[Peace-discuss] Uncle Noam on the BBC

[Karen Medina]

I completely agree with Barbara.

And I think she would agree that much of our responsibility lies in talking with 
our fellow citizens -- the only way to Move the Center.

-karen medina

---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:42:19 -0600
>From: "Barbara kessel" <barkes at gmail.com>  
>Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Uncle Noam on the BBC  
>To: kmedina at illinois.edu
>Cc: "peace discuss" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>
>   I think the Chomsky point is that it is a great
>   opening moment for the People and for organizers of
>   people, a point also made by Naomi Klein (on October
>   29) who said, "Obama is a Centrist. It is up to us
>   to move the Center."  Even were he to be better than
>   our fears, he cannot fail to disappoint because the
>   size of the mess he steps into. 
>         We need now to "stretch the map" of anti-war
>   protestors. Just because 64% of the voters said that
>   their top issue was the economy and 10% said it was
>   the war does not mean that these issues remain
>   unrelated in all the minds of that 64%. True
>   Anecdote: 84 year old father of a friend of mine,
>   who is a veteran of WWII, a stone racist, always
>   voted Republican, cast his first Democratic vote for
>   Obama saying to his grown children, "I am sick and
>   tired of seeing the government throwing our money
>   away on useless and unnecessary wars."  Barbara
>   Kessel
>
>   On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 11:12 AM, Karen Medina
>   <kmedina at illinois.edu> wrote:
>
>     >The Prophet [Noam] says: what matters is what
>     people do with their
>     disappointment when Obama fails to meet their
>     expectations.
>
>     I think the best thing Obama can do is hire the
>     best cabinet possible to do the real
>     work and he be the negotiator between the groups.
>     He's smart enough and there is
>     some evidence that he just might find the humility
>     to do this.
>
>     He should take on one thing himself: universal
>     healthcare would be a good choice.
>
>     My worst fear is that he appoints only centrists
>     and the right to his cabinet. He has
>     a mandate to move left, but he may not be able to
>     recognize it. He has a tendency
>     to overcompensate to the right.
>     -karen medina