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<H2><FONT size=4>
<P><FONT size=4>" I would rather vote for something I want and not get it, than
to vote for something I did NOT want and end up getting it. "</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Eugene Debs </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT size=4>On Tuesday I will be happily pulling the lever for </FONT><A
href="http://www.jillstein.org/"><FONT size=4>Jill Stein</FONT></A><FONT
size=4>, the Green Party candidate for president. The ONLY REAL opposition party
and opposition candidate against corporate rule on the ballot in
the state of Illinois !</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Nov</FONT>ember 3, 2012</FONT></P></H2>
<DIV id=post-7919
class="post-7919 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-green-party category-obama category-parliamentary-cretinism">
<H3 class=storytitle>25 reasons not to vote for Obama </H3>
<DIV class=meta><FONT size=4>Filed under: </FONT><A
title="View all posts in Green Party"
href="http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/category/green-party/"
rel="category tag"><FONT size=4>Green Party</FONT></A><FONT size=4>,</FONT><A
title="View all posts in Obama"
href="http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/category/obama/"
rel="category tag"><FONT size=4>Obama</FONT></A><FONT size=4>,</FONT><A
title="View all posts in parliamentary cretinism"
href="http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/category/parliamentary-cretinism/"
rel="category tag"><FONT size=4>parliamentary cretinism</FONT></A><FONT size=4>
— louisproyect @ 11:03 pm <BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=storycontent>
<P><FONT size=4><IMG class=aligncenter title=obama alt=""
src="http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/1103-obama-romney-campaign-sprint.jpg/14212161-2-eng-US/1103-obama-romney-campaign-sprint.jpg_full_380.jpg"
width=380 height=253></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>1. His key appointments indicated a tilt toward Wall Street. Tim
Geithner, his Secretary of the Treasury, was the brains behind TARP–in other
words “too big to fail”. As head of the United States National Economic Council,
Larry Summers pushed for tax cuts rather than New Deal type spending on roads,
bridges, etc. Before becoming Attorney General, Eric Holder was at a Washington
law firm that represented a Who’s Who of big banks and other companies at the
center of alleged foreclosure fraud. That, no doubt, is why a Justice Department
panel investigating mortgage security fraud is being starved for
funds.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>2. Middle-class homeowners have suffered under the Obama
administration. On taking office, Obama promised that up to 9 million of them
would be protected from foreclosure but only 2.3 million have gotten assistance.
Moreover, the White House never addressed the problem of plunging house prices
that left owners being both unable to stay and to leave.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>3. Despite their slavish support for Obama, trade unions have
been treated poorly. Obama promised that he would fight for EFCA (Employee Free
Choice Act), an act that would expedite union certification. Once in office, it
was relegated to the back burner. When Wisconsin governor Scott Walker
went on a union-busting rampage, Obama did nothing to back the protests and
limited his support for a Democrat in a recall election to a tweet. When Chicago
teachers went on strike against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Scott Walker-like attack,
Obama stood aloof. This was to be expected, of course, since his Secretary of
Education is a proponent of charter schools.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>4. Despite foolish expectations that Obama would be a new FDR,
Obama has functioned more like Hoover on the jobs creation front. There has been
nothing like the WPA or the CCC, despite an aging infrastructure. And despite
all the hoopla over the auto bailout, the net result has been a downsizing of
the big three auto companies, as well as a sharp cut in benefits.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>5. Both Obama and Romney love free trade. </FONT><A
href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/07/14/bain_outsourcing_neither_obama_nor_romney_think_it_s_wrong_so_what_are_we_arguing_about_.html"><FONT
size=4>As liberal wonk Matt Iglesias put it</FONT></A><FONT size=4>, “And what’s
more, all indications are that Barack Obama also doesn’t think Bain was doing
anything wrong. As president he’s made no moves to make it illegal for companies
to shift production work abroad and has publicly associated himself with a wide
range of American firms—from GE to Apple and beyond—who’ve done just that to
varying extents. And we all remember what happened to Obama’s promise to
renegotiate NAFTA after taking office, right?”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>6. Obama done nothing to solve the problem of greenhouse-gas
related climate change, a point made by Al Gore</FONT><A
href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/climate-of-denial-20110622?page=1"><FONT
size=4> in a Rolling Stone article</FONT></A><FONT size=4>. Despite the EPA’s
requirement that new (but not existing) coal-fueled plants cut their emissions
by half, there are signs that this will have little to do with reducing
greenhouse gases since coal is being replaced across the board by the far
cheaper natural gas.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>7. Natural gas extraction is being facilitated through the use
of hydrofracking, an environmentally devastating practice that the Obama
administration has accepted without qualms. In his latest State of the Union
speech, Obama’s pro-natural gas stance earned the praise of the
pro-hydrofracking Independent Oil & Gas Association. His EPA chief Lisa
Jackson told a Senate Committee that she knew of no instances where fracking
affected water, a stance that </FONT><A
href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/even_lisa_on_board_jXydpSpjiw9SZSx4ZwOARJ"><FONT
size=4>endeared her to the ultra-reactionary NY Post</FONT></A><FONT size=4>.
Finally, he gave TransCanada the OK to build the southern portion of its
Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in June of this year. By contrast, Jill Stein was
arrested when she was resupplying activists blockading the pipeline.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>8. In the same month that he gave TransCanada the green light,
Obama permitted oil drilling in the Arctic. This follows a decision in January
to re-open 38 Million Acres in Gulf of Mexico to offshore drilling. The fact
that BP has given the largest chunk of its $3.5 million campaign contributions
to Obama might well have something to do with this.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>9. Obama has supported the building of nuclear power plants,
even after Fukushima.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>10. In 2009 Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack gave his
personal approval for a 381-acre clear-cut in Tongass National Forest, America’s
largest stand of temperate rain forest.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>11. Last and far from least, Obama lifted the ban on hunting
gray wolves in eight northern states in 2011. Maybe he and Sarah Palin can go
shoot the beasts from a helicopter some time next year in the spirit of
collaboration between the two parties. They can bring Chris Christie along,
after making sure that the helicopter can carry all that weight.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>12. Obama promised to close down Guantanamo but the prison
remained open even after he said in the ill-conceived Nobel Peace Prize
acceptance speech: ” I believe the United States of America must remain a
standard bearer in the conduct of war…That is why I ordered the prison at
Guantanamo Bay closed.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>13. When men imprisoned in Guantanamo demanded that they be
tried in a U.S. court, the case went all the way up to the Supreme Court. On
Obama’s urging, the court denied a hearing, thus </FONT><A
href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/06/did-supreme-court-just-gut-habeas"><FONT
size=4>leading some to assert </FONT></A><FONT size=4>that a president with a
background in constitutional law was gutting habeas corpus.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>14. Obama maintains a secret kill list that included American
citizens. This suspension of habeas corpus not only led to the murder of Anwar
al-Awlaki—an American—but his 16 year old son who was never charged with a
crime. Robert Gibbs, Obama’s former press secretary, defending the killing this
way: “I would suggest that you should have a far more responsible father if they
are truly concerned about the well being of their children.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>15. Obama’s raid on Osama bin-Laden’s house was essentially
illegal. Amnesty International described it as an extrajudicial
execution.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>16. His use of drones has led to the deaths of many
noncombatants, including a number </FONT><A
href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/10907-cover-up-of-civilian-drone-deaths-revealed-by-new-evidence"><FONT
size=4>that have been covered up</FONT></A><FONT size=4>. The criterion used by
the White House is that any military aged male within the target range is fair
game. If this is not the policy of a war criminal, then I do not know what
is.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>17. Many of Obama’s policies are </FONT><A
href="http://www.salon.com/2012/06/07/probing_obamas_secrecy_games/"><FONT
size=4>shrouded in secrecy</FONT></A><FONT size=4>. When the White House leaked
word about its kill list—intended to burnish its reputation as tough on
terror—nothing happened. But when people like Bradley Manning reveal the
machinations that lead to war, he is put in solitary confinement and faced with
a lengthy prison term.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>18. Despite the hostility of Netanyahu, Israel continues to get
carte blanche from the administration. When Americans consider the possibility
of joining a flotilla to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, they have to worry
about the threats of fines and imprisonment </FONT><A
href="http://www.democracynow.org/2011/6/27/obama_admin_warns_of_fines_and"><FONT
size=4>brandished by Hillary Clinton</FONT></A><FONT size=4>. Despite toothless
remonstrations to Israel about West Bank settlements, the U.S. </FONT><A
href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2011/0218/If-Obama-opposes-Israeli-settlement-activity-why-did-US-veto-UN-vote"><FONT
size=4>voted against a U.N. resolution</FONT></A><FONT size=4> that described
them as illegal. Finally, despite American nervousness about an armed attack on
Iran, the U.S. continues to back crippling sanctions all in the name of reducing
the threat to Israel, a country that flouts international treaties against its
own stockpile of nuclear weapons.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>19. Against all evidence that its occupation of Afghanistan has
been a disaster to the Afghan people and to the soldiers serving there, Obama
pledges to “finish the job” in Nixonian terms. Sticking to a 2014 deadline for
withdrawal, he will likely step up the use of drones as he begins to wind down
troop deployments. 42 states and the District of Columbia are facing serious
budget shortfalls this year. Spending for the Afghanistan war would more than
</FONT><A
href="http://costofwar.com/publications/2011/ten-years-after-911/afghanistan-war-costs/"><FONT
size=4>make up for the shortfalls</FONT></A><FONT size=4>. As is always
the case, it is guns trump butter.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>20. Despite all the hype about the breakthrough of having the
first African-American president, there are signs that Obama has largely ignored
the suffering of Black America. In a very important article that appeared in the
October 28<SUP>th</SUP> New York Times, </FONT><A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/opinion/sunday/the-price-of-a-black-president.html"><FONT
size=4>Columbia University’s director of Black studies wrote</FONT></A><FONT
size=4>: “Whether it ends in 2013 or 2017, the Obama presidency has already
marked the decline, rather than the pinnacle, of a political vision centered on
challenging racial inequality.” Among the findings in this article: 28 percent
of African-Americans, and 37 percent of black children, are poor (compared with
10 percent of whites and 13 percent of white children); 13 percent of blacks are
unemployed (compared with 7 percent of whites); more than 900,000 black men are
in prison; blacks experienced a sharper drop in income since 2007 than any other
racial group; black household wealth, which had been disproportionately
concentrated in housing, has hit its lowest level in decades; blacks accounted,
in 2009, for 44 percent of new H.I.V. infections.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>21. Obama has deported </FONT><A
href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/obamas-record-high-deportations-draw-hispanic-scorn/"><FONT
size=4>twice the number of undocumented workers</FONT></A><FONT size=4> per
annum than Bush. 59 percent of Latinos disapprove of his policies but face the
quandary of voting for Romney, who complains that Obama is not deporting
enough.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>22. Obamacare has effectively preempted the only health care
option that made sense, namely a single-payer plan that would effectively
extended Medicare (but a much improved on) to all. As Obama has said on
countless occasions, this is the same plan that Romney pushed through when he
was governor of Massachusetts. It is also the same plan that American Enterprise
Institute scholar J.D. Kleinke defended in a September 29, 2012 NYT op-ed piece
titled “The Conservative Case for Obamacare”: The rationalization and extension
of the current market is financed by the other linchpin of the law: the mandate
that we all carry health insurance, an </FONT><A
title="National Health System plan from The Heritage Foundation"
href="http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1989/a-national-health-system-for-america"><FONT
size=4>idea</FONT></A><FONT size=4> forged not by liberal social engineers at
the Brookings Institution but by conservative economists at the Heritage
Foundation. The individual mandate recognizes that millions of Americans who
could buy health insurance choose not to, because it requires trading away
today’s wants for tomorrow’s needs. The mandate is about personal responsibility
— a hallmark of conservative thought.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>23. Obama set up something called National Commission on Fiscal
Responsibility and Reform that was co-chaired by a couple of fiscal hawks, Alan
Simpson and Erskine Bowles. There are fears that the policies favored by these
two reactionaries will be implemented as cuts in Social Security in Obama’s
second term. In his debate with Romney, Obama said, “I suspect that on Social
Security, we’ve got a somewhat similar position. Social Security is structurally
sound. It’s going to have to be tweaked the way it was by Ronald Reagan and
Speaker — Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill. But it is — the basic structure is
sound.” With the likely continuation of Bush tax cuts, there will be pressure to
cut the deficit. Between Social Security and tax breaks for billionaires, guess
which will be sacrificed.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>24. The White House has been a pillar of support for charter
schools. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is one of the country’s leading
advocates for what amounts to the privatization of public schools and the
liquidation of the teacher’s union, one of the few in the country that still has
some backbone. The </FONT><A
href="http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/07/flunking-arne-duncan/"><FONT
size=4>irrepressible Diane Ravitch</FONT></A><FONT size=4> described Duncan this
way: “Duncan cheered when the superintendent of the Central Falls, Rhode Island,
school district threatened to fire every teacher in the town’s only high school;
the Education Secretary memorably said that Hurricane Katrina—which wiped out
public schools and broke the teachers’ union in New Orleans—was the best thing
that ever happened to the school system in that city. Teachers are demoralized
by such statements.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>25. Finally, in the one bright spot in recent American history
of people challenging the status quo—namely the Occupy movement—there is strong
evidence that the White House conspired with local authorities to crush it.
David Lindorff </FONT><A
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/14/did-the-white-house-direct-the-police-crackdown-on-occupy/"><FONT
size=4>reported for Counterpunch</FONT></A><FONT size=4>: “A new trove of
heavily redacted documents provided by the US Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the
Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) on behalf of filmmaker Michael Moore
and the National Lawyers Guild makes it increasingly evident that there was and
is a nationally coordinated campaign to disrupt and crush the Occupy
Movement.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>None of this should be interpreted, of course, as a preference
for Romney, which would be like recommending cyanide instead of
arsenic.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>On Tuesday I will be happily pulling the lever for </FONT><A
href="http://www.jillstein.org/"><FONT size=4>Jill Stein</FONT></A><FONT
size=4>, the Green Party candidate for
president.</FONT></P></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>