Jun 30 2008
The Changing Face of Barack Obama
GUEST: Norman Solomon, elected Obama delegate, and author of War Made Easy, Syndicated columnist of “Media and Politics”
Economist and New York Times op-ed writer, Paul Krugman, writes this morning, “It’s feeling a lot like 1992 right now. It’s also feeling a lot like 1980. But which parallel is closer? Is Barack Obama going to be a Ronald Reagan of the left, a president who fundamentally changes the country’s direction? Or will he be just another Bill Clinton?” Many progressives who supported Barack Obama against Hilary Clinton during the Democratic primary elections, are disappointed by several recent moves made by the Illinois senator after he clinched the nomination. Among those are a fervently pro-Israel speech made to the Israeli lobby group, AIPAC, a Bill-Cosby-like Father’s Day speech aimed at failing black fathers, a rejection of public campaign financing, and his most recent announced intention to vote for the FISA bill which will legalize much of George Bush’s illegal wiretapping policies. Is Barack Obama using sound political strategy to woo the country’s independent and centrist voters? Will he ultimately reveal his true progressive colors if and when he makes it into the White House? Perhaps. Or maybe, progressive supporters of Obama are being extremely politically naive.
2 Responses to “The Changing Face of Barack Obama”
“Or maybe, progressive supporters of Obama are being extremely politically naive.” And we would find that out by your bringing on Norman Solomon, “elected Obama delegate.” I can’t stand to listen to Uprising anymore. I’m sick of the corporatist Barack. Why don’t you bring on Ralph? Why don’t you bring on Ralph supporters? Why don’t you bring on Cynthia and Cynthia supporters? Barack Obama = the death of the left.
Dear Keesha,
Thank you for your comments. The reason we brought on Norman is because he is and has been quite critical of Obama even as he is very unpopular among the party elite. We regularly run commentaries by Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report who is super-critical of Obama and advocates McKinney (and Kucinich before that) instead. We like to try to have a variety of voices, not just one approach or another and I hope you can appreciate that.
Also, we have requests in for interviews with both Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney and are waiting to hear if they will materialize. If we can’t get them, we will certainly try to interview Green Party folks ahead of next week’s Green Party Convention. We have done an interview with Matt Gonzalez, Nader’s running mate, in May which can be heard here:
http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=2680
Regards,
Sonali Kolhatkar