“. . . if anyone needs to be "drug tested," it would be those denying that many of Bush's most controversial policies and actions have been embraced in full by Barack Obama.” – Glenn Greenwald
So, presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs wants me, and you, to STFU. Most importantly, his words represented perfectly the feelings of his boss, who wants us to be quiet and let him do what he likes without so much as uttering a peep.
In an interview with The Hill, Gibbs whined about the “professional left” who have the nerve to want “Canadian health care” but who still wouldn’t be happy even if “Dennis Kucinich was president.” Anyone who dares point out that Obama is carrying out Bush policies “Ought to be drug tested.” On the one hand, I’m angry with Gibbs for openly expressing his obvious contempt, on the other hand, he did get some things right.
Yes I would like Canadian health care. It saves more lives and more money that our system. If Kucinich were president I wouldn’t be happy because that would mean he had morphed into the monsters who climb atop the greased pole of American politics. Only a corporatist who fully backs the empire and all of its authority will be allowed anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Obama and his successors will be Bushites too. Some will be smart, some will be dumb. Some will appeal to the blue and some to the red but in the end they will all work to achieve the same ends.
I have never heard Gibbs or his boss complain about the professional right. The week before his inauguration Barack Obama ran off to have dinner at the home of George Will where he was joined by the likes of Bill Kristol, Peggy Noonan and Charles Krauthamer, leaders of the professional right.
There really isn’t anything new here. Obama kept Bush’s defense secretary, his security apparatus, and his wars. He pursued the same policy of bailing out the banksters. Health care reform is more of a bailout of private health insurers than anything else.
The professional left had better wise up and abandon this guy before it is too late. As far as I can tell, we couldn’t be any worse off if Obama is a one termer. We might actually get a better democrat if we dump him. As one of my favorite sites, Stop Me Before I Vote Again points out, the left won’t be anything until they dump the democrats.
