From: Marv Gandall
What does hate or love have to do with it? ^^^^ CB: It's slang. I suppose I can't expect you to get the sense of it. "Haters" is rap slang for enviers. That's not completely precise either, but you have been on this list and LBO-talk long enough to know what I mean when I criticize the ultra-left anti-Obama position which over time seems pretty clearly to be in part personal dislike of Obama. ^^^^^ Like the scorpion in Aesop's fable, Obama is doing what you would expect: discharging his responsibilities as President of an imperial power. Liberals are embittered because their expectations were different. If Hagel is named Defence Secretary, he'll similarly be compelled to adhere to the prevailing set of "destructive bipartisan orthodoxies" until America's strategic interests, rather than any maverick views which he may hold, dictate otherwise. ^^^^^ CB: So, you go off on a dodging tangent, too. In the given balance of forces in the Reaganite era, and pro-Israel super hegemony in especially the Senate, this is a vary liberal move to by Obama, and you can't avoid it or hide with. Amazing how you can't admit that this is clearly a leftward signal , as much of a move away from "destructive bipartisan orthodoxies" as one could expect to get now. Obama will be running foreign policy , not Hagel. Duhh. This is a way for Obama to signal a move away from absolute pro-Israeli foreign policy ^^^^ The continuity of US foreign policy under Obama, particularly with respect to the Israel-Palestine conflict, is a pretty clear illustration of the subordination of the individual to systemic imperatives, even at the very highest level. Obama assumed office with some sympathy for the Palestinians and the intention to impose a peace settlement on the Israelis before he was was forced to beat a humiliating retreat. ^^^^ CB: This appointment is a very clear _break_ with that continuity. You're talking like Obama didn't just appoint someone who background is not in sinc with the bi-partisn thingy on Israel. Hagel is exactly a signal of discontinuity. He's one of the few people he could appoint to give such a signal. ^^^^ Perhaps his second term will be different, but that will depend less on the good intentions and understanding of Obama or Hegel than on a revised consensus within the US foreign policy and military establishment, shared by a congressional majority, about the US's strategic Mideast needs in light of such factors as the Arab Spring, US economic constraints, shale gas exploitation, and Iran's nuclear weapons program. ^^^^^ CB: To the extent that Obama can move left in this area this is a clearcut left move. And the President has more power than the Congress on foreign policy and defense than the Congress. This is a case where Obama's good intentions are not just that of another individual , but the most powerful official in the area. Also, the Senate will have to confirm, so, if Hagel gets in, it will be more than Obama moving this way. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
