Ken...The only " CHANGE " obama has provided so far is his mind..as he did on so many topics during campaign...so what do you think..is he what you thought he was? :-)
Symposium: Barackracy hypocrisy
December 03, 2008
Ellis Washington
worldnetdaily.com
While I have heard McCain state many times, "I am not George Bush," I have never heard Obama say once, "I am not Bill Clinton."
~ Professor Leonard McCoy, Savannah State University
Socrates (470-399 B.C.) was a famous Greek philosopher from Athens who taught Plato, who taught Aristotle, who taught Alexander the Great. Socrates used a method of teaching by asking questions. The Greeks called this form "dialectic" – starting from a thesis or question, then discussing ideas and moving back and forth between points of view to determine how well ideas stand up to critical review with the ultimate principle of the dialogue being Veritas – Truth.
Characters
Socrates (a pseudonym for the author)
Professor Leonard McCoy
{Setting: Department of Political Science, Savannah State University}
Socrates: We are gathered here today at this Symposium to discuss whether Barack Obama's rhetoric matches reality – Is Obama really about "Change we can believe in"; "We need to bring change to Washington, D.C."; "I will bring change we can believe in"; or is it just more of the same political charade?
Professor McCoy: First let me state that while my political background has been with the Democrat Party, intellectually I am an independent, and on some issues ideologically a conservative. For the past 20 years, I have operated at the highest levels of party politics – state and local government in both Ohio and New Jersey, working effectively with radicals, liberals, moderates and conservatives.
The reason why I raise the question of Barackracy hypocrisy is because of the two years he has been on the campaign trail when he frequently distinguished himself from his archrival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, by promising a new paradigm in politics that would be open and transparent from top to bottom.
Socrates: What is the context and the concept of Obama's "transparency"?
McCoy: Based on his recent transitional team and his early appointments, the process by which these individuals have been selected and vetted have not at all been transparent in that Barack made a statement that he would always listen and engage the American people and make their opinions a high priority. Indeed, have the America people elected Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, part II? Furthermore, the American people have some questions relative to the Clinton legacy, which has become so prominent in the Obama administration.
Socrates: What about the fact that 31 of the 47 people so far named to the transitional team or as part of the Obama administration have ties to the Clinton administration, including all but one of the members of his 12-person Transition Advisory Board and both of his White House staff choices?
Former Clinton or past appointees who are in Obama's Cabinet include:
Rahm Emmanuel, chief of staff
Hillary Clinton, secretary of state
Paul Volker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve
Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff
Larry Summers, senior economic adviser (mentor to Timothy Geithner)
Timothy Geithner, secretary of treasury
Bill Richardson, secretary of commerce
John Podesta, transition chief
Eric Holder, former deputy attorney general
Tom Daschle, former Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate, secretary of health and human services
David Axelrod, chief strategist
Gene Sperling, economic adviser
Neera Tanden, policy director
McCoy: Obama talked about change from the bottom up, but when you look at what Obama is doing, the change is from the top down. There seems to be something very sinister here. "Change we can believe in" was a major political slogan of Obama. Is this Barackracy hypocrisy? Who is making the decisions of his campaign?
The assumption is the promise of "change" Obama made to the American people; however, the first opportunity he has to make good on his promise of change, not only did he bring in other people from his opponent's administration, but that he brought in Hillary as his chief foreign policy voice. Is this change we can really believe in or more of the same?
Socrates:Professor McCoy, are you implying a quid pro quo between Obama and Clinton – her capitulation to concede the nomination to him for her appointment to a high-profile Cabinet position?
McCoy: While I'm not a conspiracy theorist, as we revisit the justification of why Obama is using so many former Clinton appointees, the reason Obama gave is that he is following the Abraham Lincoln "team of rivals" model to staff his Cabinet – in other words, government by consensus. However, I question the validity of Obama's premise because three of the four Lincoln rivals were gone by the end of his first term as president. This Obama Barackracy rings of hypocrisy. Is this a team of rivals or a rival of teams?
Socrates: Do you think Obama put Hillary in that position?
McCoy: Perhaps Hillary was not Obama's choice for secretary of state. I believe that there are some unseen, nefarious forces within the Democrat Party that are still alive and have some major influence on his decision-making. The only change Obama seems to have brought thus far is a change in skin color, not in policy. Ironically, his financial and national security teams are more conservative even than President Bush.
Does Obama represent the change in America based upon the Constitution, or a change that the office of the presidency is the last office to be integrated? He doesn't represent change for the disenfranchised, those who are dying prematurely because they are not getting the same health care, education, employment, the declining economy, our superpower status in the international community. His campaign was directed at the middle class, not the poor. How can that be change?
MLK, on the other hand, dealt with the heart of all humanity, the things that were important to all of us. Therefore, he brought a social consciousness, a challenge to America to fulfill Jefferson's ideal: "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal ..." To bequeath to all Americans "Life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." However, Obama, while mimicking the persona of JFK, virtually all of his policies are diametrical to his. For example, consider the aphorism JFK uttered in his Inaugural Address Jan. 20, 1961 – "A rising tide raises all boats."
Socrates: What do you mean by the polemical phrase "Barackracy hypocrisy"?
McCoy: Based on the decisions we've seen thus far from Obama, I am not at all convinced that this man has the presidential will power to really sever the political ties to the liberal establishment of the past and to reconstruct a new brand of politics, a substantive political paradigm where the will of "We the People" are of singular importance to Obama's agenda. While I have heard McCain state many times, "I am not George Bush," I have never heard Obama say once, "I am not Bill Clinton." On the contrary, he has never tried to disassociate himself from Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Clinton regime and most regrettable, the old liberal Democrat establishment.
Socrates, in conclusion, the questions we're seeking to answer regarding Barack's presidency is the decision-making force behind the bureaucracy: Is Obama an authentic historical figure of change, or is Barackracy the latest hypocrisy? |
