HO-Ho!
The (Marxist-Socialist) Liberal Democrats, Aren't gonna "refuse"
their "dream candidate" any of their votes...
Posted on 07/06/2008 3:46:36 PM PDT by hecht
Tom Hayden best known for his stint as Mrs. Jane Fonda, has made a career of being a left-winger. Forty years ago he was one of the "chicago 7" arrested for turning the Democratic Convention into an anti war protest. Six Months ago Hayden wrote a piece in the Huffington Post throwing his weight behind Senator Obama. Today he returns to the post to warn the Senator about his Iraqi Flip-flops. Hayden warns the Senator to toe the anti-war line.....or else :
Obama's Position on Iraq Could Put His Candidacy at Risk Call him slippery or nuanced, Barack Obama's core position on Iraq has always been more ambiguous than audacious. Now it is catching up with him as his latest remarks are questioned by the Republicans, the mainstream media, and the antiwar movement. He could put his candidacy at risk if his audacity continues to shrivel.
I first endorsed Obama because of the nature of the movement supporting him, not his particular stands on issues. The excitement among African-Americans and young people, the audacity of their hope, still holds the promise of a new era of social activism. The force of their rising expectations, I believe, could pressure a President Obama in a progressive direction and also energize a new wave of social movements.
And of course, there is the need to end the Republican reign that began with a stolen election followed by eight years of war and torture, corporate gouging, environmental decay, domestic spying and right-wing court appointments, just in case we forget who Obama is running against.
Besides the transforming nature of an African-American presidency, the issue that matters most to me is achieving a peaceful settlement of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and preventing American escalations in Iran and Latin America. From the beginning, Obama's symbolic 2002 position on Iraq has been very promising, reinforced again and again by his campaign pledge to "end the war" in 2009.
But that pledge also has been laced with loopholes all along, caveats that the mainstream media and his opponents [excepting Bill Richardson] have ignored or avoided until now. As I pointed out in Ending the War in Iraq [2007], Obama's 2002 speech opposed the coming war with Iraq as "dumb", while avoiding what position he would take once the war was underway. Then he wrote of almost changing his position from anti- to pro-war after a trip to Iraq. He never took as forthright a position as Senator Russ Feingold, among others. Then he adopted the safe, nonpartisan formula of the Baker-Hamilton Study Group, which advocated the withdrawal of combat troops while leaving thousands of American counter-terrorism units, advisers and trainers behind.
That would mean at least 50,000 Americans, including back up forces, engaged in counter-insurgency after the withdrawal of combat troops, a contradiction the media and Hillary Clinton failed to explore in the primary debates. To his credit, Obama said that these American units would not become caught up in a lengthy sectarian civil war, leaving the question of their role unanswered.
The most shocking aspect of Samantha Powers' forced resignation earlier this year was not that she called Hillary Clinton a "monster" off-camera, but that she flatly stated that Obama would review his whole position on Iraq once becoming president. Again, no one in the media or rival campaigns questioned whether this assertion by Powers was true. Since Obama credited Powers with helping for months in writing his book, The Audacity of Hope, her comments on his inner thinking should have been pounced upon by the pundits.
Finally, it has taken the pressure of the general election to raise questions about whether his parsed and lawyerly language is empty of credible meaning. Consider carefully his July 4 statements:
The first one, promising a "thorough reassessment" of his Iraq position later this summer:
"I've always said that the pace of our withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability" -- two conditions that could justify leaving American troops in combat indefinitely. "And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I'm sure I'll have more information and will continue to refine my policies" -- another loophole which could allow the war to drag on.
Then there came the later "clarification":
"Let me be as clear as I can be" [not, "let me be absolutely clear"].
"I intend to end this war." [intention only].
"My first day in office I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in, and I will give them a new mission, and that is to end this war -- responsibly, deliberately, but decisively." [ Sounds positive, but "decisively" can mean by military threat in the worst case. And it's pure theatre, borrowed from Clinton, since the plans most likely will be drafted and finalized immediately after the November election.]
"And I have seen no information that contradicts the notion that we can bring our troops out safely at a pace of one or two brigades a month..." [but what if the military commanders on the ground assert that it is too dangerous to pull out those troops?]
Obama's position, which always left a trail of unasked questions, now plants a seed of doubt, justifiably, among the peace bloc of American voters who harbor a legacy of betrayals beginning with Lyndon Johnson's 1064 pledge of "no wider war" through Richard Nixon's "secret plan for peace" to Ronald Reagan's Iran-Contra scandal and the deep complicity of Democrats in the evolution of the Iraq War.
It is difficult to understand Obama's motivation. Perhaps it is his lifetime success at straddling positions and disarming potential opponents. Perhaps it is a lawyer's training. Perhaps being surrounded by national security advisers who oppose what they call "precipitous withdrawal", and pragmatic Democrats distinctly uncomfortable with their antiwar roots.
What is clear is that Obama is responsive to pressures from the grass-roots base of a party that is overwhelmingly in favor of a shorter timetable for withdrawal than his, and favoring diplomatic rather than military solutions in Afghanistan and Pakistan. At a time that public interest in the war is receeding before economic concerns, it is time for the strongest possible reassertion of voter demands for peace.
The challenge for the peace and justice movement is to avoid falling into Republican divide-and-conquer traps while maintaining a powerful and independent presence in key electoral states, including Congressional battlegrounds, between now and November. There should be at the least:
- A demand that Obama talk to legitimate representatives of the peace movement, not simply hawkish national security advisers.
- A Democratic platform debate and plank that is unequivocal in pledging to end the war and avoid military escalation elsewhere.
- An energized antiwar voter education campaign that builds towards a clear November peace mandate to end the military occupation and shifr to political and diplomatic approraches.
- An organizational strategy to widen the base of the antiwar movement through the presidential campaign in preparation for a massive peace mobilization in early 2009.
Grass-roots people power is the only force that can keep alive the astute sense of pragmatism that led Obama to criticize the coming war in 2002. The stakes are higher now, and the enemies far more shrewd, wishing to rip asunder the Obama coalition. The peace movement assumption should be that there is no one in Obama's inner circle of advisers to be counted on, no mainstream columnist to catch his eye with a persuasive column favoring withdrawal. They never have. Only the voice of the peace voters - and the countless activists who have volunteered on his behalf - can command his attention now.
Tom Hayden comes thru!
I just knew he would!
Tell him, Tom.
This man Hayden is a true idiot and a loser.
This left wing nut (Let’s all get along) never mentions our enemies until the last paragraph. And he’s not talking about terrorists. To him the “enemy” is anyone who doesn’t vote for Obama.
And of course he wants “political and diplomatic” solutions. Does Al Queda have diplomats?
Oh please. Tom Hayden and his ilk would vote for Obambi even if they found a dead republican congressional page in his bed as Obambi held a bible and pronounced himself a Reformed Protestant while posing in Michelle’s combat boots and a thong.
Who are these lefties trying to kid. This is like that silly fop at Kos withholding his donation to Obambi’s campaign because Obambi waffled.
These people can’t wait to for The Great Pretender, His Oilyness, Barak Obambi to ascend the throne.
They can call the Obambi king for all I care because I will refuse to call him president.
He’s a Marxist. A miserable Marxist who has no business even being vetted for the presidency and only has been given the most cursory glance by those traitors in the Democrat congress.
Predictable and transparent tactics: Obama pretends to distance himself from his long-held Marxist positions, and prominent Marxists like Hayden pretend to be unhappy about it...
but the
tom-alikes
will raise hell
in denver.
I knew Tom”when”.
That is,when he was conducting “People’s Workshops” in Berkeley about “defending yourselves against pigs and right wing vigilantes”.
Then ten years later,Old Jane breaks him off a cool two million in the divorce settlement.
Where are they anti-capitalists now that we need them to”Seize the Time” and confiscate Tom’s ill begotten gains?
Hussein the Obamunist needs to get Ayers and Dohrn to reassure the other commies like Hayden that he’s just playing games in order to get elected, that he is not really a “right-deviationist enemy of the people.”
Don't be too sure these leftist shrills can't stop Obama cold -- if his Kool-Aid Kadre 18-25 figure out they've been had (on Endwar), they'll vote in their usual 1-in-5 and McCain will win in a cakewalk.
Ayers, Dorn & Hayden needed due-charging, trial, conviction, sentencing & execution, 25-30yrs ago, IMO.
Today, the ‘sentence’ needs implemtation, for all of them.
ALL socialists, commies, marxists, leninists, left-wing filth/garbage/crap/junk/trash/scum/shit/hate-America/ hate-USMilitary/filth/dirtbags/scumbags/perverts/deviants/sodomites/ etc, need to be removed from all contact with society’s “innocents”, aka children and the elderly.
Justice would have been well-served, if it had been done.
Mrs jane fonda ,LMAO, girly man.
Haydens claim to fame was banging Hanoi Jane then found out that half of SoddomWood already had.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Hey John/Robert,,,,,,I see you’ve recovered nicely, guess the R&R to the islands has been cancelled.......
??? Sounds like you’ve got me confused with some others here.
John and Robert? I’m not either of them. Not even close. (My wife calls me some names, but not them!) R&R in the islands? Your kidding, right!? 2nd shift ass’t-super at a major int’l A/C mfgr, for the past 13 years, and I wont be taking that kind of vacation, at least not in this lifetime. Wish I could, tho!
I found a link to this place over at ar15.com, and there’s very little politics over there, mostly hardware. Two other other guys on the line, listen to Mark Levin’s Show, and I like his style. I got some good links to his streaming stations, thanks to that thread.
See you around, rockebyebaby!
Are you SERIOUS? Come on, quit playing games, we both know who you are,,,,,,,,,if you want to live in denial that’s your problem but do not insult my intelligence. There are several others who can spot you a mile away.....
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