt where the population has been indoctrinated with the ntion that politics is what happens between the Dems and Gops and is implemented by voting.  Since the ruling power structure owns the Dem-Gops and controls the electoral system, other means must be agreed upon.

Not easy to do.  The first historical step is to challenge nainve politicals like yourself to develop more sophiscated historical approaches to the power process.  That in iself is very difficult but essential. Americans do not realize how massively they have been deluded historically.  It is therefore necessary to restore the distrust of the American people in their religious, political and intellectual leaders.

I think that many may believe me to be naive, you would be wrong.  I think that as Americans, there are many that have forgotten what democracy is - it is a government for the people, by the people, and of the people.  This country was founded by people that had experienced the vagaries of Monarchy - with all that that implies.  For the last 8 years we have lived through the vagaries of an incompetent, bullying, savant - that has proved exactly how little he cares about not just this nation, but we the people - with tax cuts for the rich, tax cuts for the biggest businesses, turning a government surplus into a severe deficit, shredding the constitution and the goodwill of the rest of the world, fiddling as New Orleans drowned, installing incompetents into offices that they had no business being in, simply because they were “loyal to him”!  WTF!

Exactly, when are some of you going to wake up and realize that what W. did do was not just immoral, but illegal!  And yes, to be in a democracy is to participate, not just by voting, but by demanding and holding “our representatives” collective feet to the fire!  Do I believe that President Obama can do this by himself - NO!  Do I think that maybe, just maybe he is challenging us, to empower ourselves, to look beyond the very narrow boxes that we have been living in and go beyond them.  I for one am mad as hell that the very laws that “WE” must all live by have not only been shredded by the very top, but that “we the people” are paying the price, that we have allowed ourselves to become so divided by soooo many fluff issues, and dumbed down to the point where many cannot or will not think for themselves!

I challenge everyone on this post to start to think about the real life issues: health-care - doesn’t the gas station attendants kid deserve to see a doctor, or energy - don’t we owe our kids cleaner air and water, don’t the coal miners deserve safe working conditions, doesn’t someone that works minimum wage deserve to make a live-able wage, why do you believe that corporations that off-shore jobs need to receive better tax breaks than the working Joe’s and Jane’s, can we not educate our children from K-12, and can college be affordable!!!??

Pick your issue and start to get busy - read, organize, and then start writing your letters, go to the community meetings - AND RAISE H—-!!!

Whoops, cancel that about Obama not pursuing the fanatical anti-Russianism of his mentor Zbig.  We’ll have to wait and see.  Geither, his Zionist neoliberal Treasurer just came out for a trade war with China, an idea so demented that its time may have come.

Geither stated that China has been rigging its currency.  This is quite true, and is the basis for its trade surplus and the Western capitalist investment in its economy.  It has appreciated the yuan about 20% but it is still undervalied by a factor of four or five relative to the dollar.  Therefore US pressure to appreciate it is perfectly understandable.

But publically proclaiming the US position and fanning discontent is insane.  China owns two trillion dollars worth of American bonds and should it decide to start selling, or even to stop buying, the US economy will suffer the consequences of massive inflation, because the US will have to start printing money.

If Obama is going to talk tough to the Chinese in public, he obviously has no sense whatever.  This is WORSE than the Bushites. Obama has appointed a tax cheat to head the IRS, while he talks about moral authority and transparancy, what we have come to expect of the US power system decay.  But apparently Obama is not only cotinuing Bushite policies, he is expanding them, going boldly where no president has gone before.  This is worse than expected of a fresh public relations con.

White doing what is right, January 22 at 7:51 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

....
Just to burst your bubble more people watched President Reagan take the oath then did Obama.
look it up.
*********************************************

Just in: CNN, MSNBC and Yahoo had 30,000,000 viewers of the inauguration on-line.  Add that to the 38,000,000 TV viewers and it’s greater than 50% more than watched Reagan’s inaugural in 1981.

Plus there weren’t 2,000,000 on the Mall for it.

Hollywood Russ-Sure, I’ll “chill” when people in my neighborhod stop moving out due to foreclosure, and, they stop switching my primary dr on medicaid.

Then maybe i can relax!

White Guy—Keep it up…you will please the Magic Man followers here, because people like you make me ashamedd to be white. Please use another name.

I listeded to the song that the sermon came from last night—it sounds alot better in song, and takes on a whole new meaning. That preacher shouldve let someone sing it.

White doing what is right, January 22 at 7:51 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Just to burst your bubble more people watched President Reagan take the oath then did Obama.
look it up.
***********************************

I was just waiting for some right-winger to bring that up. Factoid: You couldn’t watch it on the Internet in 1981 as you can in 2008—you HAD to watch it on TV—and those are the only numbers they counted.

They didn’t count among the “watchers” the tens of millions people who watched via internet on CNN.com’s link to YouTube or MSNBC’s similar link, so many it clogged up BOTH links.

Hate to burst YOUR bubble!

Wake up you guys! We just shed ourselves of the worst president in this nation’s history! Can’t you chill for two minutes and drink in how great that is! No more “quaint” torture methods that make our country resemble the Soviet Union, rather than the U.S. Once again we can be a beacon of hope for the world. And the fact that Obama called ALL of the leaders, including the titular leader of the Palestinians, in the greater Isreali area proves that he wants to be part of the peace process. My only hope/worst fear at this point is that they reach a Northern Ireland-like level of peace. Maybe that’s why they sent Tony Blair over there?

Yeah, Anarcissie, I did forget about Somolia.  And Zbig is an old mentor of Obama whose whole career is based on Polish anti-Russian.  But I don’t think even Obama will pursue the insane anti-Russian militarism of Cheney and Bush.

But I disagree about the rhetoric of ambigous mush that Obama dispenses in the usual Dem way.  It has an effect.  Look at Spiritgirl below; she identifies with what she thinks it means and there are many like her.  Many political groupies are actually moved emotionally by the rhetorical mush, it being highly Patriotic and all, like the war Flag.  It seeps into the brain cells of America, to justify whatever policies ruling class power promotes.

Using the mush to transition over to Responsibility rather than Hope n Change eases the transition to the same old shit.

“Obama’s analysis of what’s wrong was correct: “Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.””  And none of that happened in a vacuum!  How you ask, too many believing the “cultural hype” - government is bad, rugged individualism, do it yourself, ownership society, and yes, religion- in which people learn to become sheep and follow the herd!

No, Mr. President, can not do it alone; it is past time that we the people remember those civics lessons regarding our collective responsibility not just himself/herself but to society and the nation as a whole!  Yes, President Obama, can roll back the most egregious of the Bushite policies, but, until and unless we as citizens of this nation start demanding accountability and responsibility from the individuals that we continue to put into office, then as a society we have gained nothing!

Many things were said on the campaign trail, and those things will only be accomplished when we all come together to work for the common good!

Folktruther:
‘In the new slogan, the Era of Responsibility has replaced Hope n Change. ...’

I thought the speech was rather perfunctory.  I don’t think there is much to be gotten out of it.  It rather reminded me of Kennedy, threatening “our” enemies as usual, assuring “our” friends as usual, and ordering the hapless folk to “Ask not what your country can do for you….” which was a little bit more bald than usual.

Incidentally, there are more than three wars going on in which the U.S. is involved.  Don’t forget Somalia.  And there is a big possibility coming up, when Putin starts to deal with the crazed American adventure of thrusting NATO into Ukraine.  The air is thick with chickens coming home to roost.

Ironically, the great fact of Obama is not the actuality of his person or his plans but the election of his image.  Many millions of Americans broke with tradition to for someone nominally of the Black caste and of nonstandard background, and they thought they were voting for peace and freedom, not more of the same.  The forces that brought about that election result may yet go on the loose.  But whether they do or not, I think we can forget about the Kennedyesque gestures.

“President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech was” pure pablum. Just a jumble of empty phrases utterly devoid of any specifics, the dreary anticlimax to a deceitful campaign, full of facile rhetoric and vague promises designed to mislead the gullible percentage of the electorate. “Obama’s analysis of what’s wrong was” backwards, as usual: “Our nation is at war” again - in another savage display of our “far-reaching network of violence and hatred”. “Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some” of the members of his own administration, as well as many of his biggest patrons and donors. “The state of the economy calls for” ...bailouts “bold and swift, and we will act”. “Not only to create new” corporate welfare “but to lay a new foundation for” the transfer of public wealth to private coffers. We will “wield technology’s wonders to raise” pharmaceutical and insurance companies profits and avoid universal single-payer health care. “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories” - to subsidize automakers and offshore factories and sweatshops. “And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age” of imperial world order. ”This was the part that tells us, however obliquely, how we can serve” corporate interests. “Building roads, bridges, electric grids and digital lines usually falls” out of “the hands of pork-barreling” federal politicians “and corporate lobbyists who pay off these elected officials with campaign contributions.” - like high-roller Obama who refused public funding and spent more money to buy the Oval Office (almost $1 B) than anyone in history. “This is not big news to ground-level activists who have tried to fight” Barack’s bullcrap. “But it may be news to those of you who have spent the last eight years on the less tedious jobs of waging culture wars and cursing George Bush”. “You grass-roots Obama folks from the presidential campaign know what I’m talking about” - many of you wisely dropped out earlier when you saw what was coming. “Yes, we can restore science to its rightful place, as Obama said.  Here’s what you can do about it. Work to defeat those” Democrats that want to fund lavish new military R & D and hand the results of other publically funded programs over to private corporations to profit from.  Withhold parts of your taxes that support harmful policies like military spending and aid to Israel.  “And don’t” listen to zionists like Boyarsky “whine about it.” “Throw out the politicians who are starving” Gaza and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and more. “As Obama said, ‘… our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow [AIPAC] interests and putting off unpleasant decisions—that time has surely passed’”  “Yet there’s more to rebuilding America. Obama must” not simply redeploy troops in Iraq, or relinquish “constitutional rights” by supporting FISA warrantless wiretapping and “figure out a way of avoiding” his campaign promise to double troop levels in the “Afghanistan quagmire”. “And he must tackle the complex interaction between race and” foreign policy. “People of” Arab race ” are bearing a heavier burden of the” foreign policy conduct than Jews. “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were” not signing a promissory note to which every American president “was to fall heir.” “This note was” not a promise that Israel would be granted rights and privleges and exemptions that no other nation would enjoy. “It is obvious today that America” is at fault in creating the Jewish State’s “promissory note insofar as her [goy] citizens [and Palestinians] are concerned.” “The note is still due”  and discarding it “is another huge task for President Obama and the rest of the country.”

The stock mkt goes up , the stock mkt goes down….if you are middle class and still in the stock mkt, you must be an idiot. That is my opinion. The uS stock mkt, anyway…go somehwere where it is more stable..

“Obama’s analysis of what’s wrong was correct: “Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.”

Wrong on both counts—-we’re hitting strike level here..who is the “far-reaching network”
?? Last night, someone on here said, “maybe he meant here at home”...wha???? The economy is tanking because 1) capitalism (especialy unregulated) doesnt work, and, 2)because the “liberal Dems” refuse to regulate so they can collect more campaign donations from the rich

“Pay more taxes to support your state universities, community colleges, high schools and grade schools”

Obama is not asking for more taxes—he is proposing more CUTS! What, will the rich just volunteer to pay extra taxes to schools? If you want to support the public school system—stop the “faith based initiatives” and charter schools! The are unconstitutional

“You grass-roots Obama folks from the presidential campaign know what I’m talking about. Keep it up”

This must be “Obama-speak”...can anyone break the code? It is good to know that Obama supporters will be doing all of this! So inclusive!

REVERSE THE BUSH TAX CUTS!!! Until we do that, every other program is designated for failure. We cannot afford any of the social programs, the Chinese govt is sick of buying up out debt (Japan has even taken action on it), and, although I think it is Vietnam with Sand, we cannot afford to “keep troops in the Middle East” without revenue. They are certainly not fighting it—why shouldnt the rich at least pay for it?!...WHY is reversing tax cuts or raising them on the rich suddenly such a “liberal buggaboo”?? Anyone who is not rich that thinks that they should stay in place, is a fool!

Yes, Shift, and $350 billion of it is earmarked for business tax cuts!!

Winona LaDuke—-one can dream,...what a breath of freedom she would be…

Ed—we could do that—but we wont. Not a word about poverty, Never. That has become the second “liberal” buggaboo, as they have become the party of corporate money.

Virginia777—where is the “racism”? Here?? What are you talking about? It is a high charge, with no evidence that I see..

“It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.”

It would be more encouraging to see the govt take up its rightful respnsibility when the levees break! It would be more encouragin to see the job mkt expand, so all who wanted to work could. He is asking the wrong people for sacrifice…the middle class is practically gone.

It has not been “ccollective bad decisions”!! I dont reacall that this neighborhood made any at all! The “bad decision” we make is to think that we can continue in the “market” anymore, that our “lifestyles” dont have to change(hasnt yours already , people?),that we can continue this “war on terror” con job, and survive at all, as a country!

In the new slogan, the Era of Responsibility has replaced Hope n Change.  The usual progressive solution to the current post-Bushite regime would be cutting the military, stopping the wars, taxing the rich, nationalizing the banks, and providing increased people expenditures so people have money to buy goods.

But Obama can’t do that.  He must continue the wars, of which there are now three rather than two, to maintain the credibility of the US power system. He can’t tax the rich because the wars were meant to distract the population from the enormous class inequality that was promoted under Clinton and Bush.  this class inequality can’t be decreased without increasing the security and thus militancy of the working class.

So the Era of Responsiblity continues Bushite policies of war, poverty and a police state to prevent protest.  Obama was ushered in to office on the Gaza war, and his first act as president was to Israel and the puppet Egyptian and Jordon regiemes to continue it.

Next, a ‘bargain with the American people’ to gut social security and medicare, the Dem equivilent of the GOP Contract with America.  This while promoting a huge bailout swindle for the banks.

I wonder how long Americans will put up with Obama bullshit before we revolt.  Even truthers like Virginia who believe in Santy Claus, must sooner or later underdstand that the American people are being swindled.  But apparently later rather than sooner.

Like Tashunka Witko, “Crazy Horse,” said to the U.S. soldier who was stabbing him in the back and the “Agency Police” who were holding him still for it, “Stop now.  You have hurt me enough.”  This old free wild Savage will not presume to “speak” here for “nativeamericans,” not being Personally any kind of “american” at all, but us surviving Turtle Island Natives have long since enjoyed all the U.S. government “help” we can stand….thank you very much anyway, Aafje.

On the other hand, theamericanpeople’s new president could sure use some Native Guidance if he really means to “lead” them out of the self-inflicted “dire” predicament they’re all in together.  He could have it, too, just for the asking.  But what’re the odds of that?

Hokahey!

Hey, Boyarsy -

I got some great ideas on how we can free up a bunch of money to fix the economy.

How about we stop all support for Israel, for a start. Then, we pull out of Iraq much faster than Israel wants, not even leaving a residual force to protect “the region”, (i.e., Israel’s ass).

We also make a mutual non-aggression pact with Iran - guaranteeing that we will never attack them unless they attack us first. We endorse Iran’s NPT right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, under UN inspections. Then we make a similar agreement with Syria. We also stop defending Israel at the United Nations — for example, stop vetoing resolutions that Israel doesn’t like.

All this would save us a hell of a lot of money. The reduction in world hostility toward the US would decrease our security costs dramatically. No longer maintaining troops in Iraq to protect Israel and position us for war against Iran for Israel’s benefit would signal to the world that we’re not going to start World War III right in the middle of the worlds main oil fields. Fuel prices and oil tanker insurance costs would fall dramatically. Gas prices would come way down, as would the cost of living in general.

Obama said, “Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.”

This statement “collective failure to make hard choices” makes me nervous. I the last thirty years “hard choices” have usually involved cutting social programs or entitlements. For example welfare reform, cuts in education spending, a call to reform social security, cuts and/or delays in healthcare spending& reforms, and so forth.

Now if Obama means “hard choices” such as restoring taxes on the corporations and the very wealthy, along with cuts in defense spending, giving us universal/national health care, ensuring the continued existence of a robust social security system; then I’m all for these “hard choices”. But, this is not the usual context the phrase “hard choices” is used in. Hard choices is usually a code word for cuts in spending social programs or entitlements.

Considering in the very sentence before he used the “phrase at war” probably means he’s not going to cut defense spending. I hope I’m wrong.

Also, I’m tired of the phrase “collective failure”. This failure has not been collective. A lot of people have been making Hard Choices for along time. Choices to go with out healthcare, working at low wages, working well into retirement, taking out student loans for education, the list could go on. Some have benefited from the last thirty years of economic/government fiscal policy, but many have not. The people that have not benefited have not reaped the rewards, and furthermore had no part in formulating the disastrous policies. So, please Obama be careful how you use this word collective.

re: By Virginia777, January 21 at 9:16 am:

Who is the AIPAC robot?

to Ed Harges:

no, Mr. Boyarsky has written a beautiful essay here - and importantly, he has “got” some of the main points of the importance of the Obama victory (something, sadly, lost on some of the best Liberals).

We much applaud him for this! this shows that there is hope here.

and to Gulam:

“Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.”

It is!! on the Internet. Verbal violence, open racism and extremism on the Internet is at an all-time high, and has its right-wing “fingers” deep into our media “pie”.

It’s a shame that the Reverand Lowry’s comments at the inauguration were so carefully scripted by Obama’s staff.  His unscripted eulogy at Coretta Scott King’s funeral sounded a little like Rev Wright with a sense of humor.  democracynow played excerpts of his eulogy for Mrs King yesterday.

This article, if you can call it that; is a load of bollocks!
Most of the posters here got it right. My God people, he’s not the second coming. Keep your guard up.

eileen fleming got it right!!!

re: By royf, January 20 at 10:03 pm:

I think there’s a lot of merit to royf’s assessment. Isn’t it absurd that we have a crisis because people at the bottom can’t pay their debts, and so the government is giving zillions to the wealthy, hoping the wealthy will turn around and lend it to those same people who can’t pay their debts? And we’re not even requiring that the bankers lend this money, only hoping that they will?

That’s insane! As long as we’re giving away zillions of dollars, let’s give it directly to the people at the bottom and tell them that they must use it to pay off their debts. Why can’t we do that?

Healthy democracies thrive on dissent and require an actively engaged citizenry.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights…to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.” -July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence

“We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time…Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: Too late….We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation.”-MLK

Do Something:

http://www.endtheoccupation.org/

http://www.wearewideawake.org

“Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.”

This is a lie. We have not had youth football stadiums in Iowa bombed. We have not had our Rose Bowl Parade attacked. In fact we have had only a very few incidents, considering the size of the target, American provocations and vulnerability, very very few indeed, and the biggest attack of all has never been properly investigated. We simply created boogey men for the purposes of creating the hysteria needed to push forward the police state. The world of Islam is a sleepy industrial backwater still, but they sustain healthy, sane populations with less, and learning to live well with less is what we need to do. We have intentionally created an enemy out of peoples who thought well of us, and we have let the Zionists, military suppliers, and feminists do this to us and the Muslims to advance their own personal agendas.

To my surprise there was no reference in his speech to native Americans. Of course Afghanistan and the conflict between Israel and the Palestines will serve as the proverbial ‘litmus tests’ for Obama. But even more so, I would say his achievements at the homefront should aim at substantial betterment for indigenous Americans.
My recommendation as successor to Obama: Winona LaDuke for next President!
http://standplaatsamsterdam.blogspot.com/2009/01/obama-new-beginning-for-all-i-nominate.html

Nice to see some folks awake to reality.

For a first step to a redistribution of wealth, might I suggest a new “Homestead Act”?

If millions of properties will be foreclosed upon, and the banks holding those notes will collapse, why not nationalize those banks and then GIVE THE PROPERTIES AWAY?

I agree with you Royf.  The Obama plan to inject eight hundred billion into the economy will simply burn brightly for a while and then slowly cool.  The idea of jump starting the economy will work only if there is additional fuel to keep it going.  That is precisely the problem, the working class has been stripped of it’s disposable income and cannot keep the economy going.  The only way that I can see that the economy will improve is with a massive transfer of wealth through radical tax policy, from the rich to the working people.  The wealthy lobbied congress (bought their votes) to enable the accumulation of wealth at the top.  So, working people should not feel bad about regaining a more fair share of the wealth.  I believe that ultimately that will be the only way out.

This article is an outrage, along with Obama’s speech.  The non-rich have been the ones sacrificing for the past 8 years, indeed the past 28 years since Reagan came to power, as trillions of dollars have been transferred from them to the super-rich. The non-rich should not sacrifice, the super-rich should, for a change.  The non-rich should not pay any more taxes for schools, the super-rich should, for a change.

In fact, this depression we are entering was caused by that massive upward redistribution of wealth, so that the non-rich have less money to spend.  It was held off until now by having the non-rich go steadily into more debt to continue spending at the same level as before, but the crash finally came because that cannot go on forever.  Therefore, the only way to cure this depression is for that wealth to be transferred back downward.

Oh, gee, Boyarsky. You’re such a fan of Dr. King, such a champion of ethnic equality!

Surely you look forward to the day your precious Israel elects its first Arab or Muslim prime minister, right ?

What? You don’t?

Oh that’s, right - the Holy State has a special exemption, in this as in all other matters.

Why don’t you go choose yourself, and leave essays about equality to people who have some credibility on the subject.