I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen the Obama “Hope” image in a while. A few months ago, it was ubiquitous. And you don’t see many people in Obama t-shirts any more. The reality of Obama’s administration has begun to set in: most of Obama’s policies are not going to be significantly different from Bush’s. Certainly not with regard to the economy; Obama has continued Bush’s policy of giving trillions of dollars to the banks. What’s more, all the screaming and yelling of the tea baggers can’t conceal the fact that Obama’s health care plan really is a terrible plan. The Huffington Post, that nexus of liberal opinion, has said that the plan would be a “windfall” for the insurance companies. These parasitical entities that have caused so much suffering will benefit much more than the American people possibly will. As for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities, that is simply the fulfillment of an agreement that the Bush administration made with the Iraqi government last year. (Reports are that violence has decreased since. This suggests that we on the left were right in arguing that the occupation has been fueling the violence.)
Those who saw Obama as the “peace” candidate must be scratching their heads right now. It can be argued that Obama is actually more hawkish than Bush. Obama has escalated the war in Afghanistan – something that Bush refused to do. Earlier this summer Obama sent Joe Biden to Ukraine and Georgia, where he made shockingly inflammatory statements. He endorsed Georgia’s bogus claims to Abkhazia and South Ossetia and taunted the Russians. He followed Bush’s line in calling for granting NATO membership to Georgia. This would mean that the next time the Georgians decide to start a war with Russia, we would be obligated to defend them.
Won’t that be fun?
This really shouldn’t surprise us. JFK turned out to be more hawkish than Eisenhower, authorizing the Bay of Pigs invasion and deepening US involvement in Vietnam. Bill Clinton actually carried out more interventions than Reagan and Bush the Elder. It can be argued that, when it comes to foreign policy, liberals are potentially more dangerous than the right. The conservatives have no illusions as to what imperialism is about. Liberals, however, want to believe that they really are bringing enlightenment to the world.
The Spanish Prisoner 
September 2, 2009 at 8:14 pm |
I always suspected Obama was hostile to healthcare reform, by looking at his University of Chicago (Friedman) economic advisors, during his campaign.
September 5, 2009 at 10:27 am |
Having Friedman’s advisors still hanging around speaks volumes. I’m still reeling after reading The Shock Doctrine.