Everyone is talking about Obama’s meltdown in Tampa yesterday
when a student who had worked for his campaign asked him about Palestinian human-rights. There is the president’s inane temporizing as he tried to collect his thoughts–turning to another youth and asking if he had gotten those beads in New Orleans–and then a phrase that George W. Bush could have come up with, "The Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries…" Till finally Obama had mentally assembled a few hollow phrases that did not answer Laila Abdelaziz’s question. Adam Horowitz says that it is the first real gotcha moment he has seen with Obama, and it came at the hands of a young Arab-American.
This follows the State of the Union speech in which Obama never talked about Israel/Palestine, thereby walking away from the Cairo promise of last June. As well as the solidification of his neoliberal braintrust around essentially the same policy that the neoconservative braintrust of his predecessor had: we support the Israeli occupation.
I try to be optimistic, and the answer to the Establishment’s political collapse is stirring all around us. In the nonviolent movement inside the West Bank, in Judge Goldstone’s championing of Palestinian dignity, in the BDS movement on college campuses (which I keep saying that even "liberal Zionists" will have to sign on to in some way), in the Nation’s description of the West Bank as "apartheid," in the rise of firm realist opposition to Obama’s policy, and also in this 54-member Congressional letter to Obama demanding an end to "the de facto collective punishment of the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip." Collective punishment! 54 members of Congress finally spoke of collective punishment of Palestinians.
Yes these are all just stirrings. But the political diversity of this gathering, of those who regard the Israeli occupation as brutal and central, is remarkable. In the words of William James that Pete Seeger has painted on his barn, that’s how movements work: "I am… with the invisible molecular moral forces that work from individual to individual, stealing in through the crannies of the world like so many soft rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, and yet rending the hardest monuments of mans pride, if you give them time."
It showsthat he is at least ashamed of himself, as he ought to be.
Next, he’ll be screening the questions, then the questioners, continuing his metamorphosis into Bush 44.
Actually, he already does filter questions; as all politicians do via their handlers/staff. She got through this filter somehow–perhaps his filter cadre assumed she would never ask such a question since she had worked for Obama’s election campaign. Goes to show us all that Israel First is an assumed POV for Obama and his hired and even voluntary supporters.
If Obama assumes that all his former campaign workers are now going to ask him favorable questions, he’s more deluded than I thought. These are the very people he has most betrayed.
Well yes, that’s a good observation, potsherd. What he assumed was that his
filter cadre would weed out people with questions such as the one posed to him by the Palestinian American college student. He’s not deluded, it’s just that his
public question filter cadre failed him. And yes, the questioner is most definitely
an example of the very people he betrayed. She is not alone.
She was a master. She led with a compliment and then brought down the hammer.
Yes she did; I found her on Facebook and sent her a kudo. (At least I think that was her).
The account of the Tampa meeting at JSF explores another incident: at the mentiopn of the questioner’s Arabic-sounding name, the audience BOOED. And Obama did fuck-all. You want to boo Arabic-sounding names, it’s all okey-dokey with The First Chump.
And then right to “plagued the region for centuries”!
He’s not smart, he’s not, in real terms “articulate”, and he is spectacularly lacking in courage. George Bush might as well still be President.
And above it all, I keep asking myself “What on earth did Obama think they were going to do in return if he left them all in their jobs, unindicted, uncourt-martialed, univestigated?” What a chump.
He should change his name from “Barack” to “Bupkis”. It’s not as Arabic-sounding.
I listened to the audio. It’s disingenuous of JSF to describe it as “the audience booed.” It was a mix of cheers and boos. Obviously, the booing is disheartening, but by the description JSF gave I was prepared for a chorus of boos, as if the entire audience was against her. That is not what I heard.
I also find it a little odd when I hear a lot of pro-Palestinian activists speak on these issues. This is a deadly serious issue, and Laila Abdelazizd sounded like she was on a game show. I am not asking anyone to feign emotion, but the tone of things is very important to presenting the seriousness of the issue to the American public.
Good point, but if you’re not in that frame of mind when you’re asking your question, you run the risk of sounding forced or trite if you do use emotion to give the issue more gravitas which ends up hurting you and your message more.
That’s true. I just don’t know how much these type of events really help to change minds. I get this impression from a lot of other “peace groups” as well (Code Pink comes to mind). It’s almost as if it’s a social club for a lot of the people involved – they’ll do a few hours of activism, and then have lattes. We need to get information out there as much as possible, but the information needs to change hearts and minds, and I don’t see that happening in cases like this. I think it’s more a case of “preaching to the choir,” and the minds that really need to be changed laugh at what they see as just another wacky leftist.
I think one of the great tools available to us activists (whether NRA members or Code Pink members) is our ability to appeal to people on a personal level.
A few days ago when Phil mentioned that he had raised his tone during a discussion he was having with a couple he invited to his home, it reminded me again how conflicting such issues are; on the one hand we want to be good hosts, good employees, good bosses, good neighbors, but at the same time we find it crucial to “spread the message” by word of mouth to those people with which we interact on a daily basis.
That brings me back to the realization that instead of compartmentalizing our lives — something I’ll admit I have been doing — we must engage as many people across many media to inform and educate. Of course, it should not reach the point where one becomes anti-social and/or is ostracized by the people he knows. In other words, it doesn’t have to be a sacrifice where engaging in this activism turns one’s personal life into a complete wreck. It’s when the activism becomes religious-like that a line needs to be drawn.
And those are my $0.02
link to haaretz.com
54 U.S. lawmakers urge Obama to press for end to Gaza siege
He’s never responded to that, has he?
not yet. Do you think it’s on the top of the pile?
The top of the “send to shredder” pile.
You mean ‘return to sender’ pile?
How does linking Walt’s report of CFR’s Haass turning neocon on Iran constitute “the rise of firm realist opposition”? Lack of opposition, more like it.
What on earth are you on about, Fust Cless? Could I have it in a sentence or two? I’m flummoxed? All I’m getting out of it is that you can’t expect Jews to build a Christian society and culture in America. That seems reasonable enough to me.
Geez, Mooser, if you go back and read Phil’s post you should understand the question. Here’s a helpful hint. Look for this phrase in Phil’s post: ” in the rise of firm realist opposition to Obama’s policy” and click on the link embeded within it which takes you to an article by Stephen Walt about CFR’s Richard Haas pushing for regime change in Iran.
Your name calling is getting old and interfering with your ability to understand. And you are mind-reading again. Try listening instead. Listening doesn’t mean you have to agree, but it does mean that you have to actually understand what someone is saying to rationally disagree and not just be making petty scoring points by knocking down strawmen.
I’m sorry, I’m completely unable to understand what he (America Fust Cless) is getting at. It started in another post and has to do with TAC magazine or something.
But since you seem to object to knocking down strawmen, I’ll leave it alone.
I’m not aware of the other comment you are talking about, but it seems to me to be pretty clear what AF is questioning here with this statement. Maybe if you just look at the comment by itself, without trying to tie it in to any other comment on any other post, you could understand it.
It stands on its own and is a question about why Phil considers the article linked an example of, in Phil’s words, “the rise of firm realist opposition to Obama’s policies”, when the article is about a so called “realist” gone neocon about Iran.
I think that Phil is probably referring to Walt as the “firm realist opposition” although I can easily see how someone could think that Phil is citing Haass as in opposition, which is belied by the article.
Mooser,
I didn’t get that. Sounded to me like they booed at the name of her university. Some college rivalry going on, that’s all.
The audience DID boo at the question not the questioner – Obama had a sympathetic audience for his inane, rightwing response.
Obama’s line that Netanyahu is back by his coalition partners would be condescending if it weren’t patently untrue.
Obama’s capitulated on Israel/Palestine.
I moved a lot growing up. Lived in NYC, 1st to 2nd grade. Then in Pittsburgh, PA then Ohio.
I lived in a small town for 4-5 years. There was racism, but it was also middle school.
I have been called a ‘sand-nigger’ once though (on an away basketball game, that we won, in Indiana). (I was at Howe Military Academy for one year.)
During high school, that stuff was pretty much non-existent.
After 9/11, I never had issues with it. I never ‘felt’ the backlash.
I can’t imagine what it must be for Arabs and Muslims, or Palestinian-Americans. How do you they identify? How can they feel American, when we’re over there and supporting Israel?
It’s weird. How do you reconcile who you are within the nation-State culture? When you look throughout our history, there were plenty of ‘anti-American’ people (like Silas Soule) who fought against ‘the Establishment’ and made the country more civilized and democratic.
Aren’t those people the ones who made this country great? People like that, who made it so an Arab or Muslim can not simply come here, but feel like they are a part of the country?
I hope they weren’t booing her just because she was an Arab. I can deal w/ them booing the question since it’s politics.
So they could be wrong about that incident? I’m with you, it shouldn’t have been reported that way if it wasn’t clear. So there was nothing for Obama to respond to, beyond a little reflexive college rivalry booing. Obama was indeed inane.
The Middle East has plagued the region for centuries!
The northwest Ohio has plagued the region for centuries!
The jungle green has plagued the color for centuries!
Can this be a new meme? To represent, the regurgitating of Establishment lines with less-than-Dennis-Haysbert-like effectiveness?
That’s AllState’s stand. Are you in good hands?
Yeah, I think he was channeling Bush Jr. Says something about US ivy league schools.
I got that they booed at her Arab name, not her college. Obama took it the same way. His immediate remark went to the I-P situation, not to a Florida school rivalry.
Still, the contrast in tone seems so pronounced since the campaign–it almost seems as if someone “got to him.” But how, with what information? Can it be just campaign funds and the threat to withdraw them? Or something darker.
Got to him about what? On this particular issue (I/P), he’s been spewing the same boilerplate since 2006 or 2007–regarding the Lebanon War, for instance, he said that the civilian deaths were because Hezbollah hid behind civilians.
During the campaign, he said some progressive things, but he was also moving towards the center fairly early on–the selection of Biden was a pretty clear signal that for all the talk about change, he was going to surround himself with all the usual conventional types.
“Or something darker.”
How much darkness do you need, especially when Obama is proving himself to be not very brave? In my own estimation, Obama was done for the day he decided not to stop Bush’s wars, and not to investigate or get an accounting on any level from the military and intelligence. Mission No.1 for the American military is simple: avoid an accounting of any type for the Bush years. Of any type: Moral, military, financial, medical, legal, let alone torture). Nor did Obama do anything about the malfeasance of the rest of the federal government.
In doing so, he made himself the Democratic President of what is still pretty much the Bush government, and the military, well, it’s just out of control, and will gladly, cheerfully sacrifice Obama to their primary mission: Avoid an Accounting!
Once they knew Obama was to timid to stop a war, they had him- there would always be a huge segment of events, with it own media megaphone, too, outside his control and with its own agenda. And then we get to domestic politics. He screwed himself; to paraphrase that famous Animal House line: He screwed up, he trusted them.
Maybe, Mooser. But I could make “realist” arguments in favor of a slow withdrawal from Iraq, ditto Afghan, and I really do have a high opinion of Bob Gates. He could reasonably decide that he didn’t want to pick a fight with the military–the Iraq war wasn’t their idea, after all. I actually thought the Cairo speech was the real Obama–not the second coming, but the beginning of a Carter or Bush I type effort to come up with a reasonable two state solution.
So you’re gonna go with the note wrapped around a rock thrown through the White House window?
Yeah okay Scott, Obama is torn between his desire to do good, and his daughter’s safety, and awakens to find cryptic threateneing notes on his shaving mirror.
And there’s been no withdrawal slow or fast, from anywhere. You are just going to have to accept the fact that today’s volunteer military is out of control, and has turned into a criminal organisation, and Obama has done, and will do fuck-all about it.
I thought so too at the time, Scott. I was so hoping and he dropped that Cairo speech from his lips. He knew the whole Muslim world was listening; he didn’t think much at the time about those of us listening at home–now I think he assumed we knew he was BSing for the Arab audio camera–he made the same
mistake with that Florida college student, as did his filter peeps. He is not aware
of the growing rebellion within the USA regarding the Israel First agenda. After all, he knows even Glen Beck is an Israel Firster (so far).
I’m with your darker suspicions, Scott. [Excuse me, elsewhere I referred to you as Steven, not Scott, in case you come across it.] That and the full court press Israel pulled starting last June thru August.
Scott, you have missed our fine dark speculations in another thread a while back. Forgot which one it was now but MRW has it – right?
On the same theme, a psychologist friend of mine has commented on how strangely detached Obama seems to be sometimes, even as his oratorical and game skills remain undimmed. She thought it looked like a serious case of disonance between words and actions. I said that it’s just Obama-in-the-bubble effect – as he is surrounded by people who filter the news for him and provide his with summaries calculated for an effect – and no doubt distorted to produce the desired action or inaction. Maybe he is smart enough to realize that that something is off – a guy like him – a true performer – can sense negative feedback even through layers of filters. My friend added that no, there’s something more, that he detects fear. That kind of clicked. I remembered an interesting analysis by a Paul Rosenberg – who posts on weekends at OpenLeft – drawing an interesting comparison to the dollhouse (the series now coming to an end). I’ll provide the link later when I find it. Point was – it doesn’t have to be exactly a doll – but it sure looks like it at times.
Yes, he’s more like his mother than his father; the former would choose who to trust the same way he does; his father, I bet he’d be a different animal in Obama’s position.
Every few years, unfortunately, I go through a cycle (no not that kind) where I become hopeful that this candidate or that candidate stands a good chance of making a difference and finally resolving this unbearable “conflict”.
But, in the end, I realize that it doesn’t matter whether Billy Joe Six Pack the liberal or Mr. Smarty Pants the conservative win the US presidential election. The system is broken. Presidents are merely passengers on a train. One boards and the other disembarks. From think tanks, to lobbying groups, to Big Pharma, Big Tobacco and so on, nothing changes. The foundations on which the system is built remain the same.
For there to be change, the system needs to be changed. But, it seems to me that many Americans are still gullible and hopeful enough to believe that by merely casting a vote every four years, they are making a significant difference.
I don’t see the situation as being different in other countries.
“Everyone is talking about Obama’s meltdown”
Evidence? We’re talking about it. Who else is? Is it getting much play overseas or on the press here?
I wouldn’t call his response a “meltdown” because it was so typically banal. It was a pile of BS and we see it that way, but it’s also the standard collection of mainstream liberal boilerplate cliches, what 95 percent of what most politicians would say, except that many would say something much worse. The “centuries” remark was stupid, but just an off-the-cuff dumb remark. You could say “century” accurately enough. But it’s not a meltdown until the MSM says it’s a meltdown and we’re not there yet.
I did see a mention or two in the MSM about “tough questions” on Israel, but nothing much on Obama’s failure to answer. I think the media are used to politicians deflecting questions, it’s SOP.
But this incident isn’t really likely to get a lot of media play. The right wing won’t play it up because this would mean airing criticism of Israel. The left wing won’t mention it because they want to cover up Obama’s ineptitude.
Yeah, you got it right, postsherd.
He did settle the crowd when they attempted to boo the question down. Then he went onto pledge allegiance to Israel and the Israeli lobby. He rolled over.
When expert after expert , world leader after world leader repeats that this is the most critical issue in the middle east to deal with in a fair and balanced way and then Netanyahu announces the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank almost immediately after he has a meeting with George Mitchell. Why should anyone have any hope?
CALL YOUR REPS AND ASK/DEMAND THAT THEY READ THE GOLDSTONE REPORT AND INVITE JUDGE GOLDSTONE TO THE HILL TO DISCUSS HIS FINDINGS
He really isn’t that much smarter than Bush per-se and his I/P policy is very similar to that of Bush.
No, he’s much smarter than Bush, if only by virtue of avoiding brain damage from alchohl and cocaine. And Obama was noted for paying attention in school and actually passing his classes.
Obama didn’t join the military, but then neither did he desert, like Bush.
But he’s too timid, and seems to have some very strange ideas about white people.
What very strange ideas about white people, Mooser?
I was just kidding, but thanks for asking, Citizen. It was, indeed, mighty white of you. Obama seems to have very strange ideas about a lot of things, the strangest being that he won the election on his own merits, not republican defeciencies and hatred for Bush and his policies.
And, as I have stated over and over, Obama has some very, very strange ideas about today’s American military. Does he think they were just waiting for him to come along to reap the victories they (military and etc) have been denying Bush, and saving for him (Obama)? Oh well, he’ll learn. Todays priomiary military mission is to avoid any kind of accounting, and they will gladly, cheerfully sacrifice Obama to the increasing chaos and escalation needed to accomplish the mission, and consider it a day’s work well done.
Is Obama so stupid he can’t see that?
Mooser, not too many years ago I would have simply passed this statement by, as it would have mainly supported my prejudices.
I don’t have much time to watch the American context more closely, so I wonder what “strange ideas” you think he has. Or more precisely if you wonder how they come about? …
I do occasionally watch Colonel Lang’s comments on the fight about the “right” strategies though, or mainly his critique of the (empire?) mindset that won the debate since 911. At least that’s what it feels like to me:
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2010/01/mcchrystals-change-of-heart.html>McChrystal’s Change of Heart?
Interestingly our foreign minister lately mirrored this perspective. How is this military consent shaped? Germany only sends 500 more troops, mainly to train local executive forces. What are the numbers send by others?
The big question is how do you bring freedom & especially democracy to a region while ignoring it’s own grown traditions? Is the “bomb them into surrender” slightly loosing attraction, or is the COIN project simply too expensive? As it’s propagators realize?
And what about the two main forces in Iraq. The exiles and locals on the ground:
First, let me clarify that by end of the Iraq Project I mean in the political sense. Our ability to influence the politicians in Iraq, including the ones that we have helped to install in power, as well as the out of government elites and notables seems to be pretty clearly over with. The reason for this is that careful Iraq watchers have seen that there are really two overarching factions in Iraq that have developed.
The best writing on this was done at the old Abu Aardvark by Professor Lynch and the old Abu Muwaqama by Dr. Parker (who used the handle “Dr. Irak”). Both of them referred to these two groups as the “powers that are” and the “powers that aren’t”.
Keep encouraging folks to come to your site
link to seminal.firedoglake.com
Folks if you have not seen Democracy Now’s tribute to Howard Zinn it is a must see
link to democracynow.org
A bit of a tribute of mine to Howard “the teacher who changed our lives” My tears have been falling since I heard the horrible news. As Noam Chomsky said this is a “tragic loss”
link to seminal.firedoglake.com
This man was 87 and still active still being an incredible example of an individual committed to truth, peace, justice at 87. Man oh man I just keep crying. His words his actions his lead changed my life as much as MLK, Mother Theresa, Gandhi’s examples of commitments to justice.
May we all follow in his giant peace and justice footsteps
link to democracynow.org
I always imagined Zinn and Chomsky living forever. Hard to think how things will be when Chomsky is gone too.
I loved Zinn’s spirit and sincerity.
I heard about Howard’s loss last night. It hasn’t really sunk in.
I produced the first audiobook of A People’s History of the United States in 1992, and met Howard a couple times. He was a personal inspiration and A People’s History obviously hit me deeply.
I greatly admire his ability to see history from multiple perspectives simultaneiously. Consider his sympathetic description of the anti-draft riots during the Civil War in New York, told from the perspective of the Irish new immigrants (literally drafted right off the boat), and from the perspective of the massacred free black citizens of New York, murdered by the groups supporting same anti-draft movement.
Holy Jesus Mother of God…the whack jobs are out in Florida. If you have the time to listen to this by the Ziocrazies in Florida: Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) This is an antiwar.com radio interview yesterday between Scott Horton and Kelley Vlahos. It reaches the fantastical. This is how Al-Qaeda is going to attack us: they’re almost on our shores. Now Al-Qaeda speaks Spanish?
link to antiwar.com
Kelley is also a beautiful young mom, just thought I’d add.
The employment of beautiful young women from whose lips poison drops certainly seems part of Rupert Murdoch’s response to left-wing feminism.
In Yoav Shamir’s film, Defamation, there’s a meeting between Foxman and an Israeli Minister (in charge of anti-semitism or some such?). They discuss Venezuela and how bad the “anti-semitism” is there. They discuss what the ADL is going to do about it, and Foxman says they have some plans but they can’t discuss them until the cameras are off. Perhaps these are the result of those plans. Ros-Lehtinen is totally in Israel’s pocket, to put it more politely than I would like.
Ha ha, I wrote a piece that satirized our idiotic political culture and invented Los Quaidos, an imaginary Venezuelan Commie terrorist organization. I didn’t realize someone had beat me to it!
link to fasttimesinpalestine.wordpress.com
I thought you captured the inflated verbiage of the left very well in ‘restoration of global comradeship’ – maybe I could catch myself believing in that – and of the militaristic right in the ‘liberty of the entire solar system is at stake’. How’s the book coming along?
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A ray of hope?:
China suspends military exchanges with US
link to news.yahoo.com
If they flood the market with USD assets, that would give me real hope.
The new Cold War forms up. I’m betting on China
I’m sure that Obama, speaking so stiltedly, did himself no favours with the Israeli government and its cohorts any more than he did with Israel’s critics. His remarks about ‘security’ sound – and are – half-hearted compared with the ‘we stand with Israel’/'beacon of democracy’ stuff, uttered in religious tones often with liturgical-sounding repetition, which Israel is used to demanding. Mind you, I suppose that the overblown rhetoric of a Clinton or a Pelosi sounds and is just as insincere in the end. It will be interesting to see how the rhetoric is pitched in our forthcoming election in the UK.
The president threw the Rev. Wright under the bus and he will throw malnourished Palestinian children under the bus to succor institutional wealth and power. This is why Obama is an Uncle Tom.
Libertarians agree with progressives in part:
Is Obama a Conservative?
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Obama tried to seek cooperation from moderate opponents. That looked like the reasonable strategy at the time, I suppose, though it amounted to telling all his opponents that they could keep all their gains unless they were graciously prepared to give some of them up. We see how the whole array of them reacted.
In sunnier moments I think that the United States cannot surely stay so massively, wastefully militarised, so like Israel, for all that much longer, particularly not on borrowed money.
In darker moments I think that a glance at Honduras shows that if an elected politician steps out of line army officers and supreme court judges know what to do. The first signs of paranoia! I expect I’ll soon be talking to myself on buses.