Greg Palast: Obama's a DEMOCRAT

Greg Palast is right to point to the great change that Obama is using his political capital to enforce. Not to be a wet blanket, but if Obama didn't need any Republican votes on the stimulus bill, why did he have to put so much of it into tax cuts? Or was that somehow a good thing? The $500 credit vs. social security payments was surely good. I'm almost sorry now I retired -- how I used to resent not getting credit for those deductions. But for job creation Obama might have -- maybe he did-- give a similar deduction to employers. But what do I know?
Meanwhile we can try to enjoy the gains so far -- if Obama can get his bill passed. And we can resume worrying about Israel-Palestine/ Afghanistan/ Iraq/Pakistan the week after that.
Ronald
***


Obama is a two-faced liar. Aw-RIGHT!

by Greg Palast

January 29, 2009

Republicans are right. President Barack Obama treated them like dirt,
didn't give a damn what they thought about his stimulus package, loaded it with a
bunch of programs that will last for years and will never leave the budget, is
giving away money disguised as "tax refunds," and is sneaking in huge changes in
policy, from schools to health care, using the pretext of an economic emergency.

Way to go, Mr. O! Mr. Down-and-Dirty Chicago pol. Street-fightin' man.
Covering over his break-your-face power play with a "we're all post-partisan
friends" BS.

And it's about time.

Frankly, I was worried about this guy. Obama's appointing Clinton-droids
to the Cabinet, bloated incompetents like Larry Summers as "Economics Czar," made
me fear for my country, that we'd gotten another Democrat who wished he were a
Republican.

Then came Obama's money bomb. The House bill included $125 billion for
schools (TRIPLING
federal spending on education), expanding insurance coverage to the
unemployed,
making the most progressive change in the tax code in four decades by
creating a
$500 credit against social security payroll deductions, and so on.

It's as if Obama dug up Ronald Reagan's carcass and put a stake through The
Gipper's anti-government heart. Aw-RIGHT!

About the only concession Obama threw to the right-wing trogs was to
remove the subsidy for condoms, leaving hooker-happy GOP Senators, like David Vitter,
to pay for their own protection. S'OK with me.

And here's the proof that Bam is The Man: Not one single Republican
congressman
voted for the bill. And that means that Obama didn't compromise, the way
Clinton
and Carter would have, to win the love of these condom-less jerks.

And we didn't need'm. Nyah! Nyah! Nyah!

Now I understand Obama's weird moves: dinner with those creepy conservative
columnists, earnest meetings at the White House with the Republican
leaders, a dramatic begging foray into Senate offices. Just as the Republicans say,
it was all a fraud. Obama was pure Chicago, Boss Daley in a slim skin, putting
his arms around his enemies, pretending to listen and care and compromise, then
slowly, quietly, slipping in the knife. All while the media praises Obama's
"post-partisanship."
Heh heh heh.

Love it. Now we know why Obama picked that vindictive little viper Rahm
Emanuel as staff chief: everyone visiting the Oval office will be greeted by the
Windy City hit man who would hack up your grandma if you mess with the
Godfather-in-Chief.

I don't know about you, but THIS is the change I've been waiting for.

Will it last? We'll see if Obama caves in to more tax cuts to investment
bankers. We'll see if he stops the sub-prime scum-bags from foreclosing on
frightened families. We'll see if he stands up to the whining, gormless generals who
don't know how to get our troops out of Iraq. (In SHIPS, you doofusses!)

Look, don't get your hopes up. But it may turn out the new President's ... a Democrat!

******

Greg Palast's investigative reports for BBC and Rolling Stone can be seen
at www.GregPalast.com.
Palast is the author of New York Times bestsellers The Best Democracy
Money Can
Buy and Armed Madhouse.

Ken's comment:

Who cares about any of this when O-BOMB-A is busy killing Palestinians and Afghans?

Peace,
Ken