No War, or else...

Will Obama now turn Right on Iraq? You know 4 right turns takes you in circle, 8 right turns takes you in 2 circles. If you keep turning right you don't actually go anywhere... (Although, in truth, I don't know if shifting your position from unintelligibly  vague to even more unintelligibly vague constitutes a right turn).

Robert Fanita argues that we should probably prepare ourselves for yet another right turn. Tom Hayden lays out some minimum demands for the peace movement to bring to Obama. My question is, minimum demands, or what?? Or we'll "throw our vote away" and vote for Nader? Obama knows we're boxed, we've got nowhere to go. We have no recourse. We are totally powerless, and entirely dependent on his largess. If he decides to throw us a bone, we'll say thank you and take it. If decides to let us starve, we'll argue, "at least he's better than McCain." This is democracy in the "land of the free and the home of the brave." If we could just figure out how to export that to Iraq and Afghanistan we might live a better world.  

in any case, it looks as though Obama's on his way to Iraq to ask the Generals what he should do once he is president. Let me guess they will say that war is going beuatifully. We've turned the corner, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, all we need is more troops and more time... 

I think going to Iraq is a brilliant idea, but not to ask the generals anything. He should be TELLING  them to pack their bags because they are coming home. Not in 16(ish) months, and not depending on "what the conditions on the ground are."  But immediately because 1) American forces have no right to be there, and 2) we cannot afford this bullshit war. While he is there he should be meeting with regional leaders to discuss how US war reparations and humanitarian assistance to those displaced by the American initiative are to be coordinated. No permanent bases, no residual "anti-terrorism" forces, no Blackwater security contractors to defend ExxonMobil's newly acquired holdings.  But Obama doesn't really care what I think. Perhaps if I was 80, lived in Virginia, went to Church every sunday, and wore an American flag pin on my lapel, he 'd show some interest in my one meaningless vote. But given that I am 30, live in California (a state that is not being contested), have never been to any Church, and have never worn a lapel, let alone a flag pin, I don't count. 

The Question of Nationalism

On declaring independence from Nationalism (that is unless your Palestinian and facing dispossession in the face of Zionist colonization (Angry Arab seems to assert this about once a week), or Iraqi and facing dispossession in the face of rapacious global capitalists allied to ethno-separatist in the north and south.) I'm not so sure that the issue of nationalism is as black and white as much of the post-colonial tradition would have us believe. 

Thoroughly unsorted thoughts in my own mind- but I can recognize the contradictions in my own mental processes between believing that nationalism is a totalizing an homogenizing discourse that obliterates all difference, and my sympathy for nationalist movements in opposition to to imperialism. And in the history of Iraq, the big ideological contest has been between the "Iraqists" and the Pan-Arabists. The Iraqist were inclusive of Shi'is and Kurds in their conception of national identity, whereas the pan-Arab national socialism of the Ba'th closely resembles other "national socialisms" we have known.

Its seems that nationalism is malleable enough to be defined in all sorts of ways, including ways that respect labor and the environment.   

Perhaps redefining the meaning of national symbols to meet contemporary needs is the more efficacious political strategy than a frontal assault on something that enjoys as much cultural hegemony as modern nationalism. Perhaps not. I don't know.

American political discourse: empty or loaded?

In 1972 Richard Nixon began brandishing an American Flag pin on his lapel to demonstrate his support for the war in Vietnam. Its since become a symbol of one's commitment to American militarism (usually in place of actually fighting in, or sending one's own kids to fight in, American wars). 

Nostalgia

November 8, 2006 was a very big day for me. That morning Melissa's water broke and and we went to the hospital to deliver our first child. While we were waiting in the hospital room, we were watching the TV. Rummy was up there doing the walk of shame. His resignation seemed to symbolize the crushing defeat that his party suffered in the previous day's election. The returns from the Webb, Tessler, and ("call me Harold") Ford races were still coming in, but we knew which way the 50-50 was going to break in at least the first two ("call me Harold..."). Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker of House. By 4:30 Melissa started very serious labor, and at 7:33 Jordan made his appearance. It was a bright beautiful day. It seemed that a whole new era was dawning.  Then what happened?

We got a "surge." 

What happens when all the red and blue lights go out, the bells stop ringing, and the whistles stop blowing,  and the circus is over? 

Should we be surprised when corporate democrats serve their corporate masters? 

Left, Right and Center?

Is Obama moving from the "Left" to the "center," or from the center to the Right?

RealStupidPolitik

Do candidates have to run on a clear agenda, or just vague promises of change? Krugman compares the Reagan model to the Bill Clinton model.

Huffington explains the difference between RealPolitik and RealStupidPolitik.

The Vital "Center" of American Politics

A whopping 4% of Americans believe that Israel is doing "very well" in "the effort to to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."