Comments on: Obama, the new JFK?

By: markus

markus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:01:01 +0000

Obama is Commander in Chief of two dubious wars that are more about oil than delivering democracy at gunpoint/liberating women/capturing Osama Bin Forgotten.
Nothing has ACTUALLY changed under Obama. He enabled the bailing out of greedy Wall Street Bankers, his country is hobbling Copenhagen, he signs off obscene amounts of money to the world’s biggest army and oversees 700 military bases – giving a lie to his Orwellian Nobel Peace Prize.
Obama is a smooth Establishment, Corporate, Pentagon Man.
People seem to worship him for his rhetoric. We childishly project our strange fantasy notions of “The American Dream” onto him.
But we need more from leaders than nifty rhetoric. Obama talks left, but seems to walk centre (and in the case of the military he oversees) right.
His speeches are great – but get a grip – they’re penned by a cool scriptwriter who earns a fortune for his word skills.

By: markus

markus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:53:10 +0000

Phillipa, Obama seems a heck of a nice guy, but let’s not hero worship him. He may talk left, but so far he walks right. He may be black – but so was that warmongress Condi Rice. When Obama came in, the Front Storeman changed – but the products and goals of the store stayed pretty much the same as they were under the old Storeman – GW Bush. Obama is slick – but he is also Commander In Chief of two very dubious, bloody wars which seem to be more about oil than delivering democracy (at gunpoint), making the Nobel Peace Prize an Orwellian moment. Not a whole lot has ACTUALLY changed under Obama – if you look beyond the big smile. He enabled the bailing out of Wall Street, heads up 700 US military bases around the world and fronts a nation that’s hobbling the Copenhagen talks. Lose the rose-tinted spectacles – there’s no such thing as a Saint-Saviour who will single-handedly put the world right. Obama is an Establishment Man, a Corporate Man, a Pentagon Man. Disappointingly, his hands are tied.

By: Lobengula

Lobengula — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:21:22 +0000

Phillipa has apparently joined the church of Barack Hussein Obama of Latter-Day Saints.

Bowing low in obeisance to the king of Saudi Arabia doesn’t make him a “fiercely intelligent statesman”. Get a grip, Phillipa.

By: Phillipa Lipinski

Phillipa Lipinski — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:36:02 +0000

I am also quite taken aback by Siphiwo’s claim that China and even India can take care of Africa. If anything, Africa is taking care of India. Droves of Indian citizens are flocking to the West and increasingly to South Africa in pursuit of a better life. India cannot afford to take care of its middle-class citizenry (the quality of life of many middle class Indians is more than 3 times lower than that of South African middle class- that is not to mention the appalling conditions under which India 9and China’s) poor live under.)They are struggling with overpopulation (1 billion people in our single country is not a joke. The rich are etraodinarily rich whilst the poor are etremely poor.
Jon, this article is very interesting but you are mistaken in comparing Michelle Obama to ‘Jackie O’. For one, Michelle is highly educated and has been very active in American business and political life. She has also been a fierce advocate for women and social activist working hard to uplift the poor. Jackie Kennedy was very beutiful, adorable, classy etc but she and Michelle are different.
Any similarities between B.Obama and J Kennedy are superficial. Kennedy was a truly phenomenal liberal democrat who espoused noble values (most of the time). So is Obama. But Obama is SO MUCH MORE. He is a visionary, the man who changed American (and world) politics forever, a magna cum laude HAvard Lawyer, a dynamic, noble, fiercely intelligent statesman

By: Lobengula

Lobengula — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:07:09 +0000

Dave Harris’ stuff is as much vacuous garbage as the “hope and change” and “yes we can” of the Obama administration.

Instead of all this fluff, try looking at the actual current events…facts and reality.

Just one, for example…as a direct result of the wild money-tree mentality of the U’S. congress, India just recently purchased $400,000,000,000 (that’s 400 billion) dollars of gold bullion. Any of you have any idea whatsoever what this portends for the U.S. dollar? Any idea what happens to the U.S. economy when the U.S. dollar is dropped as the world’s currency standard?
I thought not.

By: please oh please don't let them assasinate Obama

please oh please don't let them assasinate Obama — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:06:10 +0000

beautiful article
i really hope they don’t shoot Obama too… i fear that the people with vested interests in health care, war etc who would like to see him fail may very resort to such extreme measures if he begins to succeed in the delivery of his election promise… change
some people don’t want it… and of course this is conjecture because no one really knows… but it was those same people who killed kennedy… to stop the change he was going to bring… ending the vietnam war… lyndon johnson’s very first act as president (within 24 hours of assuming the position after kennedy’s death) was to send more troops to vietnam reversing the moves kennedy had started which would lead to america pulling out…

By: Dave Harris

Dave Harris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:31:38 +0000

@Siphiwo Siphiwo
“..anyway China & India would take care of Africa..”
In your dreams buddy! And why does any foreign power have to “take care” of Africa?

@Perry Curling-Hope
You spout the same tired old rhetoric of the Republican neocons. Even though the idea of a black man as the most powerful person in the world is distasteful to some SAns, you have to admit that he enjoys the support of an overwhelming majority of Americans especially the younger generation!

“hope and change” those “nebulous ideals” is what gives Americans courage to face the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Those “nebulous ideals” have even given the rest of the world renewed hope in America after the destructive reign of Bush -a perfect example of white AA.

By: Dave Harris

Dave Harris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:27:33 +0000

Your article attempts to downplay the Obama effect on the US and the rest of the world.
The comparison to JFK is not a fair one since JFK came from a background of privilege that groomed the Kennedys for public office which they saw as their divine right. Obama came from a background of struggle and poverty, but a strong family who rose above their circumstances and raised wonderful kids.

Obama’s achievements are just beginning. Is the healthcare bill, a herculean feat, given that past presidents miserably failed in this, proof enough? How does one measure the recent shift in international relations towards America? Is this important? What value does one put on giving voice to the voiceless? Is there a dollar value one can put on the recent improvements in race relations in the US?

Your macabre implication that Kennedy’s assassination is another possible similarity is also weird. The era of assassinations is so sixties and highly unlikely given his top notch security.

By: Mark Robertson

Mark Robertson — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:51:20 +0000

Mr Obama is a superb US president – in my view not a JFK, but a Bill Clinton with honestly and personal morality – a great complement, as Mr Clinton was probably the best recent US president. But the challenges he faces are nowhere near JFK’s – JFK was facing World War 3 – and together with the much maligned Ronald Reagan, did more than any other presidents to avoid thermonuclear holocaust. As for Siphiwo’s comment that JFK was against the ‘socialist republic of Cuba’ – JFK probably ensured that Cuba wasn’t invaded by Curtis le May and the SAC leaders and that Castro – who did everything he could to provoke a thermonuclear war – even Kruschev said he was a complete madman who couldn’t care less if Cuba and the world were completely annihilated – lived to collect his pension.

By: Perry Curling-Hope

Perry Curling-Hope — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:30:10 +0000

Obama’s somniferous “grand set pieces” espousing nebulous ideals of ‘hope’ and ‘change’ are naught but vacuous spin behind which lurks offerings of ‘more of the same’

Which means more tincture of George W for the ills of the world; a commitment to insane presidential profligacy, more Federal Government, more spending, more grandiose welfare schemes hatching an illusory prosperity for a bankrupt nation, more ‘priming the pump’ of a derelict economy with a clogging glut of two trillion worthless debt dollars which the Federal Reserve has the galactic temerity to call ‘equity’ and ‘securities’!

Parallels drawn on the basis of ethnic class, looks and the poise and dress sense of wives may impress the politically jejune, but are irrelevant to astute young Americans who know Social Security is a bankrupt scam from which promised benefit they are compelled to pay for will not be forthcoming, that bailouts are sucking the little remaining lifeblood of the nation into a terminal black hole of bureaucratic squander and further malinvestment into failed enterprise, and the national health insurance scheme means more taxes for less health.

It is curious that FDR should be mentioned by way of comparison, as his ‘New Deal’ policies succeeded in protracting the Great Depression rather than facilitating ‘recovery’, yet he was popular amongst a large body of public who were economically ignorant and did not understand the cause of their difficulties.

Obama’s ‘New Deal’ is the same old deal which will be popular yet fail for the same reasons.