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since we have heard anything smart, well thought out, and worthy of consideration from a president?
Too long. And, god, it seems like centuries, not just eight years.
My argument with the speech is his analogy to the Marshall Plan--and the vast difference between America then and America now: 1) on the economy (we were the economic powerhouse of the world then; now we are a broken, looted hulk, with chilling parallels to 1929); 2) on America's standing in the world (then, we were at the height of our prestige as a nation, now we are a disgrace to the words "democracy" and "human rights"); 3) on progressive values vs. global corporate predator power (then, corporations were properly regulated for the common good, and the progressive consensus was secure; now corporations have gotten completely out of public control, and do what they like, including hijacking our military for a corporate oil war and then gas gouging us anyway, and bonding with rightwing nutballs on a radical religious agenda); and 4) on the condition of the planet (we had only lost 30% to 40% of the planet's forests to industrial development the end of WW II; now it's up to 80% destroyed altogether--gone, fini, kaput--or seriously damaged, including forest resources such as clean water and biodiversity, and, above all, CO2 storage--cleaning the atmosphere).
It's not the same world. And I think Obama should have pointed that out very clearly. And the looting and destruction of this junta has been so bad, that it equals all the losses of progressive values, squeezings of the workers/middle class, devastation of the poor, bloated military boondoggles, destructions of S&L's, pension systems and other pillars of middle class life, and ravages of the environment, from Reagan to Bush. It has been unprecedented theft and an unprecedented assault on the rule of law, and on everything we hold dear. The crisis we face is not what we should have done, and could have done, ten years ago. The crisis that we face is that we can no longer afford to be the "leader" that Obama envisions the U.S. to be.
Obama pledges to spend $10 billion here, and $10 billion there--for foreign aid (his new "Marshall Plan"), and for a renewed war in Afghanistan/Pakistan. Where is he going to get this money? It ain't there. We're broke. REALLY broke. Seriously broke. Social Security may be gone. Medicare. Emergency services. Infrastructure. That's how serious it is. Our financial institutions are insolvent. Many local governments, school systems and other public services are insolvent, or heading there fast. The trucking industry, the airlines industry, small and large mail order businesses all over the country, the tourist industry--all businesses that are particularly dependent on gasoline--are in major trouble, and the next tier (not quite as dependent on gasoline) are heading there fast. Everything has been LOOTED. Multi-billions in Iraq reconstruction money has already been looted. That was not the case at the end of WW II, when Marshall proposed his plan to rebuild Europe. The American economy was heading into a boom, in every sphere. And that was not the case eight years ago, when Clinton concluded the "free trade" and tech boomlets with a surplus. It's all gone, and we are in profound debt up to our ears for the rest of the century.
With every plank of Obama's speech, I kept thinking: Intelligent, reasonable, or at least arguable--ten years ago, even five years ago. But today? The Bushites (and the two Diebold Congresses we have suffered) have radically changed out situation for the worse, and we don't have the money to fund these grand plans, and, furthermore, we don't have anything to sell. Democracy? Pssht! What democracy? Our Constitution is in shreds. Our voting system is a joke. Torture? Yeah, I guess you could call that a product. Neo-liberalism? Want to get booed all over Latin America, and much of Asia and Africa? Try to talk "free trade" to Peruvian miners or Bolivian campesinos or South Korean farmers!
I'm all for positive visions. Really I am. And I certainly applauded when he said that the U.S. should make clear its commitment to END the nuclear weapons age. I also applauded him for the most positive plan that he proposed: conversion to "green" energy--which is both a dire necessity, in view of global warming, and a means of rebuilding our broken economy. But the upshot of his speech is that he is somehow going to restore the U.S.--including its imperial ambitions--to pre-Bush conditions, and proceed as if nothing has happened, as if we still had a surplus, and didn't have a $10 TRILLION deficit, and still had prestige in the world, and still had some "values" to sell (at corporate prices)--when all that we still were, then, has been utterly plundered and destroyed. We are longer that country.
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