The longest discussion we had on Obama here at Cobb was begun on October 13, the very cusp of the credit crisis. I made a provocative inquiry that bears repeating.
Submitted for your consideration. Barack Obama represents himself as a candidate for Social Justice, and as such, based upon socialist ideas, defies the authority of America as the ultimate philosophical origin of his legitimate power. Obama believes more in social justice than in the American Constitution and will seek to change American life in deference to principles originating out of Leftist critiques of Capitalism and of Western Society.
Obama will exploit class, race and gender narratives in order to achieve his vision of social justice and will attempt to transform the political consciousness of America by convincing it that its principles of equality as envisioned by the Founders was insufficient to sustain a moral society. This vision of social justice will of necessity hew to principles of Marxism.
As President, Obama would be necessarily constrained to effect significant changes in the way America works, but his emphasis and attempts would all come in defiance of the individual for the purposes of the collective.
I challenge anyone to show what principles Obama has championed and what rhetoric he has spoken that contradict my assertions here. I believe that Obama is intelligent, opportunistic and ruthlessly pragmatic and that any argument that fails to locate his core beliefs is further evidence of his ambition. Therefore, whether or not he wins this election, those core beliefs and their intellectual provenance must be identified.
I think the man is sufficiently overcome by events, and rather like George W. Bush, his legacy will have everything to do with is ability to deal with a crisis that he was not prepared for. Just as Bush was highly influenced by the Neocons in the most significant of his detailed tactics in not for his overall strategy, Obama will be influenced by the legacy of Yale Economics, Keynesians all, and their arms in his administration will be in the persons of Geightner and Summers who will act as if monetary policy is dead. His new auxiliary headed by Paul Volker will also be a part of the economic influence posse which is currently unnamed.
The Right will blame changes in social policy and entitlements as part and parcel of Obama's overarching 'Socialist' strategy, but I don't see it that way. Just as I didn't see GWB as a 'warmonger' unable to resist a 'Christianist' clash of civilizations. Rather I see Obama still as ruthlessly pragmatic. He will address the job in front of him, and he won't have much time for this social agenda. The man is out of the ghetto and he has a completely new, upgraded and smarter set of attendants than bushy eyebrowed radicals like Alinsky and Mansonesque rich white trash like Ayers and Dorn. I think Obama is going to enjoy the work. I certainly would if I was in his shoes.
So this is the ultimate abandonment of what I predicted, Obama's rhetoric for the masses. It's not because he didn't want to try and make those social dots connect. It's because he realizes the stakes are too high for him and he's on the big stage now. But I think it's also because we are now living in an age when, incredibly 100 billion is not a very large number any longer. So his executive order on SCHIP will be forgotten two weeks from today in the larger scheme of things.
On the other hand, in our wildest dreams, none of us suspected that Citibank and Bank of America might not survive an Obama administration. The way (if at all) he lifts a finger may become more symbolic than anything in the campaign.
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