Montag, 15. November 2010

A swansong of Obama´s Presidency

The mid-term elections in November were like a doomsday for Obama - the coffin nail of his presidency. President Obama started out with good intentions, but good intentions are not enough. In terms of foreign policy he failed in every respect. Perhaps it was not his fault, because he is a “prisoner” not only of the Military-Industrial-Complex but is also haunted by the “Israel Lobby” and by radical and extremist elements of the neoconservative right and Christian fundamentalists, the so-called Armageddon Christians. Tragically, he looks like the former US-President Jimmy Carter when he was in office –the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance. Although Carter lost out to Ronald Reagan, he gained an unimaginable reputation in the following years. Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize at the height of George W. Bush´s irrational “war on terror”.

Why is President Obama a tragic figure? The simple answer is he is not White. The defamation of Obama by the Tea-party movement, a racist WASP middle-class undertaking and by other right-wing “intellectuals” and “think-tanks” and the forces of darkness, such as the Becks and their ilk, will bring him down in the remaining two years. He won't achieve anything any more. His only achievement could be to avoid an attack against Iran.

No US President has ever been so humiliated by an Israeli Prime Minster as Obama has. The tail-wagging of the dog was never more obvious as under the Biden/Obama presidency. A US Vice-President who has worked throughout his senatorial tenure for Israel's interests and who declared at his last Israel visit, “good, to be at home”, after which he was slapped on the face by Netanyahu, might perhaps serve the wrong country. Biden is the one, who despite his constant humiliation by the Israeli government, argues that the US and Israeli interests are identical. Or in his own words: “There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel’s security.” Does he really mean what he says? His confusion and ignorance is reflected by his statement to Charlie Rose, in which he credited Ehud Barak for pulling out the Israeli occupying forces from Gaza in 2005, an event that actually happened under Ariel Sharon, the then Prime Minister of Israel.

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt were not the only to have argued that Israel is a liability to US foreign policy interests. George W. Ball and Douglas B. Ball in their book “The Passionate Attachment” did it more thoroughly and subtly. The Balls demonstrate in their excellent book that the US succumbed to Israeli pressure from the start of their bilateral relationship. Why should the Biden/Obama presidency be different? When General David Petraeus warned that Israel´s occupation of Palestine did endanger the life of US troops in their neo-colonialist adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, his warning was immediately overridden by the “Israel Lobby”. Petraeus and Admiral Mike Mullan had to backtrack.

Barack Obama's nice speeches to the Muslim world in Cairo and Jakarta were not followed by deeds. The war against Islam and the Muslim world continues unabated. There is even some crazy advice from two US-American extremists who wrote that Obama should attack Iran in order to save his presidency. Perhaps this could work but for what political prize? These people and the neoconservative “princes of darkness” always wanted to create chaos in order to rise like an American-Israel phoenix from the Ashes. Michael Ledeen, one of them, talks about “creative destruction” as a fundamental American value.

“Dear Mr. President”, if you want to bring the American empire down follow their advice. If you want to gain a second term, indict Bush and Cheney and the ilk for not only committing crimes against humanity but also for violating the US constitution. Pull out the US occupying forces from Iraq and Afghanistan immediately and cut the enormous financial support for Israel´s continued occupation of Palestinian land. If you are not able to do this, just step down in order to save your face and to work hard for the honor of the Nobel Peace Prize which was awarded to you in positive anticipation.

First published here and here.