I'm Feeling Bad For The Democrats
by James Glaser
August 18, 2009

I say that with all sincerity. The Democrats really worked hard to get Barack Obama elected last year. Even though I thought Obama's speeches were Pie-in-the-Sky, the people working for and believing in him thought everything he said was true.

Now, less than a year later we see the real Barack Obama. Here is how one Democrat, Chris Hedges, puts it. Hedges is an author and a former New York Times foreign correspondent.

The American empire has not altered under Barack Obama. It kills as brutally and indiscriminately in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as it did under George W. Bush. It steals from the U.S. treasury to enrich the corporate elite as rapaciously. It will not give us universal health care, abolish the Bush secrecy laws, end torture or "extraordinary rendition," restore habeas corpus or halt the warrantless wiretapping and monitoring of citizens. It will not push through significant environmental reform, regulate Wall Street or end our relationship with private contractors that provide mercenary armies to fight our imperial wars and produce useless and costly weapons systems.

Hedges left out some details—like President Obama's military surge in Afghanistan, his enlargement of the Army, Marine Corps, and the Defense budget; his stationing of troops at seven military bases in Columbia, his acquiescence in the removal of 42 mountain tops for the coal companies in Appalachia, his push to build larger and larger "bunker buster" bombs, and more.

I am sad that so many people worked so hard for what they thought was a new vision for America, and all they are getting is more of the same. Many writers have said that President Obama is giving us George Bush's third term, and now only the real die-hard Democrats will argue with that statement.

I do feel bad for the Democrats who worked so hard, but I also feel bad for my children and grandchildren. It is such a shame that another slick talking politician was able to talk his way into office only to represent the wealthy corporations of America.

The only hope I see in our future is for a third party presidential candidate to be elected. Democrats and Republicans have proven themselves of no use to a populous trying to return the country to its Constitution. I am afraid if we that does not happen, there will only be more oppression from our two major parties, and when American citizens finally get totally fed up, then violence.

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