[Fwd: [Marxism] A letter from Barack Obama]

[Hein van Meeteren]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Mark, zoals je weet was ik vorige week in Florida, en behalve de
noodzakeliijke bezoeken aan alle Disneyworlds en Aquatica's heb ik ook
met veel mensen gesproken.  Ik liep met een Obama T-shirt alvast wat te
campaignen, vrijwillig, haha, en ik heb veel mensen gesproken. De teneur
bij de meeste Obama aanhangers was dit: ik heb in de primaries voor hem
gekozen, maar ik moet eerst nog zien wat hij waar gaat maken. Hij is te
vaag, te lyrisch, te abstract.
Ik kan me daar dus veel bij voorstellen, bij die kritiek. Obama zou echt
moeten beginnen met superconcreet worden, concrete en begrote plannen
indienen, met beleidsconsequenties en financiële onderbouwing. Want de
angst die ik hoorde was ook: ja, dat gaat mij belasting kosten, en ik
betaal al zoveel en krijg al zo weinig.
Je weet, ik ben een groot supporter van onze Barack,  maar dat betekent
niet dat ik klakkeloos geloof wat hij zegt. Neem het
gezondheidszorg-stelsel in de US, quod non, wat is hij van plan? Hij wil
het bereikbaar maken voor "every citizen" (bravo) maar HOE? Wie betaalt
het systeem?

Als links, zelf Chomsky aanhangers, naar Barack overstappen, wat hebben
ze dan concreet voor ogen? Heb jij daar kijk op?



Mark Giebels schreef:
> Hein, overal om me heen zie ik intellectuele left-wing Amerikanen
> enthousiast worden over Obama. Boekenkasten vol met Noam Chomsky,
> Naomi Wolfe, etc. Ze hadden de Amerikaanse politiek opgegeven. Maar
> vol hoop na de Primary winst tegen het Clinton machtsblok in de
> Democratic Party, gelooft men er nu ook echt even (?) in, dat
> verandering in Washington mogelijk kan zijn.
>
> Terecvht of niet, je kunt je de frustratie van het politieke
> machtsblok op links voorstellen.... Alle supporters lopen weg naar
> Obama. Deze email geeft dat uitstekend weer. Dank Antid.
>
> Veel van de discussies om me heen gaan trouwens over de vraag of Obama
> een eendagsvlieg is, of dat structurele verandering mogelijk is of
> zelfs onoverkomelijk vanwege een nieuwe generatie Amerikanen die de
> macht langszaam gaat overnemen. We'll see. Maar hoe het ook zal
> aflopen, in ieder geval zal progressief en Links Amerika niet meer
> hetzelfde zijn na Obama. Het zijn interessante tijden hier.
>
> Groeten,
> Mark Giebels
>
> On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 2:36 AM, Hein van Meeteren <heinwvm at chello.nl> wrote:
>
>> REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
>>
>> Wat een hoax.
>>
>> Antid Oto schreef:
>>
>>> REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
>>>
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject:     [Marxism] A letter from Barack Obama
>>> Date:     Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:39:35 -0400
>>> From:     Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com>
>>> Reply-To:     Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
>>> <marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu>
>>> To:     aorta <aorta at home.nl>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> John Halle, who teaches music at Bard College and has been active
>>> with the Green Party, forwarded me a letter he received recently from
>>> the Democratic Party hopeful:
>>>
>>> Dear friends on the left,
>>>
>>> Hobgoblins, small minds and stupid consistency go together, as Locke
>>> reminded us, so I suppose it shouldn't have come as a surprise that a
>>> cast of
>>> <http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080818/open_letter>"progressive
>>> leaders" has again assembled locust-like at the waning stages of the
>>> electoral cycle to "urge me to listen to the voice of the people" and
>>> not "to retreat from the stands that have been the signature of (my)
>>> campaign."
>>>
>>> You then proceed to itemize some of "the core commitments shared by
>>> many who have supported your campaign " and which you seem to
>>> believe-despite virtually all evidence to the contrary- are shared by me.
>>>
>>> The left has never been much for realism-though here the rose colored
>>> perceptions have a strikingly hallucinogenic character.
>>>
>>> For example, I am claimed to have professed a commitment to
>>> "universal health care."  May I remind you that even in the primary
>>> debates, where one might have expected some attention to the
>>> grassroots base of the party, I explicitly and boldly rejected
>>> universal health care.  The latter was associated with my opponent
>>> Mrs. Clinton and while neither of us has any intention of addressing
>>> the root of the health care crisis, namely the for-profit health care
>>> insurance industry which has funded both of our campaigns lavishly,
>>> my "solution" as Paul Krugman noted at the time was well to the right
>>> of that of the DLC's initial choice of candidate.
>>>
>>> It does not escape my notice, incidentally, that your communiqué
>>> fails to even mention the health care delivery system which you, and
>>> most americans for that matter, support, namely single payer. I take
>>> this as a validation of what is perhaps the primary function of my
>>> campaign: to extract from the realm of the possible and consign to
>>> the realm of the unthinkable and the unutterable what is for most of
>>> the civilized world economic common sense and common moral
>>> decency.  I am happy to report that your letter is a strong
>>> indication of my success in having achieved this transformation, one
>>> which,
>>>
>>> <http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=697&Itemid=34>as
>>> Adolph Reed has written, amounts to nothing less than the functional
>>> eradication of the left.
>>>
>>> Thus, to take another indication, while you have yet to notice it, so
>>> too into the Orwellian memory hole has gone the hope that our nation
>>> will "shed its warlike stance around the globe and focus on
>>> diplomacy" as a means of resolving conflicts.  Allow me to direct you
>>> to my website where I call for 92,000 new troops, the redeployment of
>>> those soldiers removed from Iraq to an intensified conflict in
>>> Afghanistan-and possibly Pakistan.  Also included in most of my
>>> recent foreign policy addresses are calls for unilateral action
>>> against governments suspected of support for terrorism not to mention
>>> my repeated threats against Iran and Venezuela.
>>>
>>> Also consigned to the realm of far-left fantasy is "an environmental
>>> policy that transforms the economy by shifting billions of dollars
>>> from the consumption of fossil fuels to alternative energy
>>> sources".  In his previous capacity as chief lobbyist for energy
>>> giant Exelon, my campaign manager David Axelrod has spoken eloquently
>>> of the need to ramp up the construction of nuclear power
>>> plants.  That's what I mean by "alternative" and please rest assured
>>> that Mr. Axelrod will serve as a strong voice for this "alternative"
>>> in my administration. i will also invest in "alternative energy"
>>> through continuing subsidies to corn based ethanol insodoing securing
>>> payback to the farm behemoth Archer Daniels Midland for having
>>> bankrolled my campaign at the crucial initial stages.   Another
>>> "alternative energy source" embraced by me is "clean coal" and the
>>> industry which helped me ascend to the first rungs of the political
>>> ladder in Illinois.
>>>
>>> I suggest that you keep the just mentioned facts in mind in
>>> considering the likelihood of my  "reform(ing) of the political
>>> process that reduces the influence of money and corporate lobbyists
>>> and amplifies the voices of ordinary people" as well as the
>>> likelihood of "an ongoing and constructive dialogue with (me) when (I
>>> am) elected President."
>>>
>>> And then you wake up, as my wife likes to say.
>>>
>>> And when you do wake up, you will realize that you are left with one
>>> option: "challenging" me.  But please bear in mind that with the new
>>> surveillance capacities which I authorized as Senator and which will
>>> be available to me as President, challenging the executive branch is
>>> no longer the fun and games it was in the past.  I have, of course,
>>> no intention of revealing sources and methods, but for the moment
>>> let's just say that I know what you had for breakfast this morning.
>>>
>>> That said, you may rest assured it is quite unlikely that I will need
>>> to exercise these powers for any purposes beyond my own personal
>>> amusement.
>>>
>>> For indeed I, and the corporate executives, white shoe law firms, big
>>> money lobbyists and their numerous apologists are in your debt for
>>> having led so many leftists into the abattoir which is my campaign.
>>> The movement which only a few years ago assembled millions in the
>>> streets of Manhattan, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and other
>>> cities is in shambles-unable to organize a gathering beyond a few old
>>> timers at a street corner, let alone the kind of action which might
>>> actually cause me and my base to take notice.
>>>
>>> There is no need for a howitzer when the tiniest fly swatter will do
>>> quite nicely against the political force which you now represent.
>>>
>>> And so in conclusion allow me to cite the deathless interrogatory of
>>> Clint Eastwood which applies not just to my campaign but which is
>>> routinely appealed to, consciously or not, by all politicians of any
>>> stripe:
>>>
>>> "What are you going to do about it, Punk?"
>>>
>>> Given that, for the past generation, you have repeatedly hoisted the
>>> white flag before the battle even began, the smart money is on your
>>> doing absolutely nothing.
>>>
>>> Warmest Regards,
>>>
>>> Barack
>>>
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>
>

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