http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-March/026094.html
my "obsessive opposition" to Obama Dbachmozart -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joaquin Bustelo writes - What makes Dbachmozart include in a comment about the speech, "Somebody writes a clever bit of cliched rhetoric for him," without spending 5 minutes googling to see if there is any reporting on whether Obama or a ghost writer wrote that speech. Given the nature of the speech, it was obviously relevant, which is WHY Dbachmozart found it worth asserting that it was written "for him" and not "by him. OK, in Dbachmozart's individual case we can speculate it is his obsessive opposition to this particular bourgeois politician. But the same meme is all over the internet and with no foundation at all, which is where Dbachmozart picked it up reply - Re: my "obsessive opposition to this particular bourgeois politician" - as if Obama is the only bourgeois politician that I and other comrades oppose! On a Marxism list, I wouldn't expect much time to be devoted to debunking the promises of a McCain or Clinton or even a Kucinich - I don't sense any illusions about their campaign rhetoric from comrades. But there are some obvious flirtations being made here towards Obama, and if they can't be criticized on THIS list without the demagogic accusation of white supremacy being used as a cudgel to stifle that criticism, then the political situation in the US is even worse than I thought . I could understand and even partially sympathize with such a flirtation if Obama's campaign had HALF the clear left wing thrust that Jackson's Rainbow campaigns certainly did, but someone who articulates nothing more than the mealy-mouthed centrist drivel of "there is no Black America"/ giving Bush every penny he's asked for to destroy Iraq and Afghanistan/ blank check support to ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that Israel wants to do to the Palestinians/ "excesses of the 60s and 70s" praise for the Reagan years - program of the DLC - Democrats for the Leisure Class - THAT'S the candidate that we should stifle our critique of to appease those in the Black community who will settle for nothing more than "a Black face in a high place"?? This isn't leadership, it's tailism - opportunism, dressed up as being "sensitive" to the hopes and dreams of a cruelly oppressed people. It is a reflection of a pessimistic view of Black America as being hopelessly naive and politically unsophisticated. And what happens if and when he's elected and does everything we know he'll do to protect the Empire's interests, what do we tell people who've listened and followed our advice to support him - even if "critically"? We'd be in the same boat that a discredited Hillary is in today as she tries in vain to explain to anti war Democrats why she supported the war in 2002 - "I didn't really support actually going to war". There are those on the left who are supporting Obama with the expectation that once he gets into office and starts carrying out the DLC program, his supporters, invigorated by the promises and hopes of his campaign, will turn against him and create a powerful opposition from the left and if we don't antagonize them with our criticisms, we can be part of a new mass radicalization! The reality is that mass movements just don't spring up overnight. An Obama candidacy would de-mobilize the left as the Kerry candidacy did to the anti war movement in '04, and his DLC program would more likely demoralize rather than energize the forces that are so enthusiastically supporting him today. Where would that leave Black America and the left? Maybe comrade Bustelo feels that ALL critics of Obama are contaminated by white supremacy? And the Black critics from Black Agenda Report and The Black Commentary - AND MALCOLM X IF HE WAS STILL WITH US!! - must be ultra left "self-hating" Blacks! It seems that comrade Bustelo may have been contaminated by the demonizing tactics employed by Zionists against their critics. I have found myself in agreement with the valuable insights that this comrade has contributed here with respect to the struggle against all forms of white privilege including when it raises its head within the left, as well as with party building and the nationalist aspect of the combined revolution in South America. I also agree with him that if Obama does get the nomination, the non Democratic Party left must take a certain approach that we wouldn't have with a white candidate, something like "I hear where you're coming from and we both want the same thing, but there's something to the sayings "show me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are" and "he who pays the piper picks the tune". However, I feel that comrade Bustelo and a few other people on this list are dangerously close to going over the line by actually supporting Obama's candidacy. If this is indeed the case, it would be refreshing if these comrades would just come out and say what they've been hinting at these last few months -- that they're supporting Obama -- not because of going soft on the Democrats, but because they want to be part of the "anti racist movement", or whatever cliche they choose. The discussion could then proceed on a political rather than an ad hominem level. All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860 _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
