Barack Obama has been called everything from a gun-hating, closet-Muslim hiding socialist to a big-government loving, deficit exploding,
tax increasing, class-warfare waging liberal elitist. He's been
compared to Hitler and denounced for wanting to destroy capitalism
and/or America. He pals around with terrorists. They say he wasn't born
in America and secretly hates white people.
For partisan Democrats, the Right's deluge of attacks
on Obama over the years might be seen as a great gift, as it has
understandably painted conservatives who echo these sentiments as
laughably crazy (or brilliant propagandists adept at appealing to the
fears of their base). But for those that get their news from outside the
right-wing echo chamber, the
truth of these smears is well understood. Most of the critiques that we
hear of Obama in the media are thus totally bunk and readily laughed at.
Tragically,
this has given the mainstream debate about Obama's successes and
failures a false illusion of depth. On one hand you have all the lies
and myths of the Republicans representing Obama's fiercest critique, and
on the other hand you have all the defenders of Obama singing his
accomplishments and virtues while debunking all the myths constructed by
the Right.
Moderates, independents, and casual progressives not tuned in to alternative media are left to wonder, "If Republicans hate him so much, and the baseless attacks from Republicans is all they have to complain about, he must be doing something right... right?"
The following 4 articles and two videos challenges this falsely constructed spectrum of opinion and offers a true (reality-based) critique of Obama. Just imagine if these perspectives were allowed to enter the mainstream debate.
One Response to Daniel Ellsberg's call for swing-state lefties to vote for Obama
1. Lifting the Veil: Obama and the Failure of Capitalist Democracy (2011) (Documentary)
My top pick for this feature - Lifting the Veil - is a significant achievement. The 114 minute film offers the most definitive
critique of the Obama administration from a reality-based perspective
(IE, a critique not based on propaganda and spin). It thoroughly
deconstructs the hypocrisy of U.S. politics, democracy, capitalism and
other aspects of the American brand.
At once disillusioning, the film inspires and offers a great message of
hope in it's evocative finale and excellent choice of music. It also
points to the most immediate alternative for building a new, directly
democratic and liberated world within the shell of the old (workplace
democracy). In a nod to Occupy Wall Street, the film exemplifies the movement's bi-partisan
critique of the status quo, its deep rejection of surface-level reforms
or solutions, and the deep insight that comes from waking up to the way
the world really is.
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