New Times / Letter To The Editor

I'm not celebrating Obama

Will Powers

For about a month, Democrats have celebrated the re-election of Barack Obama, who overcame billions in attack ads to prevail.

As a lifelong Democrat, I am not among the celebrants. Why? While I agree that Mitt Romney would have been a disaster, President Obama’s second term will slow, but make no appreciable dent, in this country’s headlong descent into fascism. Don’t believe me? Google “14 Points of Fascism” and tell me which of those points, other than some stemming of the misogynistic tide, President Obama has made any appreciable effort to reverse.

This is the president who appointed corporatists the likes of Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, and former GE outsourcer-in-chief Jeffrey Immelt as key economic “advisors.”

This is the president who has escalated drone strikes, including those into sovereign nations, that often kill civilians; has an extra-judicial “hit list” that includes American citizens; has pushed for increased nuclear power plants and deepwater drilling in the Gulf and the Arctic (and, take it to the bank: He will approve the Keystone XL pipeline); has already prosecuted more whistleblowers than all previous presidents combined; has made no attempt to reinstate habeas corpus, nor Glass-Stegall; has increased warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens; and (again, make book on it), he will agree to a corporate-friendly, middle-class-harming “grand bargain” (complete with tax decreases for the rich).

All Barack Obama does is give “cover” to the increasing control the rich have over the rest of us.