Feb 09 2011

Kabuki Democracy: The System Vs. Barack Obama

Eric AltermanPresident Barack Obama is hosting Republican leaders for lunch at the White House today in an attempt to reach out to the party that has created the worst atmosphere of political hostility in recent memory. It’s part of the President’s plan to reach out to the GOP after it gave Democrats a thrashing in the last election. But, according to journalist Eric Alterman, that type outreach is not only ineffective, it reveals a perpetual political blindness by Obama to the fact that his opposition party has any interest whatsoever in actually governing. In his new book Kabuki Democracy: The System Vs. Barack Obama, Alterman posits that the American political system is structured to work against progressive change, from Senators’ power of secret holds on legislation, to the overwhelming and legalized system of corporate political bribery, to the dominance of Rupert Murdoch’s extremist media machine shifting the debate further and further to the right. Despite numerous strategic missteps by President Obama, he faces a right-wing juggernaut so powerful that it should come as no surprise that Candidate Obama’s promises have not panned out. Furthermore, according to Alterman, “[President] Roosevelt was pushed from the left by a genuine mass movement [while advocating for the New Deal] whereas Barack Obama is facing the opposite.”

GUEST: Eric Alterman, Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism at Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, a columnist for The Nation, Moment, and the Daily Beast, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Fellow at the Nation Institute, and the author of several books including the national bestseller “What Liberal Media?” His latest book is Kabuki Democracy: The System Vs. Barack Obama

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Kabuki Democracy: The System Vs. Barack Obama”

  1. Bo Modenon 03 Mar 2011 at 3:14 am

    But please dear friends! Brand Obama was sold to you by the global corporate finance pentagon power with it´s center on Wall street and in City of London.
    He is doing their bidding. He is not blind. He is the the best face money can buy. He is bought and paid for handling this coup in slow motion. By definition US has been made a global fascist state and their media is the most important tool to maintain control. The symbolism of Rupert Murdoch´s take over of Wall Street Journal is pregnant and extraordinary telling.

    In my homecountry Sweden we recived special advice by Bush brain Karl Rove et.al to get our present reactionary primeminister Reinfeldt elected. I suppose this Bush friend Reinfeldt is eager to get his hands on Assange and hand him over to US injustice.

    Carry on with your good work!

  2. franciscaon 07 Mar 2011 at 11:49 pm

    http://my.firedoglake.com/elliott/2011/02/20/kabuki-democracy-the-system-vs-barack-obama-book-salon-preview/

    Sorry Bo, we’re working on it.

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