[Peace-discuss] Arab-Americans and Obama's False Hope

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Yeah, and it's not just wanting to keep the job (tho' every politician's first goal is to get reelected, not counting Kucinich in his reelection bid for mayor, God love him). And it's not just all the compromising and making nice that gets watered down versions of bills passed (rather than thrown out). It's just that they can roll up their pant legs just so high, ya know?
   --Jenifer

"John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:
  At 03:43 AM 2/6/2008, Jenifer Cartwright wrote:

  Pathetic, isn't it? As I said, things changed when Obama got to Washingotn... and not the change I was hoping for. Maybe it's the damned town, ya know?? Didn't do much for Kerry either, after all that great post Vietnam protesting...
 --Jenifer

Washington either changes people, or they don't stay there very long.  There's no question about it.



  "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
  
  
   [The following is from "Can I Have My Change Back? Arab-Americans and Obama's 
  
   False Hope," by Remi Kanazi, a Palestinian-American poet from New York City. He 
  
   is the co-founder of www.PoeticInjustice.net and the editor of the forthcoming 
  
   anthology of poetry," Poets for Palestine." --CGE]

  
   ...Senator Obama is not anti-war, nor does he genuinely seek appropriate 
  
   alternatives to militarism in the Middle East. Arab-Americans and putative 
  
   leftists naively, and sometimes willfully, overlook the fact that he is an 
  
   ardent supporter of the invasion, bombing, and ongoing occupation of 
  
   Afghanistan. One also cannot dismiss that his views are consistent with the 
  
   Democratic Party platform, which aspires to refocus on Afghanistan. Obama plans 
  
   to deploy additional troops in and increase funding for the operation in 
  
   Afghanistan, but as with the case in Iraq, it will only intensify the struggles 
  
   of the civilian population of the country. Obama fully supported the Lebanon 
  
   war, (even as the Israeli military killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians and 
  
   leveled civilian infrastructure with tens of thousands of US-shipped cluster 
  
   bombs), and played up his pro-Israel rhetoric nearly as much as his current 
  
   Democratic opponent, Hilary Clinton. As with nearly every other candidate, 
  
   Obama wholly supports Israel's 40 year occupation of Palestinian land and 
  
   dutifully endorsed the siege of Gaza. Surprisingly, this is a politician who 
  
   once curried favor with prominent members of the Palestinian community, 
  
   attending a community fundraiser in which Edward Said was the keynote speaker, 
  
   dining with Rashid Khalidi in Chicago, and receiving praise from Ali Abuminah 
  
   during his time as a state senator. Domestically, too, his shift to the right 
  
   is glaringly apparent, reflecting weaker stances on undocumented residents, the 
  
   Patriot Act, gay rights, and a host of other issues...

  
   Full article at
  
   mrzine.monthlyreview.org/kanazi050208.html 

       
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