"Neoconservatism in a New Era" by Nick Rogers (12-22-08 Right Web)

[bobthedrummer]

"Low on political prowess and out of ideological fashion, neoconservatives would appear to have little to be merry about as 2008 ends.

Soon after 9/11, neoconservative foreign policy-geared toward retaining America's global preeminence and pushing Mideast policies in line with the Israeli right wing-morphed from written words to administrative actions under President George w. Bush. Today, the neoconagenda heavily bears blame for an Iraq War that many, including some neoconservatives, consider a failure."

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/rw/4973.html

Let's discuss this vital article.

[rocktots]

1. Have you been paying attention?

Condi Rice just said the Obama foreign policy will not be much different from Mush.

They are all bought and owned, the true LEFTIES are pissed off. Amy Goodman did a great Democracy Now on who should have been in Obama's Cabinet.

But really folks, if WE got what WE wanted, the power structure would have to dramatically shift.

ALL politicians are CRIMINALS, the sooner you wake up to that, the sooner we may start holding them more accountable. But that will never happen. We will keep on trusting the thugs we put in office.

How pathetic

[bobthedrummer]

2. You certainly don't know me yet, rocktots, welcome to DU. n/t

[lurky]

3. Well, Obama's Economic and Foreign Policy picks mostly

seem to hold views that run counter his central campaign positions. What does this mean?

We could take him at his word, and accept that this is really about having experience and continuity in a time of crisis. There's probably a bit of truth to that, but it doesn't add up as a full explanation.

Another possibility is that we got played, and that he was really a Lieberman campaigning as a Kennedy. There may be a bit of truth to this, too: It worked well for Bill Clinton, and the people will never vote for a candidate who actually says he is going to be a tool of corporate power. Based on their voting records, I expect that HRC and Edwards were engaging in the same thing to greater or lesser degrees. Still, I don't totally buy it. A certain amount of cynicism is expected from any presidential candidate, but to totally reverse himself in so many ways is very strange and unsettling.

Finally, there is the possibility that he is trying to appeal to an unseen constituency. There are the financial titans who rate our bonds, the foreign trade partners who hold our debt and those who make sure we can get the oil we are so desperately addicted to. Above all, there is the shadowy intelligence/military establishment that holds so much unelected power and that has so little oversight or accountability. I wonder if he is responding to demands made by any or all of these groups, and whether he even has the option of saying no. For example, the choice of Brennan to run CIA was so absurd, so uncharacteristically impolitic, and so counter to what Obama has done and said in the past, that I find it easy to imagine that someone foisted it on him until the outcry became too great. Brennan seems like exactly the kind of "in your eye" pick GWB would have made.

I don't claim to know what is happening behind the scenes. I am just trying to make sense of inconsistent behavior from a leader who has been remarkably consistent. How deeply embedded are the Neocons? Do they have the power to say, "Do what we want or else?"
:shrug:

[bobthedrummer]

4. I'm not sure about the influences in regards to his choices for cabinet and staff

at first I was convinced that he was astute enough to keep his political enemies closer than his friends-but one thing I'm certain of is that there is a RW political machine within the Democratic Party that needs to be purged-this machine despises the traditional Democratic voter and supporter.

Btw, I worked my disabled butt off volunteering during the campaign at my local Democratic Party center from phonebanks to canvassing.

I posted several threads about this powerful political machine during the primaries, the one below best sums up what I have discovered over the years.

"Inconvenient truths about the New Democrats, the Third Way, Democratic Leadership Council, etc." started March 7, 2008
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2973191

[bobthedrummer]

5. one shameless kick for visibility and participation...

[bobthedrummer]

6. bttt