[Peace-discuss] A new book on the betrayal of American liberalism

[C. G. Estabrook]

  The critique of Obama that caused a schism in AWARE five years ago relied in 
part on Street's work, especially his analysis of Audacity of Hope.

Hodge puts that critique in the context of "the long right turn of he Democratic 
party" (the reason, e.g., Tom Frank's /What the Matter with Kansas/ is 
misperceived).


On 10/17/10 4:46 PM, Morton K. Brussel wrote:
> Why ignore Paul Street's books and commentary, he who has been pointing out 
> the phony character of Obama for some time. Hodge, in other words, is not 
> unique in his analysis of Obama. --mkb
>
> On Oct 17, 2010, at 12:57 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>
>> [Hodge, a former editor at Harper's, has got it right - what some of us in 
>> AWARE have been saying since Obama's visit to C-U five years ago.  He even 
>> uses the title we've employed on occasion.  “Hodge skillfully draws the veil 
>> from Obama’s allegedly reformist agenda to expose the reality of the programs 
>> to ensure that no major stakeholder in his coalition of corporate backers 
>> will suffer significant losses, and will even enjoy spectacular gains — the 
>> perfection of the long right turn of the Democratic Party since the 1970s, as 
>> financialization of the economy led to shedding New Deal commitments so as to 
>> compete with the Republicans for corporate patronage. He calls for a 
>> revitalization of the founding tradition of civil virtue and republican 
>> values of liberty, a message that should be taken to heart if we are to 
>> reverse the drift toward an ugly future.”  --CGE]
>>
>>
>> /*The Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism
>> */by Roger D. Hodge
>>
>> This is what I’ve been waiting for—a profound and hard-hitting critique of 
>> the Obama administration from the left! The Mendacity of Hope should help 
>> wake up all those Obama voters who’ve been napping while the wars escalate, 
>> the recession deepens, and the environment goes straight to hell.”
>>
>> —Barbara Ehrenreich
>>
>> “Ready to wake up from the Obama dream yet? If so, this thrillingly scathing 
>> and relentlessly truthful cri de coeur is your strong cup of coffee. Hodge 
>> skewers the sloppy intellectual culture that willed this political chimera 
>> into being, while expertly unmasking the corporate machine that is the real 
>> Brand Obama. Drink up.”
>>
>> —Naomi Klein
>>
>> “An eloquently sober indictment of the corruption which impels the self 
>> aggrandizement of our executive branch, much to the bane of our Constitution. 
>> A frightening book whose conclusions ought to haunt every American.”
>>
>> —William T. Vollmann
>>
>> “Roger Hodge has written a desperately needed exposé of how Barack Obama is 
>> not the messiah of liberalism but its designated gravedigger—he is one of the 
>> all too few voices on the progressive side who dares to tell the truth about 
>> the corporate masters this administration actually serves, and the dire 
>> effect of that allegiance upon what is left of our Republic. This is a 
>> blazing indictment of corporate collusion and a bracing injection of hard 
>> truths.”
>>
>> —Naomi Wolf
>>
>> “Hodge skillfully draws the veil from Obama’s allegedly ‘reformist agenda’ to 
>> expose the reality of the programs ‘to ensure that no major stakeholder in 
>> his coalition of corporate backers will suffer significant losses,’ and will 
>> even enjoy spectacular gains—the ‘perfection of the long right turn’ of the 
>> Democratic Party since the 1970s, as financialization of the economy led to 
>> shedding New Deal commitments so as ‘to compete with the Republicans for 
>> corporate patronage.’ He calls for a revitalization of the founding tradition 
>> of civil virtue and republican values of liberty, a message that should be 
>> taken to heart if we are to reverse the drift toward an ugly future.”
>>
>> —Noam Chomsky
>>
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>
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