Written by Richard Kane   

When the financial crisis struck America, many felt relieved with the new President’s quick bailout response and Obama's bring-us-together attitude, but the welcome wore thin with ever more people becoming upset with the bailout and Obama’s other policies. But recent similar bailout problems in Europe involving Greece makes Obama’s decisive actions look better in contrast.

Politicians arguing and finally agreeing to a bailout, only to discover they are too late, and have to go back to the drawing board to work on a greater bailout, wondering if it will be done in time to prevent further problems is what Hillary or McCain might have dealt with. Wherever a bailout is patched together the rich end up a little richer and poor poorer, so some say revolution is the real answer but the killing of three bank tellers, unintentionally burned alive when a Greek bank was firebombed (whether provocateurs helped inspire it or not) temporarily cooled any idea among Greeks of revolution from the left, a left oriented revolution even less likely in any foreseeable future in the US.

During the Cold War Americans thought a strong confident America was the way to preserve freedom. Today far more than a few moments after Obama was elected the American people thought a strong positive American attitude would make the world more economically secure, but then began to go back to the attitude under Bush that intense criticism, of those is in office, is how to hold on to what freedoms and economic security we got.

President Obama gets criticized from a number of different directions. In the following essay I carefully examined each accusation, and try to refute it. Also I will refer to a real problem is that Obama makes more efforts to appease critics than he does to give his supporters what they want, supporting Senator Specter, one exception. Obama allegedly betrayed the American people by not fighting the health lobby over single-payer. Accused of not listening to the American people who want the US to stop wasting money on endless war, accused of coddling terrorists with civil liberties niceties or interferes with the right of Americans to privacy, ironically many Americans don’t see any problem with believing all three of the above statements at the same time. Protesters claim that Obama is actually being pushed around somewhat by the Cheney crowd when it comes to civil liberties. However, not quoted on progressive blogs is the Daniel Pearl Foundation (know for its annual interfaith peace concerts) and Daniel Pearl’s relatives in articles in publications like the Wall Street Journal urging that al Qaeda not to give al Qaeda a soap box by holding public trials. Daniel Pearl was a Wall Street Journal correspondent beheaded in Pakistan after being lured there by terrorists, sroblog.com/2009/11/14/daniel-pearls-family-opposes-justice-decision-to-try-ksm-in-federal-court-the-hill/
danielpearl.org/about_us/dialogue.html

When it comes to health care, we hear the public option was fought by the health care industry lobbyists and they won. The insurance industry had many things they were fighting against stopping the public option not their central concern. However, Ron Paul and other libertarians made a point to fight hard against the public option, ronpaulnews.net/2009/08/single-payer-groceries-anyone.html

Also reported on progressive blogs was comments by Sarah Palin for whom it is such a side issue that she and her so called tea party organization are working for Ron Paul’s opponent in the upcoming Republican primary,

Ron Paul likes to refer to himself as Dr. Paul the family doctor he once was, who worked for a time at the public city hospitals where the poor felt at home and relatives could comfortably lounge around watching after their elderly loved ones final days (Not that Ron Paul proposed any funds to resurrect the system of hospitals to serve the poor).

Getting out of Afghanistan might not be a smooth as the US getting out of Vietnam. After leaving Vietnam, the Vietnamese had no more intent to quarrel with the US. A small Catholic minority had been unhappy with Ho Chi Minh’s communism. In Afghanistan many could be unhappy over who would be first in charge if the US left. When the US overthrew Saddam, Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods divided into a tit-for-tat bloodbath. When the Soviets left Afghanistan warlords fought with each other over who was in charge drastically increasing the death rate, despite the Russians not avoiding civilian casualties the way the US does. How we leave could be as important, as exactly when we leave making sure a stable government is in charge. However, if the US acquiesces to women in Kabul being punished for not wearing veils, before US troops vacate Kabul, many Americans including Dennis Kucinich the sponsor of a Congressional Amendment for a specific funds cut off date for the Afghan War could be very unhappy.

One thing is clear that ever increasing Afghan War expense makes everyone’s including Greece’s economic problems worse. After Nixon’s carpet bombing North Vietnam didn’t end the Vietnam War, a few called for nuking Vietnam. It seems to me possible that the 2012 Republican presidential nominee will call for stop wasting money avoiding civilian deaths, despite the Russians have tried such a policy getting the Muslim world united against them in response. To me it seems that Afghanistan is Obama’s Achilles heel dammed no matter what he does. General McChrystal, Afghan President Karzai and Mullah Omar all avoid the kind of mayhem one saw in Iraq and other wars even the latest Israeli incursion into Palestine. It won’t help the Democrats if chaos or confusion and more fighting follows a US withdrawal.

For a few days it looked like the Afghan War might end in a quick compromise. A brutal Taliban supporting warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar sent a representative to personally negotiate with Afghan President Karzai toward a power-sharing peace expecting the US to agree to a slow withdrawal rather than the quick exit the Taliban was demanding. Hekmatyar said he was doing this to avoid the bloodbath that occurred when the Russians left, and thought the possibility of a joint Karzai-Hekmatyar government would induce Mullah Omar and the Haqqani network the other two rebel factions to get involved. Since the West including the US peace movement poured water on the power-sharing idea, Karzai has scheduled a giant Afghan peace get-together this May. For information Google Peace Jirga. Several US peace groups like Just Foreign Policy are beginning to get involved.

Hekmatyar has a special relationship with Hamid Karzai going back to 1994, which helped make this power-sharing idea come into focus. Karzai back then representative those that wanted the king to return. The warlords began fighting over who would be in charge when the Russians left. Karzai tried to negotiate peace between them. A rival warlord didn’t like the idea that Karzai was talking to his arch enemy Hekmatyar, and ordered Karzai arrested, which Hekmatyar stopped. The assumption in Afghanistan is Hekmatyar saved Karzai’s life. Google “CIA prisoner believed to have rescued Karzai” for various alleged details. Since becoming Afghan President, Karzai has been calling on the Taliban to negotiate whose public response has been that they wouldn’t negotiate with a traitor. However, UN has behind the scenes details that contradict this. Kai Eide a UN envoy retired than lashed out at the timing of the arrest of Mullah Baradar, Mullah Omar’s second in command. Google Kai Eide with Karzai and Baradar for details.

As soon as Karzai agreed to meet with a representative from Hekmatyar, the NY Times remembered the lavish praise Karzai heaped on Iran President Ahmadinejad when he begged Ahmadinejad to try to arrange a cease-fire with the Taliban, not noting Karzai’s equally lavish praise of China when he asked the Chinese to get involved, and his frequent humble statements to the King of Saudi Arabia as he begged the Saudis to mediate. Equally sudden was a renewed intense condemnation of President Karzai’s brother Ahmed Karzai for being a powerful corrupt warlord. Unlike all the other Afghan leaders Hamid Karzai could be above the political corruption grave train because Ahmed would bankroll whatever idealist endeavor his brother Hamid would engage in. Also when an awkward peace seemed possible, peace websites were flooded with “Don’t betray Afghan Women in the name of peace”, A renowned peace group switched from opposing the war the having an evenhanded debate “Afghanistan: Should we stay or should be get out” With the peace scare over, the Institute for Policy Studies, Foreign Policy In Focus website went back to wanting to set a date for a funds cutoff of the Afghan War, fpif.org/articles/afghanistan_should_we_stay_or_should_we_go
Also, see the Nation Magazine article on supporting
women in relation to opposing the Afghan War, www.thenation.com/blog/better-way-afghan-women-war
www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=19906

Back to more info on Obama’s health care package getting twisted around. The Catholic lobby started out united for health care but non-Catholics kept baiting Catholics on abortion. Insurance companies hate to pay out, and abortion is much cheaper than a insurance company having to take loses on a sick child. It’s a legitimate worry as to what they might do behind the scenes to encourage abortion over birth. If it wasn’t for an anti-choice movement rich beneficiaries would want to offer particularly poor Hispanic women a cash payment if she had an abortion. Free choice, not choice compelled by circumstance, has something to do with vigorous argument where people in trouble can choose which side they seek help from. One argument is over whether military hospitals should be allowed to perform abortion. One commander in Afghanistan made waves by threatening a bad service record if a woman became pregnant at the wrong time. If the base hospitals performed abortion and a confused woman ran away rather than show up for an abortion she had scheduled, she could avoid AWOL charges by going ahead with the abortion. In light of the problems Omama’s muddled comments on the issue make a little more sense.

This isn’t the place to argue social policy, but to claim that Obama and entrenched politicians constantly do what money lobbyists want, and what the scoundrels want, but not the good or reasonable people want, evaporates when carefully examining the advocates of various issues.

One bit of real frustration with Obama is that supporters are tired of those who fought Obama but compromised with him at the end kept getting special benefit. This I slightly referred to in the beginning of this essay. Those who held out the longest on Obamacare got much more than those who cheered him. Even if Obama means a better world it’s frustrating for Obama supporters keep seeing others not themselves get special benefits.

Obama’s vision is a “bring-us-together” world, and he is hard at work supporting Senator Arlen Specter, at first to keep some of his seniority when he switched to Democrat and now to win the Democratic primary May 18. However, in other cases the image is that Obama backs down. When Vance Jones was under attack Vance shared Obama’s bring-us together vision. Vance’s vision of people ecology overlaps Obama’s vision. Vance knew it would help his vision better if he backed down when under attack to only continue to excel in his vision and career in other ways. Vance Jones’ career and advocacies are firmly on tract. Marc Lamont Hill, Obama’s pastor and even Bill Ayers, were not economically hurt or had their careers ruined because Obama didn’t verbally come to their defense. But the image is out there, that the way to get something out of Obama is to condemn him and oppose him. All this makes it more critical that Specter win and that there are other visible successes among strong Obama supporters. Joe Sestak is effectively campaigning against Specter in the upcoming Democratic Primary by excerpting old campaign commercials of Bush praising Specter, neglecting to mention that this was the one time President Bush clearly defied Cheney in Bush’s support of Specter.

The world economic situation is extremely shaky. There is a need for Obama leadership even when it comes to Greece. I fear that civilization itself not just entranced politicians will go away if the belief that politicians are causing the economic mess by defying the people gets much more widespread.

In an earlier version, “Obama betrays us, NO! Not so fast” I pointed out that I think the Afghan War is Obama’s Achilles Heal, spending a fortune that the shaky world economy can ill afford. I think rather than criticizing Karzai or his brother, a typical corrupt Afghan politician, backing Karzai on whatever he decides is the best way for the US to get out without a lot of fallout if the US leaving eventually ends up leading to a continued harsh future for that troubled part of the world.

I remember when many people decided that positive thinking was the way to go. Then most began thinking the criticizing Bush was the way to improve things, now that expanded to condemning every entrenched politicians in general. Some say that the right and left should unite against Obama and the powers at be. A worse case of a nation unable to deal with economic collapse, was the Hitler-Stalin Pack, and the slogan, After Hitler Us, when the socialists in Germany begged the communists to help stop Hitler from becoming Chancellor. Of course such a repeat of currency collapse and starvation should concern us not just destructive responses to this turmoil.

Anyway, there is a real chance the possibility of Greek crisis threatening to destroy the euro and the international markets are enough to collapse the dollar as well. I want to urge people as soon as they hear suggestions such as the US help guarantee Greek loans that immediately people remind Obama that it would do more to preserve the international currencies system if Obama instead announce a quick withdrawal of US troops from abroad and an end to the blockade of Cuba.

In almost any other essay, the article would go on to condemn Obama. Somehow we instead got to request Obama do things differently while we praise him instead of criticizing him.
Back to the immediate, I say Arlen Specter and Hamid Karzai all the way, even though Arlen Specter is ironically one of the top critics of US support for the Karzai administration in Afghanistan.


http://youngphillypolitics.com/blog/richardkanepa
www.phillyimc.org/en/obama-supposedly-betraying-us-what-about-his-handling-bailout-compared-greece

by Richard Kane RichardKanePA.blogspot.com