[Peace-discuss] King and Obama

[LAURIE SOLOMON]

King was no King either - at least not in the way that he gets portrayed
today; in fact, King probably would have a hard time living up to the iconic
image that we now attribute to him. Having said that, Obama is no Lincoln
either, although he appears to want to take on that mantel more than the
mantel of King. I think that the mantel of MLK is something that is foisted
on Obama by supporters and the press more than something that he has taken
on himself; and as such, it stands in contrast to Obama's attempts at the
emulation of the symbolic mythological Lincoln - Lincoln was not all he has
been cracked up to be either. 

It appears that we are caught up in some sort of pageant play set within a
mythical universe like King Author's Court and Camelot of the Kennedy years.

-----Original Message-----
From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net
[mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G.
Estabrook
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 11:20 AM
To: peace-discuss
Subject: [Peace-discuss] King and Obama

	Obama 'is no Martin Luther King'

	Many African-Americans have drawn parallels
	between Obama and Martin Luther King.
	Glen Ford, the executive editor of Black Agenda Report,
	explains why he rejects ties between the US president-elect
	and the iconic civil rights leader.

The two days touch: Dr Martin Luther King's Birthday observance and Barack 
Obama's presidential inauguration, January 19 and 20, respectively.

To many, the juxtaposition is self-evident confirmation of the intersection
of 
the two men's missions.

Dr King's journey, which ended with his murder in 1968, and Obama's ascent
to 
the presidency, are seen to merge as the dates approach to form a perfect, 
tragic-glorious symmetry - a 48-hour revelation.

The coincidence of the calendar makes for good copy and grand sermons, but
in 
fact reveals a great moral and political dissonance.

It is true that there could have been no Obama presidency had Dr King and
the 
movement he sprang from not existed, but that simple fact of history does
not 
amount to a King benediction from the grave for Obama's moral character and 
political policies.

Indeed, Dr King's life and words are indelible evidence that he and Obama 
represent opposing moral and political camps.

Tens of millions of African-Americans - who did not choose the little-known 
Obama to be their champion, but supported him near-universally at the polls
once 
his candidacy had been made "viable" - will celebrate a vicarious attainment
of 
power when Obama is sworn in.

Yet when confronted on Obama's political agenda, enough of which has been
put in 
motion and otherwise made plain since election day, few Black Obama
supporters 
can mount a cogent defence.

Policy vacuum

"Better than McCain" doesn't cut it, anymore.


When the New York Times describes the emerging Obama administration as 
"centre-right," there is not much for an honest progressive to defend - and
most 
African-Americans are progressive on economic issues and questions of war
and peace.

Beyond a ritual counting of the president-elect's African-American
appointees, 
most African-Americans seem oblivious to the political nature of his
cabinet, 
his policy pronouncements and shameful silences.

More likely, they pretend to be oblivious so as not to lose that 
once-in-a-lifetime feeling that happened when a black man won.

It is not simply that the Obama-ites failed to muster a defence in Harlem or

Baltimore or other venues; admittedly, it is difficult to defend the
indefensible.

What is most shocking - maddening - is their rejection of any political or
moral 
standard for evaluating the black soon-to-be president.

All that remains is the fact of Obama's power and the delusion that blacks 
somehow share in that power.

There is no thought of speaking the truth to those in power, and certainly
no 
place for a moral compass in such a valueless void.

Military spending

We can understand, then, how people would imagine Obama and Dr King to be
soul 
mates.

Obama is set to send more troops to Afghanistan [AFP]

The fact that one of these men fought his whole life against the forces of 
militarism and economic exploitation, while the other empowers, and is
empowered 
by, bankers and militarists, does not register on their anaesthetised moral
and 
political sensors.

If the Obama-ites had more presence of mind, they would avoid comparisons
with 
Dr King, which can only redound to Obama's great detriment.

King's break with his one-time ally, Lyndon Johnson, the former president,
set 
the standard for both political and moral behaviour.

When it became clear that the war on poverty, a programme of government aid
to 
help the poor in the mid-1960s, was doomed by the war in Vietnam, which
acted 
"like some demonic destructive suction tube," devouring all available
resources, 
King publicly declared against the war.

In doing so, he severed what had been the most productive relationship
between a 
US president and a black leader in US history.

But the war gave him no choice, since military expenditures made 
"rehabilitation" of the American poor impossible.

Both morality and politics led to the same conclusion: the movement could
not 
coexist with war.

The lesson is directly applicable today, but Americans, black and white,
find it 
difficult to recognise the characters.

Obama is Lyndon Johnson.

Historical comparisons

National revitalisation, including redress of historical African-American 
grievances, is impossible unless military expenditures are dramatically
reduced.

But Obama is committed to putting 100,000 new pairs of Marine and Army
"boots on 
the ground," an expanded war in Afghanistan/Pakistan and a generally bigger
US 
military footprint on the planet.

This, in the midst of global economic collapse.

Dr King would find creative ways to confront Obama's militarism, and to
actively 
resist further diversion of public wealth to the bankers.

Were he to survey the current political scene, King would be most impressed,
not 
with the Obamas' party plans for the night after his birthday, but with the
way 
that a daughter of Georgia salvaged Black America's moral reputation at the 
beginning of Israel's assault on Gaza.

Cynthia McKinney's [US former Green Party presidential candidate] attempted 
voyage of solidarity with the besieged people of Gaza on the medical relief
boat 
Dignity, rammed and almost sunk by Israeli warships, reminds the world that
not 
all African-Americans have morphed into warmongering clones of Colin Powell
and 
Condoleezza Rice.

Thanks to the presence of the former Georgia congresswoman on the mission, 
millions of Arabs have been made aware of a different 'Black America' one
that 
is not silent, like Barack Obama, in the face of a purposely inflicted human

rights catastrophe.

Some of us are still in our right minds.

Hopefully, most of the others will recover, sooner rather than later.

Glen Ford is executive editor of Black Agenda Report - an edited version of
this 
article appeared on its website.
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