[Peace-discuss] The "middle" muddle

[C. G. Estabrook]

[A good gloss on Klein's much-quoted "centrist" comment. --CGE]

	Published on Thursday, November 6, 2008 by The Huffington Post
	Real Change Depends on Stopping the Bailout Profiteers
	by Naomi Klein

To understand the meaning of the U.S. election results, it is worth looking back 
to the moment when everything changed for the Obama campaign. It was, without 
question, the moment when the economic crisis hit Wall Street.

Up to that point, things weren't looking all that good for Barack Obama. The 
Democratic National Convention barely delivered a bump, while the appointment of 
Sarah Palin seemed to have shifted the momentum decisively over to John McCain.

Then, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed, followed by insurance giant AIG, then 
Lehman Brothers. It was in this moment of economic vertigo that Obama found a 
new language. With tremendous clarity, he turned his campaign into a referendum 
into the deregulation and trickle down policies that have dominated mainstream 
economic discourse since Ronald Reagan. He said his opponent represented more of 
the same while he stood for a new direction, one that would rebuild the economy 
from the ground up, rather than the top down. Obama stayed on this message for 
the rest of the campaign and, as we just saw, it worked.

The question is now whether Obama will have the courage to take the ideas that 
won him this election and turn them into policy. Or, alternately, whether he 
will use the financial crisis to rationalize a move to what pundits call "the 
middle" (if there is one thing this election has proved, it is that the real 
middle is far to the left of its previously advertised address). Predictably, 
Obama is already coming under enormous pressure to break his election promises, 
particularly those relating to raising taxes on the wealthy and imposing real 
environmental regulations on polluters. All day on the business networks, we 
hear that, in light of the economic crisis, corporations need lower taxes, and 
fewer regulations - in other words, more of the same.

The new president's only hope of resisting this campaign being waged by the 
elites is if the remarkable grassroots movement that carried him to victory can 
somehow stay energized, networked, mobilized - and most of all, critical. Now 
that the election has been won, this movement's new mission should be clear: 
loudly holding Obama to his campaign promises, and letting the Democrats know 
that there will be consequences for betrayal.

The first order of business - and one that cannot wait until inauguration - must 
be halting the robbery-in-progress known as the "economic bailout." I have spent 
the past month examining the loopholes and conflicts of interest embedded in the 
U.S. Treasury Department's plans. The results of that research can be found in a 
just published feature article in Rolling Stone, The Bailout Profiteers as well 
as my most recent Nation column, Bush's Final Pillage.

Both these pieces argue that the $700-billion "rescue plan" should be regarded 
as the Bush Administration's final heist. Not only does it transfer billions of 
dollars of public wealth into the hands of politically connected corporations (a 
Bush specialty), but it passes on such an enormous debt burden to the next 
administration that it will make real investments in green infrastructure and 
universal health care close to impossible. If this final looting is not stopped 
(and yes, there is still time), we can forget about Obama making good on the 
more progressive aspects of his campaign platform, let alone the hope that he 
will offer the country some kind of grand Green New Deal.

Readers of The Shock Doctrine know that terrible thefts have a habit of taking 
place during periods of dramatic political transition. When societies are 
changing quickly, the media and the people are naturally focused on big "P" 
politics - who gets the top appointments, what was said in the most recent 
speech. Meanwhile, safe from public scrutiny, far reaching pro-corporate 
policies are locked into place, dramatically restricting future possibilities 
for real change.

It's not too late to halt the robbery in progress, but it cannot wait until 
inauguration. Several great initiatives to shift the nature of the bailout are 
already underway, including bailoutmainstreet.com. I added my name to the "Call 
to Action: Time for a 21st Century Green America" and invite you to do the same.

Stopping the bailout profiteers is about more than money. It is about democracy. 
Specifically, it is about whether Americans will be able to afford the change 
they have just voted for so conclusively.

Copyright © 2008 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

Naomi Klein is the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster 
Capitalism, now out in paperback. To read all her latest writing visit 
www.naomiklein.org