Obama: Agent of Change? Well, Agent of Somethin’

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says — and he should know — there is no difference between the policy of “absolute support” for Israel between Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Obama’s own spokesman Robert Gibbs affirmed that, as under Bush, “all options remain on the table” with regard to Iran.

A recent executive order from the new president allows the CIA to continue to operate its “safe houses” — possibly a torture loophole.

Even President Obama’s massive stimulus plan continues the print-and-spend insanity preferred by the former administration.

And depending on whom you ask, Obama might want to ramp up military activity in Afghanistan — one area where Bush’s policy wasn’t quite forceful enough for the new president.

Don’t forget Obama’s new Homeland Security appointment of a “cybercrimes expert” as general counsel. You know, instead of abolishing Bush’s gargantuan Homeland Security bureaucracy altogether.

So aside from closing Guantánamo Bay in an extremely literal sense — after all, many of the detainees will remain such — what “change” have we witnessed thus far?

6 thoughts on “Obama: Agent of Change? Well, Agent of Somethin’”

  1. He’s got a “D” after his name and has black skin rather than white. Other than that, it’s more of the same.

  2. The United States isn’t going to “change” the errors of its ways (its meddlesome foreign policy, fishing in troubled waters, interfering in other countries and areas of the world) until it is FORCED to. This could be in the form of an collapse of the American economy, or a truly shattering strategic defeat. Something that would make Iraq, or even Vietnam, look piddling in comparison.

    1. Yes, how about this scenario:

      Russia and Core Europe, i.e Germany/France/Italy get into a real union, together with China :-|

      NATO is dissolved.

      US intervenes military, in alliance with group-of-6-US-tool-object/states (Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova etc.) engage into the real war with R/E/C-Union.

      US looses.

      So, is that the kind of staggering event you have in mind?

      I hope not :-)

  3. Anyone who still seriously believes that a way out of our economic and foreign policy crises can be found through parliamentary means simply hasn’t lived long enough. We’ve stepped off the ledge and are hurtling inexorably into the abyss. Only when sufficient pain has been experienced will it be that Americans will be moved to the only solution with any real promise: Direct action. The structures grounding American goverment are both wholly corrupt and irremediable. For there to be lasting improvement they must be set aside utterly.

    1. John, when I was a young man, I came to the opposite conclusion, that revolution through “direct action” was impossible in a democratic society because if ever the people became sufficiently discontent, they would simply vote the bums out. Of course, at the time (late ’60s), I thought the US was democratic. Of course, a necessary condition for true democracy is a free and open press (media in general) and ballot access.

      Perhaps I was just naive as a young man, or perhaps our political system has become far less democratic in the last 40 years. Perhaps it’s a little of both, but I’m coming back around to your view. Here’s an interesting site: http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/index.html

      It’s often stated that a major reason Roosevelt brought in the New Deal was to prevent a socialist or communist revolution in this country. Well, judging from the above site, that “threat” was certainly not electoral. The Socialists and Communists together polled only about 2.5%. The third party votes of 1912 (Roosevelt), 1924 (LaFollette), 1968 (Wallace) and 1992 (Perot) were the only elections in the last century where a 3rd party candidate was in double digits. These weren’t exactly elections that precipitated profound political change, but 1932 was. I must conclude that bonus marchers, strikes, bank runs and the general misery of many people had a much more profound effect on Roosevelt and other politicians in 1932 than electoral politics.

      What are we seeing today? I think those voting for Obama were truly expecting huge changes, but I don’t see those changes forthcoming. Obama will not cut military spending or close overseas bases. There will be continued bank bailouts, tax cuts, deficit spending and not even a repeal of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest. Face it, there are very few Americans in truly desperate trouble, going hungry, lacking shelter etc as there were in 1932. Look at the Republicans’ stonewalling of Obama’s proposal, which was significantly modified to appease them with tax cuts. Nobody sees the urgency of the situation yet.

      One thing Obama has said is true: things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

      1. What is unrealized by most is that the economics just aren’t going to recover. All attempts by the system’s leadership to right things have focused only upon reinflating the bubble and protecting the interests of investors and those have either already failed or are certain to fail. When a never ending war in Afghanistan/Pakistan, 12% + unemployment and a Dow at 6000 sink in and with no prospect of improvement short of a wholesale re-industrialization which would require decades, people will begin to notice in earnest the disconnect that exists between themselves and both those that talk about such things on television and those that run things through television news and the usual parliamentary means. They’ll realize that they’re voting has brought them nothing, and that it never will. Its then, as their economic misery becomes manifest, that mass demonstrations and the general strike become plausible. And its then that the kind of change most hope for will become possible.

    1. Just because I’m a shape-shifting humanoid reptile doesn’t mean I don’t have at least as good of intentions as the Republicrats.

      Peace!

    2. Oh boy is that a dumb thing to believe in. But reptilian would be a good metaphor for plenty of politicians.

      1. Hey, don’t be dissing the three stooges. I always thought he was more of an Alfred E. Newman type. Republicrats unite against steriotypes! Ha,Ha.

        Peace!

  8. Under Bush Jnr, the mask slipped and the true visage of the USA was seen by many, many more than previously.

    Having applied some shiny new blackface, the beast is preening itself anew and pronouncing itself once more fit to “lead” the world; but Ablackerbomber’s support for Israel’s Gaza rampage has dashed whatever hope the naive may have retained.

  9. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says — and he should know — there is no difference between the policy of “absolute support” for Israel between Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

    Nor with any other policy in any other area. To attribute anything emanating out of the Oval Office to Obama is simply erroneous, just as was the case with Bush and all who came before. Let us not forget that Obama, like every one of his predecessors in the modern era (that being from approximately 1865 on) is a facade, a marionette, a figurehead. Not a single word out of Obama’s mouth or stroke from his pen that reaches the public is his. It’s scripted, filtered, and disseminated by the same malignant and malevolent entities that have exercised power by proxy through every president within living memory. We are certainly justified in chiding the new God-Emperor for sacrificing what little personal integrity and self-respect he might ever have had in order to be the top Establishment stooge. But to dignify him by attributing acts of office to him as his own lets the real culprits off the hook.

  11. I’m still waiting for Barry Soetoro’s birth certificate. I would also like to see the documentation that changed his name to Barack Hussein Obama, come to that the passport he travelled to Pakistan on and oops his college records …
    Open government he promised – well the above would be a start.
    Oh hang on. All is well the above is just being pernicky.
    He travelled to Israel and swore fealty before the Knesset – so that means he rules OK.
    What the hell is the American constitution – just another piece of paper you hire 5 law firms and spend a million dollars circumventing.
    Elizabeth

  12. When I was in the US air force during the mid-1960, against military regulation I was agitating against the discriminatory practices in the South through civil rights demonstations. One day I was organizing with a group of students from a nearby junior college for the march on Selma Alabama. One of the organizing groups had dispatched some white students from the prestigious Northern Universities to assist us, and one of them showed up at our meeting. He was a young white man–a freshman from Princeton, who never would reveal his age, but whom I suspected could not have been more than 18. At the ripe old age of 23 I had some reservation about a kid instruct us blacks on how we were supposed to act. One mention that particularly grabbed me, which at time I thought was weird, and it was the suggestion that we all take along a copy of the bible, and if we didn’t have a bible a solid text book with the cover wrapped over would do. On the day of the march “Princeton,”–the kid with the distinctly Jewish name which I would come to recognized as such later–showed up with another kid from “up North”, but this one was black. We were assigned a position in the rear of the line, but I was still able to get a glimpse of our esteemed leader, MLK, and his entourage of white cleric leaders up front. When the commotion started the instruction ripple down that we all were to get down on our knees in prayers. It was like magic–I was expecting a mad stampede to get out of the way but the white horse-striding state troopers only froze–literally petrified in stupefaction at what to do next. That was my first lesson in the power of mass psychology and the sheer influence of the people who pioneered it. So I was not really astounded by the way they were able to hypnotized the entire nation and put a black man, albeit a glib African, into the role of president. Whether it would accomplish the objectives they have set forth, only time will tell. John Kurius

  13. Hmmmm. Obama clearly IS an agent of something. He has put his life, and the life of his biological family on the line (most threatened of any US President) for America?

    And you? Are you an agent of something? You’ve put your life on the line for what, besides yourself and your personal interests?

    “A person is not fit to live until she knows what she would die for.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

    “This is not a day for lip service. This is a day for life service.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

  14. His life – fine
    How about his credentials to be the legal President of the USA.
    We have already seen the bizarre stuff up of the presidential oath – retaken sans bible.
    Clearly an agent for something………Interesting question.
    Elizabeth

    1. The constitution does not require the oath of office to be taken on the Bible (a.k.a. Buy-Bull).

      1. Fan Of Raimondo and Garris,

        I mean was is necessary to add the hateful and offensive a.k.a. to your comment?
        A helpful suggestion for you, filth: Bend over, reach behind and stick your religion hating into the first orifice you encounter.

        1. I suppose that’s how you interpret turning the other cheek.

          Even you don’t believe in your religion, you truth and logic hater. Were you a fan of Bush?

        2. Re: Buy-Bull. Your comment is off-base and immature.

          Everyday, we have people mocking the Koran and the resulting hatred that ensues from millions who hold it sacred. It is not sacred to me but I don’t mock it either out of respect for these people.

          Likewise, mocking the Bible serves no purpose other than to show your ignorance of the book. I am a Christian and your comment offends me.

          Atheism or Agnosticism are also religions. I wouldn’t mock your religion and you shouldn’t mock anyone elses. If you read the Bible you would find how the Apostle Paul dealt with the Greeks who were polytheistic. Paul didn’t mock them and call them names, he engaged them in a lively and honest debate.

        3. Fan Of Raimondo and Garris,

          From Bible burner to theological peritus? Remarkable!

          Oh, yes, a small add-on to my earlier recommendation: You may want to consider finding a tall building and trying self-defenestration. Why you could even give the impression that you were doing it to stay in step with the frequent practice of corporate executives in economic times as difficult as are these. And there’d be the entertainment value involved watching you try to fly, of course.

        4. The Bible is used to promote bigotry against homosexuals and to suppress science. There are Christians who want to make their religion the state religion. The Bible and all religions are fair game for scrutiny. Those who try to silence any and all criticism of religion are cowards who can’t defend their beliefs.

          I don’t have a problem with anyone’s belief in god or gods. However, the Buy-Bull is nothing but a book of ancient mythology that contains factual errors and a lot of illogic. Grow up and face it.

          By the way, neither atheism or agnosticism are religions. A religion is a set of beliefs, not the rejection of a belief.

  15. JKurius..you are wrong about “they” and this idea of the “entire” nation being hypnotized.
    Actually it seems as if the normal and sane Americans finally decided to act, Unfortunately we don’t have someone like Shi Huang ti around to correct thing. A thorough gutting of the political establishment is in order and the useless politicians on trial with those criminals that have subverted the constitution not to mention those on wall Street.
    The one vital criteria that no American President,past and now seems to have, with the exception of Washington, is one of moral courage. Until we elect someone who has, then we shall keep going in circles as we are now..

  16. Is it my imagination or does that photo of Obama bear a resemblance to a younger Bush? Could it be that Obama is some weird reincarnation of George Bush?

  17. Quite frankly, I could not care less what Hassan Nassrallah thinks of my President. Nassrallah is a radical Muslim Nazi who believes women should be kept in the kitchen making food and in the bedroom making babies and that gay people should be stoned to death and that 47 year old men should be allowed to “marry” 11 year old girls. So quite frankly, I don’t give a damn what a person like that thinks. In fact he makes me sick to my stomach. About a year ago Israel released a convicted killer who murdered a 2 year old baby by crushing her skull with the butt of a rifle. When this sub-human animal got back to Lebannon, Nasrallah and his friends threw a big welcome home party for him. These peaople make me sick and President Obabam is totally right when he said their ideas are “bankrupt.”

      1. These terrorists:

        “From its beginning, Zionism was birthed in violence. Jewish terrorists committed major atrocities against the Palestinians in the months preceding and following independence in 1948. On April 9, 1948, under orders from future Prime Minister Menachim Begin, 250 sleeping Arab men, women and children of the town of Deir Yassin were slaughtered by Zionist Irgun terrorists. Their bodies were hacked in pieces, many stuffed into a well. The International Red Cross arrived, documenting the atrocity even while the killing continued. Then the Irgun terrorists proclaimed throughout Palestine that any Arabs who remained would receive the same fate. Eight hundred thousand native Palestinians fled Israel. These innocent refugees were interned by Israel in squalid concentration camps such as Gaza and the West Bank. They still suffer there today. “

    2. Tim,
      you are bringing anything new!You keeping on repeating the same comical ,stereotypical ,bassesless statements about every Muslim resistance group and all muslims.You are like a parrot who keeps repeat frases over and over non-stop.The fact of the matter you do not give a damn about the women,childern that you so prtened to care about.And as you usual make statements without any refernces to your source of information.These tactics work well with the type of people who imbibe their information about the middle east from Fox ,or web sites such as Jihad watch,but not here.By the way what with the sily use of term Nazi that you so stuck on using?

  18. With Obama in office you can bet things are going to get worse before they get better, if ever. The Supreme Court refuses to research our claims about the citizenship of Obama, Why? then there are so many restrictions on our freedoms, and corruptions of our rights by the current government, that People are going to say: “Why didn’t someone tell us what treason was going on in our nation”. Well we’ve been telling you, and you want to believe we have laws and our government can’t lock us up in Detention Centers for demonstating our First Amendment Rights when the cops tell us, Demonstrating is an Illegal Assembly. That we have no rights. Free Speech is Hate Speech, Military type Weapons to defend us against the Government are illegal to own, that our property can be taken for the Rich anytime the government wants to let someone else us our land. That we can be detained indefinately without the rights to a trial, all the government has to say, is that we are a threat to the government. Our rights to not receive Cruel and Unusual treatment? Well don’t bet on that either, Waterboarding is OK, if you are giving, not receiving. So what are you going to do America? Just trust your government? When are you going to defend our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, our borders? Are you just waiting for someone else to do it for you? I’m here for YOU.

    1. Very well said. It’s not only about the control of the many by the few but also “the few” having no real accountability. I think repeated legal “joint actions” by groups of citizens might help to improve things. They are not being intellectually stood up to anywhere.

  19. I too have hopes for Obama; how could anyone not expect something better? The Bush Administration was absolute caca, a total plunge into hubris and incompetence and service to the worst elements of our society – the greedheads, the war mongers, the rapists of our environment, the paranoics. Given the low level of leadership in America, Obama is probably about as good as could be elected. I wish him well, although he won’t succeed. America is mentally ill as a country. We admire evil -greed on Wall Street, Zionism, militarism and disparage good – charity, humility, and tolerance. Until things get so bad that we re-examine the forces in charge of this country, any good efforts will be spitting into the wind.

    1. You are right about Obama being about as good as can be expected. The REAL PROBLEM as I see it is that there are very deeply entrenched special interest groups in America (for example the Military-industrial-congressional complex) and powerful ethnic lobbies (Cubans in Florida, AIPAC, etc) that are able to exploit the dysfunctional nature of America’s political system. The U.S. empire itself is basically functioning on auto-pilot, expanding anywhere it can until it either runs right off the cliff, (Iraq) or hits a brick wall (Russia defying the empire over Georgia for instance). Trying to change American policy with all its cumbersomeness and special interests is like trying to turn around an oil tanker – hard, and takes a lot of time and room.

      1. Media fraud (& journo ignorance) is the real problem (read, Misinformation). There is no sensible debate and the media agenda provides cover or even CAUSES the crooked political agenda. The internet is a way forward and reason for hope IF they don’t censor it.

  21. Nazism has come to stand for a belief in the superiority of an Aryan race, an abstraction of the Germanic peoples. During Hitler’s time, the Nazis advocated a strong, centralized government under the Führer and claimed to defend Germany and the German people (including those of German ethnicity abroad) against Communism and so-called Jewish subversion. Ultimately, the Nazis sought to create a largely homogeneous and autarkic ethnic state, absorbing the ideas of Pan-Germanism.
    http://www.answers.com/topic/nazism
    The modern, secular form of Zionism got its start in 1896 when Theodor Herzl wrote a small pamphlet with the title “The Jewish State.” In it Herzl described a plan for bringing the Jews of the world, scattered by the diaspora, back to their original home in Palestine where they could create a modern Jewish state.
    http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/judaism/bldef_zionism.htm

    “Zionism has declared all Jews a distinct ethnicity, just as the Nazis had declared all Germans a distinct ethnicity.
    Both Zionism and Nazism strove to build a ‘state’ that would be ‘redeemed’ through violent purification (in the case of Nazi Germany) and ‘an Iron wall’ (in the case of Zionist Israel).”
    http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/04/16/why_zionism_nazism_comparisons_are_legit

    1. As a frequent blogger named Mace Price once wrote several years ago: “If you want to read about racism, just turn to a number of chapters of the Old Testament where it is well documented”. The Zionists cannot cry ignorance as they should really know better. Shame on them and their hypocrisy.

  22. Pingback: Political Class Dismissed » Blog Archive » Agent of Change?

  23. He is the first president ever who could dish and pop 3s. Thats a change isn’t it?

  24. No case against Obama will probably ever make it to the supreme court. As I understand it two of the justices and dual American/Israeli citizens and Obama swore allegiance to the knesset in person.
    As for Germany and as for free speech I beg you to read this travesty taking place now before the German courts and blacked out by the zionist media.
    Another brave martyr to free spech and the expose of zionist lies.
    http://globalfire.tv/nj/09en/persecution/horst_mahler1.htm
    Never were the words ‘be afraid be very afraid’ more pertinent than now, as we see Haliburton death camps waiting in the USA and such curtailment of basic freedoms in Europe.
    Elizabeth

    1. Bravo Elizabeth. “As I understand it two of the justices and dual American/Israeli citizens”…..and I note, Israeli justice is a total farce!

  25. Why no change? The key question is who is driving this ludicrous, outragious economic agenda across both sides of politics & media? Follow the money…. Why have the west DELIBERATELY been importing debt & exporting jobs (to quote Zig Ziegler?)? Has the 3rd world benefited from IMF & World bank in the slightest? (& where has all the money gone?) Why have we created “tax & trade laws” that wreck our secondary industries where the real wealth & jobs are created? My theory is we have a system that forces the masses & business into debt and gradually the “main few banks” end up with almost all the wealth. These same banks can influence & drive political agendas because basically Govts. are dependent on them for loans. I also suspect, these Bankers are not only driving this stupid agenda to enrich themselves but are also behind war agendas to expand their markets power and wealth. I suggest you research Bilderberg Group & Trilateral commission. The bailouts thing is another racket…more of the medicine that is killing us. The USA has a current account deficit of more than $120 Bill p.m. We need to get back to profitable secondary industry by “tax & imports tax reform” or it’s bankruptcy. There is ABSOLUTELY no other way forward.

    1. “The key question is who is driving this ludicrous, outragious economic agenda across both sides of politics & media…”
       
      “There is ABSOLUTELY no other way forward.”

       
      what if there’s no way forward, period?
       
      would that explain everything? …would that explain why everyone’s defaulting to “loot” mode? …would that explain why some people were desperate enough to do the 9/11 operation to kick off one last-ditch effort to grab enough energy to prolong the agony? …would that explain why some people were desperate enough to do the 9/11 operation to kick off one last-ditch effort to secure israel?
       
      why do you spose PNAC, a coalition of israeli americans, corporate fascists and deathwish christians, published a document stating their need for a “new pearl harbor” a year before they were installed in positions from which they could make their “new pearl harbor” happen?

    2. there’s a mistake in the time line in my post above: PNAC published their need for a “new pearl harbor” a year before their new pearl harbor happened, and five months before they were installed, by an election recount in a state governed by a PNAC member who just happened to be brother to the president-elect, into positions from which they could make their “new pearl harbor” happen.

    3. …and now what’s happening is this: the israelis and israeli americans are hoping that common americans have been sufficiently demoralized and brutalized that they’ll either (1) come to accept the “wisdom” of the 9/11 operation, or (2) they’ve become so apathetic they will hold still for it, or (3) they’re so confused by the lies and half-truths and financial disasters, so caught up in the struggle for survival, that the 9/11 triggering mechanism just isnt very important anymore.

      …but, just in case malcontents survive, there’s always the FEMA camps backed by a gutting of israeli americans’ constitutional rights.

  26. “…a gutting of israeli americans’ constitutional rights.”

    another mistake in the post above, a symptom of the illness: i dont even think of americans as “americans” anymore…

    we’re all israeli americans now.

  27. Pingback: Attack the System » Blog Archive » Updated News Digest February 8, 2009

  28. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only very few posses and honestly you got it. The combining of demonstrative and upper-class content is by all odds super rare with the astronomic amount of blogs on the cyberspace.

  32. I don’t love to be in the touch of the agents and the travellers as well. This will put the men in the mess and this will also irritate us in the life. The time in which the man is in the touch of the agents is the bad time of the life and the irritating moment too.

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