Barack Obama, Inc. -Representing Us Or Corporate America? (Cenk @ Huffington Post)

[ihavenobias]

BREAKING:

By Cenk Uygur

The man who said he was going to challenge the system, fight corporate lobbyists and change the system now appears to be fighting for the status quo and corporate America at every turn. I call the Republican Party a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate America, but now Barack Obama is not far behind. Let me explain.

On health care reform, Obama on the surface appears to be challenging the status quo in a major way and fighting for universal coverage. But what does that mean? The way the Senate bill is written now 30 million new Americans will get insurance coverage. That's great, right? Yes, it's great for the private insurance companies. They get all of those new customers and with the help of Barack Obama they defeated any new competition from a public option or expanded Medicare. And now there's a mandate that everyone must buy insurance from those same companies that Obama was supposedly challenging. Change you can believe in!

You might be thinking, wait a minute that was Lieberman who insisted that we kill the public option and protect the corporations. Yes, but there'll always be Liebermans in the world. Obama told us that he would fight for us against the corporate sell-outs of the world like Lieberman. And he most certainly did not. Instead, he ordered the other Senate Democrats to stand down and bow their heads to Lieberman. That's because Obama never wanted the public option. While claiming in public that he thought it was a good idea, behind the scenes he fought to kill it at every turn.

I wasn't predisposed to think this. I voted for Obama and really did think he was going to bring us some degree of change. I gave him the benefit of the doubt in a hundred different ways. But every time the public option came up, he sent Rahm Emanuel out to knock it down. But it's not just the public option.

The drug industry also received massive protection from the Obama administration. Some people think Obama is weak and that he can't enforce his will on stubborn senators. That's not true. When Byron Dorgan introduced a bill that would allow drug importation from Canada, Obama came down like a ton of bricks on Democratic senators and switched a huge number of votes so that in the end the drug industry won. That cost the American taxpayer nearly $100 billion in the next ten years alone. Score another victory for Barack Obama, Inc.

I could go on and on about the health care bill and tell you dozens of ways that corporate America was protected and how more customers were funneled their way. But there are so many other issues on which Obama has sold out to corporate America that I want to get to those as well...

Click Here to .

Click Here to (of which there are hundreds because this was rec'd up to the 2nd spot on the homepage today).

[jgraz]

1. Ouch. I have a feeling this one is going to need a lot of offsetting recs.

[ihavenobias]

3. Two Things

1. I agree, although in light of the news in recent days, probably less than you'd think. People are furious, disgusted and disenchanted, and rightfully so.

2. Make sure you check out the link and nominate TYT for the Streamy Award each day through - 1/15/10.

[burning rain]

19. The tide has turned.

Hell, even in GD-P administration-critical posts flourish these days, whereas in the past they inevitably got torpedoed, and quickly.

[PurityOfEssence]

21. What's a contrarian to do?

I've been working like a dog, and in my line of work, that means a LOT of hours, but as I infrequently tune in, something truly HAS changed here. 'Bout time.

Many have predicted this, and the breadth of the disillusionment will be hard to take.

The godlike expectations held by so many for this guy are awe-inspiring enough, but taken in context of the humdrum record that was already in place and the slippery favor-currying, it's a wonder how so many expected courage.

[20score]

2. K&R. Needs to be said.

If things don't change by January, I'm registering as a Green.

[flyarm]

4. oops..the pom pom team will be sending Cenk Uygur under the bus any minute now!!

along with Howard Dean, Helen Thomas, and anyone else who tells the truth about Obama!

[ihavenobias]

30. That bus ran him over months ago.

;)

[burning rain]

35. Given that this post is rated +72, I'd say that when the bus hit Cenk, *it* got totalled..

:fistbump:

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Between the right -- which always hated Obama -- and the left -- which is learning to

America's only hope may be that Obama doesn't run again in 2012.

If he does, he either loses, or continues his reign of error.

Either way, America is screwed.

[jrtayloriv]

9. I want Dick in 2012.

Hopefully he'll lose and get replaced by Dick Cheney with Arnold Schwarzenegger as his VP, and with a host of Rockefellers and other billionaires in his cabinet. Their campaign slogan will be "Take this Dick and like it, or the Terminator's gonna womp your ass." We'll have a whiteness test for peoples' skin, and any country whose White-o-meter falls below the average of say, Malibu will get nuked (or maybe we'll just spray them with some of that banned DDT and Agent Orange that Dow Chemical is still selling to third world nations).

Shortly thereafter, people will realize that corporate mass media elections are a sham that only allow (surprise!) corporate tools to have a chance, and will overthrow the corporate sleaze machine in Washington, and replace it with a democracy ....

What scares me more is that Obama, or some other hope-talking loser who exploits the memory of decent people like Martin Luther King (who Obama's government did everything in their power to discredit and exterminate) will get into office again, and go at it for another four years.

[butterfly77]

39. You are afraid of Obama..

you should have been afraid of all of the previous presidents Obama is trying to clean up their messes..

Some of you are just plain nuts if you expect us to believe that Obama is anywhere near Bush,yes you can pick and choose some policy that he hasn't changed yet but,you really don't know what is going on in the back ground you let the media spin you their fairytales and you believe every bit of it..

Yes take DICK and I hope he fucks the shit out of you in more ways than one. TROLL.

[jrtayloriv]

6. Amazing how Obama can have people smile while he does things that would have gotten Bush overthrown.

Right on.

This is the thing that's been bothering me the most, and I've yet to see anyone talk about it in a prominent place:

On health care reform, Obama on the surface appears to be challenging the status quo in a major way and fighting for universal coverage. But what does that mean? The way the Senate bill is written now 30 million new Americans will get insurance coverage. That's great, right? Yes, it's great for the private insurance companies. They get all of those new customers and with the help of Barack Obama they defeated any new competition from a public option or expanded Medicare. And now there's a mandate that everyone must buy insurance from those same companies that Obama was supposedly challenging. Change you can believe in!

It's amazing how the religious fanatics that follow Obama around have been brainwashed into agreeing with him when he claims that being FORCED to buy insurance from CORPORATIONS is a "progressive" reform.

I'm completely dumbfounded at how dumb I've found my fellow Americans over the last year.

If Bush had said I'm going to literally GIVE trillions of dollars to the greediest and most corrupt corporations in America to "save the economy" from the collapse they caused. Then I'm going to start up a "stimulus" plan that consist of me giving hundreds of billions of dollars to corporate contractors. I'm going to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan while I'm on my way to accept the Nobel peace prize, where I'll make a fool of myself by suggesting that the U.S. has been promoting "peace and stability" for the past 60 years. And then to top it off, I'm going to force you all to buy insurance from these big corporations. ... seriously -- how would people have reacted to HIM doing it?

But with Obama, people swallow it with a smile .... boggles the mind.

[Enthusiast]

23. Take a hike, Freeper!

We might be disappointed in Obama but Bush is one of the slimiest figures to ever darken the white house doors.

[Kajsa]

24. +1

You got that right, Enthusiast!

[jrtayloriv]

33. What has Obama done that's better (besides talking nice)?

You reinforce my point nicely -- you are sitting there are calling Bush slimy, implying that Obama is not slimy (just "disappointing").

But what exactly has Obama done that is better? Set aside all of the campaign promises (which history has shown never amount to anything anyway) -- and actually look objectively at the situation. He's given trillions of dollars to corporations, amped up our wars abroad and then actually accepted a Peace Prize, continued Bush-era secrecy and surveillance policies, and is forcing everyone to purchase insurance from private corporations.

I know that it feels empowering and hopeful and whatnot to pretend like Obama is something "new" in Washington. That's what his campaign was based on -- exploiting the fact that people like yourself are getting fed up and realize that serious changes need to be made. But that was just effective advertising ($700,000,000 worth of effective advertising). Did you really think that one of the two corporate parties that are advertised on the corporate mass media were actually going to bring "Change" to America? I just see more of exactly what I've seen over the past 8 years -- as Stanley Diamond puts it "conquest abroad, repression at home".

Obama is slimy as well, not merely "disappointing" -- he's just got a better press team, and is a more charismatic speaker than Bush was. Seriously, where's all this "Change(TM)" at?

[billh58]

37. It's amazing to me

that a majority of the recent posts on DU could be lifted straight from FR without changing a word. I just did a quick read-through at FR, and I swear that most of the posts on the front page echo the vitriolic posts on the front page of DU.

Any suggestions as to where a Liberal Democrat could go on the Internet to discuss the direction of our Party rationally with other Liberal Democrats?

[jrtayloriv]

38. rational or worshipful? you can't have both...

Any rational person discussing the Democratic party, now or at any point in its sordid history, will do so with vitriol. How else could you rationally talk about it?

[Tutankhamun]

7. I wonder if Obama will pay any heed now that the people who supported him are jumping ship.

Now that even the pundits, the Olbermanns, the Uygurs, the Maddows, are so deeply critical of his apparent betrayal of his base. And let's face it -- if you betray liberals, you're really betraying the American people and the world as well. What's good for liberals is good for America and the world. The reverse is also true.

[burning rain]

20. Well, a good part of his base anyway.

He stands to lose significant support among his proggy doggies but the charisma junkies might not care.

[pleah]

8. K&R

[theFrankFactor]

10. Another Voice of Reason and Passion! Go Cenk! Go Cenk! Go Cenk! Go Cenk!

K&R

[girl_interrupted]

11. K&R

[ejbr]

12. It's all so fucking depressing n/t

[democracy1st]

13. K & R

[mmonk]

14. Recommended.

For the substance and the hard work.

[OhioChick]

15. K&R n/t

[matthewf]

16. k&r

[emilyg]

17. k/r

[burning rain]

18. Yup. Corporate interests wholly own the GOP....

and have a controlling share in the administration and among Senate Democrats.

K & r!

[Mithreal]

22. Congratulations on the win!

[Kajsa]

25. My entire household, three Democrats who

voted for Obama ( our kitty would have voted for him too- he HATED Palin!)
are very disappointed with the change in direction he's taken.

The kowtowing toward traitor Lieberman, who is all insurance industry, all the time,
was the final straw.

Screw this "compromising" crap!!
It is anything BUT compromise!
Boehner, Cantor, Mitch and the other jolly RWingers
will not compromise on ANYTHING!

Does President Obama forget just who the hell Lieberman is?!?

HE CAMPAIGNED FOR HIS OPPONENT AND WOULD DO SO AGAIN
IN A HEARTBEAT!

Lieberman wants to kill any choice in health care for Americans.
That's NOT what we voted in!!

Keith's 'Special Comment' last night said it best,

" The difference between compromise and compromised is a very fine line"

K&R.

[proudohioan]

26. Funny...

that we don't crack down on CORPORATIONS who outsource our JOBS to foreign countries, but we DO crack down on AVERAGE JOE who wants to save big bucks by importing prescription drugs from Canada and Germany!

[Vidar]

27. K&R.

[Blue Owl]

28. They've made it crystal clear who they represent

The true colors are showing through, and they ain't blue, that's for goddamned sure.

[ihavenobias]

36. Green. Makes me wonder if the green party should've picked a different name?

;)

[nyc 4 Biden]

29. k&r

[KoKo]

31. OOPS sorry "ihavenobias" didn't check...Will Delete mine.

:hi:

[ihavenobias]

32. No problem. I'm not on Dupe Patrol, it's just that this one has a lot of recs.

So I want to keep the momentum going. Plus there's the link to vote for TYT for the Streamy Award.

:)

[KoKo]

34. It's done...and I kicked yours.. No Problem...