Screwed again

Screwed again. Sometimes, I sure feel this way. I want to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, but time after time he compromises far too much (health care reform, financial reform), or doesn't even advocate the right things at all (public option, stop the Drug War, stop the Asian wars). He talks and talks. And talks and talks. And very little changes. I know he has a solid wall of Republican opposition, and I know there are far too many corporatized Democrats, but still....he is failing at that elusive "leadership."

No, I don't think Obama is a covert Muslim determined to destroy America. That's just ludicrous bullshit from an unprincipled, insane opposition. No, Obama is much more corporatized than we thought he was. Perhaps it's all our fault for being fooled so easily and expecting too much, but I sure don't see much "change I can believe in."

Screwed Again
For OpEdNews: Rob Kall - Writer

We've been stabbed in the back again.

We're screwed again. Obama and the democratic congress did it again-- created legislation that is labeled reform, but is so diluted it is worthless and won't prevent another financial meltdown.

On Monday, the mainstream media will congratulate Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank and Barack Obama for passing landmark financial reform legislation.

But the real truth of how effective the legislation is was shown by investors, who bid up stocks three percent on friday, celebrating the financial industry's escape from serious regulation. We the people of the US lost.

The Wall Street Journal expects that the legislation will be called the Dodd Frank bill.

Good!! Put their names on the bill. Make it clear who created the better-than-nothing, highly diluted, watered down, full of loopholes legislation. Dodd and Frank are sellouts who betrayed US consumers, betrayed the majority of their own constituents.

I spent at least an hour yesterday, reading article after article in the Wall Street Journal that breathed sighs of relief that the legislation was not as bad as the financial industry feared. The tough reforms-- Volcker, Lincoln-- were all gutted and watered down, with loopholes added.

There's only one conclusion. The bill is another sham reform, a gift to the finance industry, just like the health care reform bill was a gift to insurers, hospitals and big pharma. I assure you that built into this new "reform bill" will be new, expanded protections and extensions of privileges for finance companies. There may be some small changes that could have been passed in a far less extensive bill-- some minor tweaks-- but this bill is no great achievement.

The bill is another chimera of real change, guided by the faux change president, Barack Obama.

We now know that Obama is a staunch defender of big corporations, of lobbyist interests-- not of consumers, not of the people who worked so hard, with such hope and faith to elect him.

Personally, I'm going to do all I can to primary as many of the perpetrators of the Finance and health reform legislation as I can.

I'm going to work to make sure that Obama is a one term president.

We'll be seeing energy legislation soon. We can be certain it will be weak, diluted, watered down, with loads of loopholes.

Legislation for Unions? expect the same trademark Obama/Democratic congress trademark profile-- diluted, watered down, loaded with loopholes.

Improving regulation of Oil drilling? Expect the same.

Obama is a failure as a leader-- his response to the Gulf oil disaster demonstrated this.

Obama has betrayed the tens of millions who voted for him. His sell-outs in favor of the biggest industries have become routine and predictable.

The Democratic congress does more of the same. They use good cop bad cop games to pretend that there are some good legislators, but the way the progressive caucus folded in the face of pressure from Obama showed us that we the people are not represented in congress. We the people do not have anyone fighting for us.

When democracy fails, when it is sabotaged by a supreme court that is the most aggressive at changing the rules in recent history, when elected officials are owned and operated by lobbyists and big corporations, it is time for a revolution. The tea partiers (don't call them tea-baggers-- they're fighting back just as progressives should be doing.) are on the right track. It is time for progressives to stand up resolutely and say no more. Dodd read the writing on the wall and realized he'd sold out his constituents so badly they wouldn't re-elect him again. Barney Frank should receive the same treatment from the constituents he's stabbed in the back and betrayed.

A good place to start is withe the disaster in Afghanistan. The war there is immoral and insane. It is bleeding American dry financially. I'm telling my congressman that I won't vote for him if he supports any more funding legislation that does not include a firm withdrawal schedule.

We have an emergency here in the US, in the Gulf, that requires all of our emergency resources. We can no longer afford an endless war. We can no longer afford a congress or white House that have written off the interests of the American middle class.

It is time for more action than any seen since the sixties. It is time for us to rise up and speak out. It is time for us to throw out ALL the legislators who have sold us out. The tea partiers are going for purer ideological candidates. We on the left need to do the same. We need to stop supporting bluedogs and even "progressives" who fold when it really matters. It is time. We are facing a world that I don't want my children to live in.

The original is here.