The election of Barack Obama is a historic victory over racism, but it is not the victory of the left, argues Phyllis Bennis. The US foreign policy will become more cooperative with emphasis on soft power, but the military option will still be on the table.
In the 1970s, Martin Agronsky, a weekend talk show host in Washington, finally invited the venerable I.F. (Izzy) Stone to join the establishment “pundits.” From the early 1950s through the early 1970s, Izzy had raised the basic issues to a readership -- no more than 100,000 -- of Stone’s Weekly.
Izzy treated inequality of income as both an axiom of capitalist economic relations and as a phenomenon sustained by the annual U.S. budget -- that is, built into the “democratic” political system. He also questioned the veracity of the official U.S.
The election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States marks a welcome turning-point in American history and real progress in a society where a Black could have been sold literally as a slave just 140 years ago, and where s/he couldn’t even vote just 40 years ago.
It restores one’s faith in the possibility of genuine change for the better, or greater inclusiveness and growing respect for diversity and pluralism in a relatively conservative society.
The weight of the past, present and future will add drag to Obama's ascent to the White House
Barack Obama's victory marks a decisive generational and sociological shift in American politics. Its impact is difficult to predict at this stage, but the expectations of the majority of young people who propelled Obama to victory remain high.
At a time when we need Marx’s analytical abilities, Oliver Stone offers Freud. In his one-dimensional biopic, “W,” we do not gain insight into how a less than brilliant president circumvented carefully constructed procedures to safeguard the military industrial complex.
A new US administration will provide an opportunity for change, but it will take a powerful, mobilized antiwar movement to hold a new administration accountable to promises made, argues Phyllis Bennis.
It's a paradox. Barack Obama's candidacy is hailed as “historic” for the very sound reason that he is the first African-American to become the presidential nominee of a major party. In a country whose history is permeated by race, that's clearly a significant event, at the least a huge symbolic breakthrough.
¿Están tan fuera de contacto los principales políticos con las necesidades de la gente que solo los comediantes tratan los temas? Tradicionalmente el bufón de la corte se atrevía a llamar satíricamente la atención acerca de los problemas imperiales. En nuestra sociedad, los comediantes, "The Daily Show" y "The Colbert Report", bajo el disfraz de la payasada, se salen con la suya denunciando las estafas de las corporaciones y las agencias gubernamentales egoístas.
