Barak slices through the “Pretend Game” and cuts to the core

Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress on 2/24/09 had me jumping and shouting with tears of joy. He cut right to the core of the matter regarding the economy, the national debt, the tax code, health care, and education’s relationship to future prosperity. He postured aggressively on Middle Eastern wars to appease the Hawks, and pleased the Doves with his stance on Iraq, all in the same sentence. He said nothing to offend the war profiteers insuring continued wars but pledged to end the no-bid contracts. Republican and Democrat alike all agreed on the elimination of no-bid contracts. Obama received an enthusiastic standing ovation from both sides of the aisle. Even McCain and his sidekick, Susan Collins, had to agree with that one.

Obama entirely omitted any talk of bringing to justice the ones that sucked all this deficit out of the country, namely the war profiteers. He did make a stinging blow with his mention of a legacy of debt to our grandchildren that they cannot pay as a result of the deficit “we” inherited. Obama sure does give a winning smile after each declaration!

I flashed back on George W. Bush smugly avoiding questions and exuding remorseless arrogance with his body language. I noted the stark contrast between having a moron or a genius as a president. I recalled when 15 million people around the planet demonstrated in the streets against starting the war in Iraq, and God remained silent allowing the war to ensue; I suspected that God had a plan up her sleeve. I deduced that the plan was to let things get so very, very bad, until the Peaceful Cooperative people finally rose up to set things straight. Obama could be the charismatic leader that can renew the spirit of the downtrodden and hopeless, and inspire them to rise up and act in a non-violent cooperative manner to fulfill our highest national aspirations.

I have mentioned in earlier blog essays what I call the "Pretend Game" that our members of Congress play. In review, it is the professed ignorance of obvious events in the news that aren't supposed to be so. For example, the CIA mining the harbor in Managua. This was frequently reported in the alternative press for nearly a year until an allied ship sunk, and suddenly Congress pretended it was previously unknown even though they had voted to fund it. Its the same thing with all the democratically elected sovereign leaders that the CIA have deposed and replaced with dictators supportive of US industrial interests. One such obvious current news item has been the the funding for the war and occupation of Iraq. You might notice that Republicans object to the Obama stimulus package based on "wasteful spending," or deficit spending. Yet they pretend that the last 6 years of deficit spending on our blunder in Iraq didn't exist. They can play this game because the Iraq funds were "supplemental" funds and not actually included in the budget. Therefore, they conclude that it wasn't deficit spending. Obama declared he would change the accounting category and begin to disclose Iraq expenses to the public.

Old cynic that I am, Obama’s speech tonight was one of the best I have heard in years. If only he could make good on these promises, it would be a helluva lot better than the abusive decline of the last 8 years.