FW: [shamireaders] Obama’s odious entourage

[rodrigo jaramillo]

________________________________To: shamir...@yahoogroups.comFrom: efgh...@yahoo.comDate: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:08:53 +0000Subject: [shamireaders] Obama’s odious entourageObama’s odious entourage Disappointment follows disappointment with each ‘new’ face,bemoans Eric Walberg, but there is asort of silver liningYes, we mustn’t expect too much. We all know it is theestablishment that comes first in United Statespolitics. Obama’s presidency could easily be sabotaged by the powers that puthim there.But still. He would never have made it past the first,obscure primary without his army of selfless, grassroots activists, and hiscoffers were first filled by millions of small, personal donations. Surelythese are the people he should honour with at least a few names. Even Clintonhad his Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala (at least until shewas tarred and feathered by the right). Obama’s one token progressiveappointment was Melody Barnes of the Center for American Progress, who waschief counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy, and will head the toothless DomesticPolicy Council.Not one of the 23 Senators and 133 House Representatives whovoted against the war in Iraqare on his transitional team or even on a short-list for an important post inhis Cabinet. The only promise that might be kept is to close Guantanamo,though he could hardly do less. The entire USlegal establishment seems to be pushing to end this outrage.Keeping on uberhawk Robert Gates as secretary of war,despite the continued slaughter in Iraq and Afghanistan under his capable mismanagement,his uncompromising position on missiles for Poland, and his shady past(including Iran-Contra) gives little cause for hope. Russia can probably kissimproved relations with the US good-bye. It looks like there will be neoconpolicy as usual. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state just confirms this.Yes, everyone in Washingtonis solidly Zionist, so Rahm Emanuel’s devotion to Israelhardly changes much, as John Zogby argues. But, how is it he served with theIsraeli Defense Forces �" during a war �" and yet never served with the USmilitary? As an American, if he did this for any other country but Israel,he would have been arrested and his political career over at once. Instead, heis honoured with the key role of the president’s chief of staff.Ona positive note, hinging that the domestic crimes against personalfreedom perpetrated under Bush are not entirely forgotten, John Brennan, who supported extraordinary rendition andwarrantless wiretapping, was forced to excuse himself in the race for CIA head. Still, nocriminal charges against those who authorised or conducted torture during theBush years are foreseen.As Bloomberg notes, almost half the people on the TransitionEconomic Advisory Board “have held fiduciary positions at companies that, toone degree or another, either fried their financial statements, helped send theworld into an economic tailspin, or both.” This includes, for example, AnneMulcahy and Richard Parsons, both of whom were Fannie Mae directors when thecompany fudged accounting rules. Mulcahy and Parsons were executives of theirrespective companies, Xerox and Time Warner, and were charged with accountingfraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission.Also on this team is Robert Rubin, who as Bloomberg notes,was “chairman of Citigroup’s executive committee when the bank pushed bogus analystresearch, helped Enron cook its books, and got caught baking its own. He was adirector from 2000 to 2006 at Ford, which also committed accounting fouls andnow is begging Uncle Sam for Citigroup-style bailout cash.”Larry Summers, who was Clinton ’streasury secretary, will head the National Economic Council �" the president’ssenior economic adviser. This looks ominous. It was Summers who forced throughthe deregulation of financial markets in the 1990s and imposed disastercapitalism on Russia .Considering that he is a chief architect of the current financial meltdown, weshould be wondering why Obama isn’t preparing an arrest warrant for him,instead of offering him the most powerful economic role in the world. As chiefeconomist for the World Bank, Summers wrote a memo saying the WB shouldactively encourage the dumping of toxic waste in developing countries,particularly “under-polluted countries in Africa,” sincepoor people in developing countries rarely live long enough to develop cancer,making him a particularly bizarre appointment for Obama. This contradictionwill be interesting to watch unfold.Summers, Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary, and PeterOrszag as budget director are all protégés of Robert Rubin, who held two oftheir jobs under President Bill Clinton. All three advisers are believers inwhat has been dubbed Rubin-omics: balanced budgets, free trade and financialderegulation, a combination that supposedly was responsible for the prosperityof the 1990s.But times have changed since then. Rubin is facing questionsabout his role as director of Citigroup, which is the benefactor of thegovernment’s latest bailout. Obama has pledged to introduce an era ofre-regulation. Instead of balancing budgets, Obama plans a two-year fiscalstimulus worth hundreds of billions of dollars to aid the jobless, states andcities. “Everyone recognises that we’re looking at deficits of considerablemagnitude,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the liberal Economic PolicyInstitute. “Whether it’s Bob Rubin, Larry Summers or the most conservativeeconomist, that is a widely shared recognition.”The list of establishment appointees to his transitionalteam devoted to “change” goes on and on, begging the question: Is this reallythe best he could come up with? How about Nobel prize winners Joseph Stiglitzand Paul Krugman, or James K Galbraith, for starters? Someone who representslabour such as Arlene Holt Baker, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO?Something to suggest that change is really what this administration is about?Remember Obama’s Bush moment, as they enthused about Bush’sbailout bill. Others, such as Senator Russ Feingold, realised the bill’sproblems and voted against it. Feingold said that the Wall Street bailoutlegislation “fails to reform the flawed regulatory structure that permittedthis crisis to arise in the first place. And it doesn’t do enough to addressthe root cause of the credit market collapse, namely the housing crisis.Taxpayers deserve a plan that puts their concerns ahead of those who got usinto this mess.” Feingold was right. In short, Obama promised “Change we canbelieve in,” but it’s looking a lot more like “Business as usual.”So far the only black to be appointed to a senior post isformer deputy attorney general Eric Holder, will be attorney general. He isbest known as the Chiquita Bananas lawyer who approved of president BillClinton’s pardon for Marc Rich, the blatantly corrupt financier whose formerwife, Denise Rich, had contributed heavily to Clinton’s presidential library.Despite the extreme disappointment that many are nowexperiencing, there are a few straws to grasp at. Emanuel was forced toapologise publically for his father’s now legendary anti-Arab remark aboutmopping floors in the White House, and this incident will act as a bell-weatherfor anti-Arab policies. Is this, plus the appointments of Gates, Summers and Clintonpossibly a wily Obama “keeping his enemies close”?Despite the inexorable march of the empire with a blackcommander-in-chief at the helm, at least the Cabinet is filled with competentpeople, some �" like Clinton �" withconsiderable authority and prestige around the world. Holder seems to begenuinely against torture and hostile to the concept of the imperialpresidency. Obama himself is intelligent and will not have circles spun aroundhim as did Bush, nor will he take five-week vacations and rely on comic bookmemos for snap decisions to go to war.Despite his team’s credentials as Rubin-omists, they are hardat work on a huge fiscal stimulus package and further tightening of governmentregulations on banks and the financial sector. Conservation and thelong-overdue move away from fossil fuels are high on the agenda. Thesebureaucrats are not fools (like Bush, Rice and many others in the currentadministration), and taking a leaf from president Franklin Roosevelt’s New Dealadministration, will not be afraid to borrow from the liberal handbook as theneed arises.What the progressives in the USmust now do is mobilise, mobilise, mobilise, and articulate a clear, cogentagenda for real change. The old adage holds true more than ever: No pain �" nogain.It seems the only thing we can truly feel some exhilarationfor at this point is the fact that Obama’s father was a black Muslim and hismother an altruistic humanitarian who truly loved other cultures and devotedher life to better understanding among peoples. Let us hope for some sign thattheir spirit lives on in their son to help fight off the demons who surroundhim at present. Perhaps a good old-fashioned African exorcism is in order.***Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly. You canreach him at www.geocities.com/walberg2002/__._,_.___Messages in this topic (1)Reply (via web post)|Start a new topic MessagesTo subscribe to this group, send an email to: shamireader...@yahoogroups.comThe items published in the group can be seen onhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/shamireaders/messagesMARKETPLACE________________________________From kitchen basics to easy recipes - join the Group from Kraft Foods[http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/yg/img/logo/ma_grp_160.gif]Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to TraditionalVisit Your Group|Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use |Unsubscribe Recent ActivityVisit Your Group Only on Yahoo!Star Wars galaxyCreate a profileand meet fans.Yahoo! GroupsCat Owners GroupJoin a communityfor cat loversGet in Shapeon Yahoo! GroupsFind a buddyand lose weight..__,_._,___
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