Battleangel

Thomas Friedman hits his head, writes something useful, seems to espouse Obama. Nearly apologizes for past warmongering, cheerleading. Close shave, Friedman, watch the mustache.

They are not only tired of nation-building in Iraq and in Afghanistan, with so little to show for it. They sense something deeper — that we’re just not that strong anymore. We’re borrowing money to shore up our banks from city-states called Dubai and Singapore.

Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore’s ultramodern airport, with free Internet portals and children’s play zones throughout. We felt, as we have before, like we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. If all Americans could compare Berlin’s luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country.

Of course, lauding Singapore of all places makes you wonder if Friedman isn’t just re-hashing his old market economy act and moving on to small, not entirely free, special case states since his beloved U.S. isn’t doing too well.

Swedish (technically French) vodka maker Absolut is running an ad campaign in Mexico that is ruffling some feathers north of the border, by showing the U.S.-Mexico as it was before the war of 1848. America is clearly showing its true colors of hate and one might wonder why exactly they get so riled up. It’s almost as if some fibre of the their being doesn’t want to remember, as if they are embarrassed of the deceitful campaign against Mexico that led up to the 1848 war.

Historically speaking, the 1848 war had its own reward for the Americans in terms of the civil war that followed in its wake. But that is also an interpretation that Americans don’t like to hear. Nor that 1848 was the definitive starting point for the series of imperialistic wars born out of the Manifest destiny that we still witness today. Some would call it ravenous.

I must admit I have given the U.S. election a little more attention than usual, even though it hasn’t been showing much in any of my journals. It is clear that at least temporarily, more Americans than usual have been awoken from their slumber. This euphoric state and thirst for change rarely lasts however, so it is literally now or never. You could argue that it is all the same who wins until you’re blue in the face, but that idea just doesn’t seem plausible. There may not be a radical difference between most candidates. But one should be wary of people who advocate a certain candidate simply based on the lack of clear differences. It may simply be an ugly tactic. As I suspect it has in this election which pits the old establishment against something that it perceives as profoundly threatening.

Given this political sobering up, we saw a great number of alternative candidates try their luck. Now they are all but gone. Ron Paul is realistically unlikely to get anywhere. Though he can be pleased with what he accomplished. He did force people to listen to dissenting ideas and was the only one that could do that, given that he used Republican air time. He showed by example the sort of massive establishment resentment and media blackout a real alternative could expect in a so called democracy. Those of his followers that were skeptical of the system before have turned downright bitter and paranoid. The democrats had Dennis Kucinich, at least for a while. Until the powers that be threatened his re-election to Congress. And on a side note, Cynthia McKinney remains a candidate for the Green party, Mike Gravel et al are representing the Libertarians and unreasonable man and perhaps last American hero, Ralph Nader, is trying his luck as an independent. Needless to say, none of these candidates, save for Paul, ever had a fair chance. But then again, Paul used the Republicans in a clever way and refused to be bullied to run as an independent for example.

So, it seems we are left with Barack Obama. Our last but perhaps not so great hope. Despite what they say he sure is no radical. He reads like a typical middle class American. He is no more linked to Islam than he is likely to put his foot down with regard to the military-industrial complex. But the mere thought of someone who is even a little bit out of alignment is getting quite a few people riled. It would seem there are those very hard at work trying to deny the voters even Obama. And not for what he has said or done but rather because of what he hasn’t said, or because of what he might not do.

We’re seeing a major counter-movement made up of the rich and the powerful in America. Insider politics-billionaires bullying elected leaders into ignoring the will of the voters, threatening to withdraw democratic funding in favor of republicans. Or propel Hillary Clinton unto the same ticket as Obama as a control mechanism for his potential presidency. Powerful lobby groups and special interests, spearheaded of course by mighty Jewish organization, are also chiming in (”As Campaign Surges, Obama Working to Quell Jewish Fears“, “Washington Post Says Jewish Advocates Demand that Obama Show ‘Fealty to Israel’“). Haartez is still running their “Israel Factor“. The irony of course is that Obama has not, at least not publicly, shown anything but unquestioning support for Israel. There is ample reason to think that he knows better, but when faced with the Lobby, now and after a possible election, there is no reason to think that there will be anything but business as usual. That of course is the problem. For the Lobby, even the usual preferential treatment isn’t good enough anymore. As one forthcoming religious Zionist notes:

But most important, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And Obama’s enemies within the Jewish camp — the liberal-hawk-neocon-chorus of zealots who advocate policies that destroy the Jewish state morally and physically, while they celebrate their tough-Jew mafia morality — over here in the diaspora, of course — are getting nervous about Obama. It’s not that they don’t want to go on record blasting the first serious African-American contender for president — they abandoned all appearances of concern for social justice in favor of ethnic loyalty a long time ago. It’s that they have to view anybody who considers the Palestinians to be human as an existential threat to the State of Israel. That is why they go after Jimmy Carter, who did more for the State of Israel than the world Jewish community ever did […] Look how the rightwing Jews went after Condi Rice for daring to compare the Israeli treatment of Palestinians with Southern discrimination against blacks (the Palestinians should be so lucky.)

Another possible problem with Obama of course is that he doesn’t have any experience with the Lobby. He treats them as any other organization, talking to them as if they were normal people open for debate and an exchange of ideas. He is talking about them, as opposed to allowing them to remain a cloak and dagger force in American politics. If there is one thing the Lobby can’t stand it is the light of day. After all, there would be less to fear for those that defy its wishes.

The real presidential election is gearing up to be the same old fire sale democracy-wise, while the elites wipe their arses with the vote of the people.