When you look at
Obama’s record , you see a politician who is at best a moderate conservative
Republican, but more likely one who has continued the Bush policies and expands them.
Even before he was
elected, he voted for the TARP bank bailout and continuation of the FISA court
for secret surveillance. The TARP bank bailout (as written in the book
“BAILOUT” by the TARP overseer Neil Barofsky) was used by Obama’s treasury to shovel as
much money as possible into the banks, while giving lip service to foreclosed
homeowners. After he was elected, but before taking office, Obama showed his
loyalties by filling the Treasury Dept with Wall Street people like Larry
Summers and the same people who deregulated the banks in the Clinton
administration.
The NSA has expanded
it’s secret surveillance to tap and store phone and internet records of every
American. This surveillance is ostensibly to prevent “terrorism”. As the FBI
has done for decades, and is the norm in totalitarian states, data is usually collected
on citizens to identify dissidents and squelch political protest.
After election, he
spoke about reforming NAFTA and closing Guantanamo but neither has occurred. Instead
he supports expanding NAFTA with his TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP and another
treaty for the Atlantic countries. The inmates of Guantanamo (as well as in
other secret prisons) are still subject to torture and “military” justice.
While many states
have legalized marijuana and people are waking up to the uselessness of the “War
on Drugs”, federal agents have harassed and shut down medical marijuana
facilities. While there is talk of finding a way to integrate illegal
immigrants into this country, Obama has jailed and deported more illegal
immigrants than any other president.
People who leak
information on the illegal activities of the government, and journalists who
report on them, are harassed and prosecuted. Obama judged Bradley Manning
guilty before there was ever a trial. Obama called Edward Snowden a traitor
because he exposed the illegal activities of the NSA. Journalists who report on
the “dirty” side of this administration are stopped at the border, their
computers confiscated, their persons violated.
America is close to
becoming a police state. There are Swat teams on the Great Lakes harassing
boaters in the name of Border Security. There are checkpoints and road blocks
on major roads inside the United States, not only near border areas. They stop
motorists and demand “identification”.
Although Obama did
remove troops from Iraq, we remain a huge presence in that country supporting
our puppet government with weapons and money. Obama has expanded the war in
Afghanistan, ostensibly to combat Al Queda, but more plausibly to support our
favorite government there. He has also expanded military (mostly special ops)
around the globe as in Yemen and Somalia. With the drone program he boasts that
he is “good at killing people”, although many people, including Americans, have
been killed by drones without any explanation or justification.
Obama’s stimulus in
response to the “Great Recession” was mostly tax cuts. Obama’s budget reflects
his priorities, mostly to accommodate the Republicans: high defense spending, entitlement
spending, and more tax cuts.
Obama’s “signature”
achievement, the Affordable Care Act, was written to accommodate the needs of
the Pharmaceutical Companies, Insurance Companies, and Hospital Corporations,
not the public. “Single Payer” or “Public Option” was not even considered. It
does not cut medical costs, but portends to stem the rise of medical costs. It is definitely a boon to the above
companies, and also probably another expensive entitlement which will be paid
by future tax payers.
It is certainly not
only Barack Obama alone who is responsible for all of the above. Money is at
the center of our political system and those who can raise the most money
(primarily from corporations, special interests, and rich benefactors) have a
huge advantage. Lobbyists for the large corporations, the Military-Industrial
industry, and now the Surveillance Industry, have great power in the political
process. If you cannot blame Obama for all of the excesses, you can certainly
blame him for doing nothing, if very little, to stop them.
Sheldon Wolberg
