Obama the radical?

[last_angry_man]

Most semi-aware Americans know that Barack Obama is a first term Senator from Illinois, but few know that prior to winning his seat in the U.S. Senate, while holding office in the Illinois State legislature, he ran a failed race for a seat in the U. S. Congress.

His opponent was Bobby Rush, then a four term Congressman representing Chicago area in the House of Representatives. Obama lost and continued serving in the Illinois State Senate. In 2004 he successfully campaigned to become a member of the U.S. Senate. When he announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election, Bobby Rush enthusiastically announced his support of Obama, even though Rush was a longtime supporter of both Bill & Hillary Clinton.

OK, now its 2008 and Obama is locked in a winner takes all death match for the Democratic nomination. Bobby Rush continues to serve in the House of Representatives and is now an eight term Congressman and a ranking member on several important Congressional Committees.

So a rapidly rising young Senator with star power has close ties with an older senior Congressman who is a leader of key House Committees, nothing unusual there. When Obama wins the Democratic nomination and sweeps to victory in a stunning election win, nobody is surprised to learn that he has brought Congressman Bobby Rush onboard as a key advisor and senior member of the Obama administration Cabinet.

Only then does the media take notice of the little footnote in Representative Bobby Rush’s biography. Prior to his fifteen years in Congress, he served on the Chicago City Council for eight years. And prior to that he was the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party and co-founder of the Party’s Chicago chapter.

Suddenly, the media are very interested in Rush’s new role as the key advisor and senior cabinet official to the President of the United States. Just imagine the possibilities…

[none of this is a secret, nor was it hard to uncover; but I haven't read anything similar anywhere! While most of this is just wishful thinking, the tenuous tie from Obama to the BPP is very real and I can't understand why Limbaugh and the others aren't shouting about this to anyone who will listen? I'll personally carry voters to the polls on my back if Bobby Rush can pull Obama over to the left]]

[RNK]

Obama has pretty much made it clear just how far to the "left" he's willing to go -- and it's not far. He may be "radically progressive" in some areas, such as healthcare, but he is certainly no "revolutionary" and it's a stretch to call him a leftist (unless you're using the American version, in which leftist means left of the Republicans).

Obama will not and can not change anything, atleast not permanently, and not nearly as much as it needs to be changed. He is still someone who benefits enormously from capitalism. At best, he may be a social-democrat, interested more in making people happier under capitalism rather than ridding them of capitalism.

[Dros]

So...

The fact that Obama was once beaten by an ex-Panther makes Obama a leftist? lol...

[last_angry_man]

The fact that Obama was once beaten by an ex-Panther makes Obama a leftist?

I don't recall saying that, but....
My point was that the ex-Panther abandoned a LONGstanding relationship with the Clintons to back Obama. My dream (nothing more) was that Rush would now push Obama towards the left. At least that's what I recall writing...

[Cheung Mo]

The only real progress that would result from an Obama nomination would be the deathblow dealt to the Democratic Party's most reactionary faction, namely the fascists and fascist-enablers of the DLC. Clinton is a DLCer all the way and ought to be crushed by anyone for that reason alone. Organisations like the DLC and the "Socialist" International are weapons of the status quo, and as long as they hold sway over self-described progressives and socialists, we will be running into brick walls.

[Self Defense]

The only real progress that would result from an Obama nomination would be the deathblow dealt to the Democratic Party's most reactionary faction, namely the fascists and fascist-enablers of the DLC. Clinton is a DLCer all the way and ought to be crushed by anyone for that reason alone. Organisations like the DLC and the "Socialist" International are weapons of the status quo, and as long as they hold sway over self-described progressives and socialists, we will be running into brick walls.

Yep. It's a blow to all the liberal elitists too.
The reason I support Obama is obviously not because of his policies (i'm a leftist ), but because a black man being elected President is socially revolutionary as far as I'm concerned. I mean 60 years ago he would've been hanged for looking at a white woman .
Any forward progress is happy progress for me.

[Awful Reality]

I think it's a massive leap in judgement to say that Obama is going to go as far as the Black Panther party goes simply because a former BPP member is on his council. I'm sure that Obama made that decision solely on his political history. Also, I really don't think that a member of the BPP would ever consider running for a senate seat, so Rush must have changed his views.

[last_angry_man]

FYI, Bobby Rush ran for re-election to his seat in the House of Representatives. That is the seat Obama ran for (and lost) prior to winning his seat in the Senate.

I think that I may have misled folks...My two main points were:
1. why have no crazy right wing nut job talk show hosts mentioned that Obama has a close relationship with a former Black Panther
2. wouldn't it be great if Obama was playing hard to the center to get elected, but after the election Bobby Rush becomes a major influence on the Obama administration?

and #2 was mostly a wistful fantasy....

[Keyser]

Obama, like Clinton and the Republican candidates all represent and are part of the same class, the ruling capitalist class.

To expect anything from Obama or any of the others is to surrender working class political independence to the bourgeois political system, to place your faith in the sham 'democracy' of the ruling class and to demoralise any attempt at working class organisation and political struggle by suggesting that solutions can be found in liberal bourgeois reformism as opposed to social and revolutionary struggle.

Voting Democrat is no different to voting Republican, they are only different is style, soundbites, advertising and in personalities. That is why American presidential elections never debate policies on an in-depth basis, but focus on speeches filled with fancy soundbites and the individuals 'character' and 'personality' and their 'family life'.

Obama is a good speaker (by bourgeois standards) and that is why so many people have been taken in by his slick campaign.

I am just suprised that people on RevLeft have also fallen for this and have been taken in by silly speeches about "change in our time" and a new era of "hope". There are too many threads on RevLeft abour Obama, honestly he does not really warrant such attention and time, he is politically insignificant to the working class and he never has nor will he ever will represent the working class or do anything to advance socialism in North America.

The reason I support Obama is obviously not because of his policies (i'm a leftist ), but because a black man being elected President is socially revolutionary as far as I'm concerned. I mean 60 years ago he would've been hanged for looking at a white woman .


Any forward progress is happy progress for me.

By your logic, then the US having a half black Secretary of State (Colin Powell) and having a black and female chair of the NSA and now Secretary of State (Condaleeza Rice) is also "socially revolutionary"?

The ethnic/racial make up of a person is no indicator of their political alleigence nor is it a measure by which socialists and communists judge a person and their ability to improve society.

Rice and Powell both are guilty of mass murder and military occupation/invasion in Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti and they both are part and parcel of the US imperialist war machine. Their being black has no bearing on that at all.

The same applies to Obama.

[MT5678]

Don't back race and class accomodationist Obama, who believes that the strife of African Americans is over. (which we all know is false)

Would you be not revolutionary to have backed William Monroe Trotter against the more well known Booker? No. So be a Trotter. Don't be a Booker.