American foreign policy will not change substantially until a president acknowledges that we create threats, and figures out that we all would be better off if the US didn't act like a bully, or the world's policeman. That is not likely to happen until the sheeple who attend Sarah Palin's rallies, and who think patriotism means blind adoration of your country and its leaders, and that any finding of fault means you hate America, stop sitting on their brains. As long as Palin's "Pro-America" small-towners and their brothers and sisters in larger cities who swallowed Bush's post 9-11 propaganda about evildoers who "hate our freedoms" post "United We Stand" and "We are Resolved" signs in their shop windows, and "Support the Troops" stickers on their cars without ever asking "Stand where?", "Resolved to do what?" and "Who benefits from our troops being in harm's way?" this nation will always have cannon fodder for the politicians of both parties, who receive contributions from the corporations that are the true beneficiaries of American's pro-war foreign policy. And while those politicians are bailing out Wall Street, the veterans are being tossed onto Main Street. Although solid numbers on veteran foreclosures are not available, RealtyTrac, a Web site that follows foreclosures nationwide, reported earlier this year that areas with large numbers of military personnel have foreclosures at a rate four times the national average.6
Obama does not believe that the "war on terror" is wrong. He sees a place for military engagement with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. For example, the Democratic Party Platform says: We cannot tolerate a sanctuary for Al Qaeda. We need a stronger and sustained partnership between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and NATO-including necessary assets like satellites and predator drones-to better secure the border, to take out terrorist camps, and to crack down on cross-border insurgents. 7 (I will not here get into the issue of how real or how infiltrated by CIA Al-Qaeda might be). Even if you do not believe that the United States government let 9/11 happen on purpose, or to go even further, as I do, that the United States government made 9/11 happen on purpose, you should ask yourself: Does our continued military presence in Southwest Asia only increase the recruitment capability of terrorist groups? Let's put it another way: If a foreign military force occupied your hometown, would you resist or aid the resisters, even is that resistance included violence? One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
The Black Bill Clinton
The parallels between Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are truly striking. Both first sought the presidency while still in their forties. Both faced opponents a generation older. Both were raised in financially straitened households with an absent father. (Clinton's birth father died before Bill was born and his stepfather was an alcoholic. Barack's father left the family when Barack was 2). Both managed nonetheless to attend prestigious universities (Clinton: Georgetown, Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and Yale Law; Obama: Columbia and Harvard Law). Both married strong, highly educated women and both fathered daughters.
The Obama campaign has frequently argued that a John McCain presidency would be, in effect, the third Bush term. Barack Obama appears to be a continuation of Bill Clinton.
At this year's first debate among the Democratic candidates the moderator asked, "Senator Obama, you have Bill Clinton's former national security adviser, state department policy director and navy secretary, among others, advising you. With relatively little foreign policy experience of you own, how will you rely on so many Clinton advisers and still deliver the kind of break from the past that you're promising voters?" As Obama fumbled for an answer, "Well, the,uh, I am..." Senator Hillary Clinton started cackling and said, "I wanna hear that." To which Obama replied, "Well, Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me as well. I wanna gather up talent from everywhere."8
Indeed, Obama has hundreds of advisers, paid and volunteer, in both domestic and foreign policy. But those closest to him are a recycling of previous administrations and Washington power politics. The change is in the offices they will sit in during an Obama Administration. If he really wanted change, he would surround himself mostly with the best and brightest of the men and women whose voices are not often heard in Washington. If you are reading this article, you have probably read, or listened to, or taken a class from, or participated in a project started by these new people. Recycling is generally a good thing, but it does have its limits.
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