Day One Jim Kirwan 11-6-8

The genuine euphoria of the world over the selection of Barack Obama is genuine on so many different fronts; but the differentials between the promise inherent in this 'choice' and the facts on the ground are very real.

PROLOGUE

The public apparently believes that: In the face of the 'global' promise of Obama, to continue to insist upon "minor details" is of no consequence, and is harmful to the spirit of 'change' itself. If the president does not have to abide by the Constitution, then technically there is no law in this land; and no "law" can then be enforced against any citizen, because constitutionally we have only one law for all citizens, including the president. Of course the US Constitution is now just another relic of history" rather than the legal basis for this nation: something that many who have professed not to have noticed for the last eight years; have now hastened to point out, with a heavy emphasis on what they see as "the positive that must not be threatened," especially by something as inconsequential as adherence to Article Two of the US Constitution.

DAY ONE

The first twenty-four hours are now history, and the first indications are that there are surprises waiting for those that 'believed,' perhaps too soon; in the literal application of Obama's implied promises for real change that already seems to be imperiled. The message from around the world lies in the hope that Obama will begin to encourage peace and end the foreign policies that have destabilized so much of the world today. Here are some excerpts from a round-table discussion on Democracy Now this morning.

JOHN PILGER: "Michael Moore had it right when he said the other day 'let's hope he breaks all the election promises as politicians generally do; because all his election promises in terms of foreign policy are a continuation of 'business a usual.' And even if there is a return to what used to be called a multi-lateral world, I think there has to be a critical analysis of the return to the pretentions of America as a peacemaker around the world."

In response to another question Pilger said: "What's it's like over there (in Afghanistan); it comes down to asking, I suppose, an Afghan child how they feel when their family has been destroyed by a 500 pound bunker-buster bomb dropped by the United States and dropped by a president Obama as he continues that war. I think that's the reality that we have to begin to discuss now; having celebrated, and rightly celebrated, the assent of the first African- American president of the United States."

MAHMOOD MANDANI: "I agree with Pilger that Obama's first task is to cut through this ideological sham and to bring the American people to face realities. The most that Obama can contribute within the context of being the president of an imperial power is to recognize the changing world situation. To recognize that this is the end of an era of a single super-power; that the US will operate among several powers: That the US has to learn to live in the world rather to simply occupy it. ~ The campaign was full of extreme and contradictory promises and provocations. But if you look on the side of the promises there are indications that this is within the realm of the possible.

There is the discussion of the need to speak to the president of Iran without preconditions. There is that remarkable primary debate with Hillary and Edwards (wherein Obama and the others were each asked which of them Martin Luther King would support). Obama responded that King would not have supported anybody: but that King would have organized his movement to push the winning candidate, to pursue the objectives. That's the real question now in the US today.

There was a movement, a youth movement to elect Obama. Will that movement dissolve itself or will that movement build itself around the objectives, around which it organized? Will America recognize as I believe South Africa has after the election of Mandela; that the election of Mandela was not 'change,' but was an opportunity to change: And whether that opportunity is realized and transformed into a program of social justice within the country. Peace abroad will depend on the movement that pushes Obama and gives him the opportunity to respond to it.

The lesson of Bush is that when a candidate steps from an arena of electoral politics to the presidency of the US the kinds of interests and pressures that now come to bear on the candidate are different: Larger and within the president is different. There are anxieties about the particular kinds of people who gathered around Obama especially as regards foreign policy. . ."

ALI ABUNIMAH: On yesterday's announcement of Rom Israel Emmanuel to become White House Chief of Staff. "Indeed Emmanuel is one of the most hard-line supporter's of Israel and has been for years. He's the son of Benjamin Emmanuel who actually was a gun-runner for Irgun, the pre-Israeli Zionist militia that carried out numerous terrorist attacks on Palestinian civilians, including the bombing of the King David Hotel.

Of course Rom Emmanuel himself is not responsible for any of that, but his record is sometimes far to the right of President Bush when it comes to supporting Israel. But I think the important thing here is not just the appointment of Emmanuel but the greater context here which is that from the days when we knew Barack Obama as a small time politician in Illinois.

I won't tell you that I've never said that he was incredibly progressive on Israel-Palestine; but he was certainly more open minded than he is now. And what he's done substantially throughout the campaign is to distance himself, or to 'throw under the bus' as the term goes; any advisor or friend that was suspected of having pro-Palestinian sympathies. In other words he has succumbed to the McCarthyite and racist campaigns that says; If you associate with even a very moderate Columbia University professor, or take their advice, then that's the biggest crime. So the signal he's sending here is that this is not going to change. The people who could give him more balance, more objective or more realistic advice that could change the course of the disastrous Palestine- Israeli policies of the Bush and Clinton administrations-that that is not going to happen.

That should be very worrying because a lot of progressive people; a lot of people in the Middle-East, a lot of leaders, have pined hopes upon Obama of being quite different on this issue-and I just don't see any evidence so far, that that's going to be the case.

It worries me that people will stay silent, rather than putting on the table now: and loudly-their demands for a more balanced, more objective, more fair plan that could bring peace for Palestinians and Israelis.
There could not be a more provocative appointment than Rom Emmanuel, if he wanted to send a signal that he is going to stick by a hard-line pro-Israel!

The point I want to make is that Barack Obama has painted himself into a corner by appealing to the most hard-line pro-Israeli elements in this country. By distancing himself from all advisors, even mainstream establishment figures like Zebignev Brzezinski or Robert Malley who was one of Clinton's officials who was thought by the pro-Israeli lobby to be too pro-Palestinian. What he has done is he has publicly embraced people like Dennis Ross and Martin Endig, two of the most pro-Israeli officials from the Clinton era, who are totally distrusted by the Palestinians and other across the Middle-East, because they are seen as life-long advocates for Israeli positions.

So he's made it impossible or extremely difficult for himself to say 'look, now we're going to talk to wider range of people; we're going to talk to those excluded voices that could give us advice, that could actually get us out of this mess in Israel- Palestine' and that's very worrying. And I think that progressive people across this country; instead of basking in the euphoria, need to pick themselves up today and start demanding that the Obama administration immediately end The Siege of Gaza: it's totally indefensible, and it is a crime unprecedented in modern history, that 1.5 million people are confined to a Ghetto, starved, cut-off from the world: threatened! This is indefensible and there's no need for this to continue even for a single day under a new administration that should be setting the standard very high; not accepting 'slight hints' that 'in a few year's time,' an Obama administration "might" accept a Palestinian State or might talk about one. The days for that are over. This situation is urgent, and we really need to see radical change: It's not going to come from Rom Emmanuel and Dennis Ross and Martin Endig-it's only going to come from a groundswell; demanding that the promises of 'change' be kept!"

MAHMOOD MAMDANI: Upon being asked about Obama now: "My sense it that we have to place the man in context. I'm equally skeptical of those who believe Obama is capable of everything, as I am of those who believe he is incapable of anything: he'll simply be muzzled by context.

I think that this campaign began as a campaign on the question of peace. He began as a peace-candidate and ended up as a redistribution candidate. Foreign policy had the front seat at the beginning and had the back-seat towards the end of the campaign. So we really don't 'know' much. What we do know is that any president who wants to have an impact on history can only do so at moments of great crisis; and this is a moment of profound crisis, domestically and internationally. Obama's campaign accounts I believe give us very little clue as to what he's going to do. His appointments I agree give us some clues and there is reason for concern. But at the same time there'll be returns coming in, if the appointments lead to the policies we fear they may lead to. It's a time of priorities and a time to organize and to put the pressure."

AFTERWORD:

This unique overview, of which the foregoing is only a small part, only takes an hour to hear in its entirety-this would seem to be a small investment for anyone that remains remotely curious about where the Obama administration might seek to take this country, as we begin this journey toward Inauguration. (1)

What a difference a day can make, especially if we take some of the advice above and demand the changes that were implied within the run-up to this selection.


kirwanstudios@sbcgloba.net

1) President-Elect Obama and the Future of US Foreign Policy: a Roundtable Discussion
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/6/president_elect_obama_and_the_future

Source: http://www.rense.com/general83/done.htm