Plessner Chronicle Blog

With all the other changes that an Obama administration promises, doesn’t that count for something special?

When was the last time that something like that happened? Was it president Clinton who could do that? Or Nixon? Or Kennedy? Or one of the Roosevelts? Franklin? Or Teddy?

In our 21^st century world, when issues become more complex each day, where science and technology are so important to our survival, our health and our security, isn’t it good news that we now have a president who can think on his feet?

And isn’t it reassuring that the anti-intellectual know-nothings who have done such terrible damage to our Constitution and the rule of law, who have almost destroyed our economy and our atmosphere, will no longer control our ecological and atmospheric future?

Did anyone notice? And does it matter?

Damned right it matters! And in the longer term it might be the most important lasting benefit of the Barack Obama presidency.

And if you believe that a McCane presidency will be able to reduce our military commitments around the world or significantly improve our relations with friendly nations you may be in for a whole bunch of disappointments.

A new McCane presidency will be confronted with dozens of neo-conservative war hawks planted in the White House, the Defense and State Departments. They are avid in seeing America increase and extend its imperial footprint around the globe and especially in the oil rich Middle East.

A new administration — McCane or Obama — will not be able to replace those operatives fast enough to completely stop them from advancing the disastrous initiative they created in the Bush administration.

And some of those people, because they are vital to daily operations or because they have powerful benefactors, will inevitably be allowed to stay on to “insure a smooth transition”. Its how the system works.

Then there are the American oil companies and their partners in the Arab world; Dick Cheney and his buddies who want to secure control over Iraq’s oil exports.

The Bush administration’s negotiations to secure 50 permanent American bases in Iraq is intended to secure that source of supply and profits for American companies.

If George W. Bush is able to create a document that our Congress might approve, then he will have established generations-long American imperialism and the neo-conservatives will have achieved their original goal. Then the United States will be burdened with running an imperial empire to support international corporations, and American military men and women will continue to die unnecessarily for generations.

But there’s more. The oil industry will be followed by other corporations eager to keep the war machine alive. John McCane can talk about being a maverick but he is going to need money — lots of money — to finance his campaign. And he will take it gladly from all sorts of corporations that have an interest in providing military supplies, hardware, security services in war zones, along our borders and elsewhere.

There are also the research and development companies at work on new military hardware, much of it untested and outdated even before it is finally designed.

Although many of those programs have bloated budgets, questionable value and poor management, you can be sure that lobbyists and Members of Congress who want Federal money spent in their districts will pressure a McCane administration to show its gratitude to the people who helped finance his campaign.

And when it comes to reducing our troop strength in Iraq or withdrawing entirely, which will never happen in a Republican administration, a President John McCane would be acting against everything his party and he, through his entire adult life, has stood for.

And that ain’t gonna happen!

(You can comment on Gerald Plessner’s comments at his BLOG at geraldplessner.com.)

But you think they should just get over it? Should my fellow Jewish Americans just get over what Hitler and his German followers did to our people in the Holocaust?

Should Armenian-Americans just get over what the Turks did to their ancestors a century ago?

Should we just not care about the hatred spewed by religious zealots against our young people who might have a life style those bigots detest but that their God or heredity or evolution made our young people who they are?

Isn’t it time to begin to understand and appreciate the histories, cultures and concerns of all American ethnic groups? This country, like no other in human history, has taken in the persecuted, the hated and the dispossessed from around the world and we did this while limiting the horizons of our own African American underclass. Shouldn’t we be concerned about that after more than 225 years of history?

And finally (I hope) should we be angry about the thinly-veiled hate speech spread across the land by people like Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity or Dennis Prager against African Americans, liberals and others as they attack Barack Obama?

Now that most talk show loud-mouths are again comfortable attacking and ridiculing African-Americans, not even bothering to screen their bigotry, should we be angry because they make big money keeping your uncle Henry angry by spreading fear and hatred?

Think about the words of Barak Obama’s pastor, saying “God damned America” for sins he believes we committed against African Americans. Then pause for a moment and reflect on the words of the white Evangelical Pat Robertson, who said that the attacks of September 11, 2001 were caused by God’s anger at America for abortion and our disrespect for Him. Wasn’t Pat Robertson saying that God damned America?  At lleast he seemed to be spreading the idea that God should do so.

Did the radio talking heads or any respected Republican condemn Pat Robertson or Jerry Fallwell who said much the same thing?  Or is there a double standard when it comes to bigotry too?

Rudy Giuliani’s hard-boiled approach is appealing to many Republican voters but too many Americans don’t believe that the president’s war on terrorism has made us any safer. His unattractiveness to the Republican religious right may remain a real problem for Giuliani.