Obama's extraordinary speech

For those of you who have not seen this, please listen to Obama's speech on health care:





Now, please, do not conclude that I am posting this speech here because I suddenly became an Obama-groupie. Not at all. I know full well that Obama is a puppet in the hands of backstage puppeteers, and don't believe in his health care plan at all (I favor the single payer solution). No, what I want to draw your attention to are Obama's truly extraordinary oratory skills, and the fact that for the first time in years he is openly challenging the kind of ideological crap which the so-called "conservatives" have been spewing about 'liberal values'.

Not since Reagan has an American president spoken with such convincing power. And unlike Regan, I get a strong sense that Obama actually understands what he is saying.

For some of us, this is good news a, .at this point, *any* improvement in the backward and barbaric US "health(not)care" system would be a tremendous relief for millions of people. But this is also very bad news for the rest of planet.

First, in Obama we are faced with a formidable US President who will be extremely skilled in making his case. Following 8 years of truly simian buffoonery this is a radical shift. Just remember how Obama cynically (also but very skillfully) asked how those who traditionally oppose US interventions in Latin America how they now could accuse the USA of not intervening enough in Honduras. This is a fallacy, of course, but it sounds terrific.

On substance, what we are seeing in Obama is mostly a 3rd Bush term. Simply put - almost nothing has changed: the Neocon Israeli Lobby still runs the USA, the USA still fights several imperial wars, the so-called "nuclear shield" in Europe is still on the table, as is the war with Iran, the USA still openly supports the Ukraine and Georgia, and Uncle Shmuel still spies on its citizens with impunity. But the style has changed tremendously and we should not under-estimate the difficulty which this new reality will present to the peace movement worldwide.

It was easy to hate Dubya. It is hard not to like Obama. And for most people, that will be a key factor in defining their stance towards US policies domestically and/or abroad.

Just imagine how convincing Obama will sound when the Empire decides to strike at Iran or Venezuela...

With Obama in power, the piece movement is in deep deep trouble, I am afraid.

The Saker