Brand Obama - what we were sold (what we have now)

[Chizzang]

If you read the article - which I strongly recommend - Hedges mirrors many of the things we argue about on this forum and frankly he's always been a fascinating guy to me - and I happen to agree with him mostly across the board...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/04" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Barack Obama is a brand.
And the Obama brand is designed to make us feel good about our government while corporate overlords loot the Treasury, our elected officials continue to have their palms greased by armies of corporate lobbyists, our corporate media diverts us with gossip and trivia and our imperial wars expand in the Middle East. Brand Obama is about being happy consumers. We are entertained. We feel hopeful. We like our president. We believe he is like us. But like all branded products spun out from the manipulative world of corporate advertising, we are being duped into doing and supporting a lot of things that are not in our interest.

What, for all our faith and hope, has the Obama brand given us? His administration has spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion in taxpayer dollars to Wall Street and insolvent banks in a doomed effort to reinflate the bubble economy, a tactic that at best forestalls catastrophe and will leave us broke in a time of profound crisis. Brand Obama has allocated nearly $1 trillion in defense-related spending and the continuation of our doomed imperial projects in Iraq, where military planners now estimate that 70,000 troops will remain for the next 15 to 20 years. Brand Obama has expanded the war in Afghanistan, including the use of drones sent on cross-border bombing runs into Pakistan that have doubled the number of civilians killed over the past three months. Brand Obama has refused to ease restrictions so workers can organize and will not consider single-payer, not-for-profit health care for all Americans. And Brand Obama will not prosecute the Bush administration for war crimes, including the use of torture, and has refused to dismantle Bush's secrecy laws or restore habeas corpus.

[AZGrizFan]

I wasn't "sold" anything....I wasn't buy his "brand" in the first place....but there's lots and lots of people sitting at their cubicles to day (or more likely, standing in an unemployment line) with a pounding head from too many beers the night before trying to ward off the disgust saying to themselves "what the FUCK were we thinking????"

[Chizzang]

I wasn't "sold" anything....I wasn't buy his "brand" in the first place....but there's lots and lots of people sitting at their cubicles to day (or more likely, standing in an unemployment line) with a pounding head from too many beers the night before trying to ward off the disgust saying to themselves "what the FUCK were we thinking????"

You didn't read this article... obviously

[AZGrizFan]

I wasn't "sold" anything....I wasn't buy his "brand" in the first place....but there's lots and lots of people sitting at their cubicles to day (or more likely, standing in an unemployment line) with a pounding head from too many beers the night before trying to ward off the disgust saying to themselves "what the FUCK were we thinking????"

You didn't read this article... obviously

I read it. Particularly liked this zinger:

Obama, who has become a global celebrity, was molded easily into a brand. He had almost no experience, other than two years in the Senate, lacked any moral core and could be painted as all things to all people. His brief Senate voting record was a miserable surrender to corporate interests.

[AZGrizFan]

And this one too...

But the longer we live in illusion, the worse reality will be when it finally shatters our fantasies. Those who do not understand what is happening around them and who are overwhelmed by a brutal reality they did not expect or foresee search desperately for saviors. They beg demagogues to come to their rescue. This is the ultimate danger of the Obama Brand.

[mrklean]

Some of you are nothing but SHEEP!!

[Col Hogan]

I am nothing but a SHEEP!!

I agree...

[AZGrizFan]

Some of you are nothing but SHEEP!!

If you voted for Obama you are SQUARELY in that category.

[native]

Original post:

Some of you are nothing but SHEEP!!

Retort:

I am nothing but a SHEEP!!

I agree...

I really hope that kleanie did not mean what I think he might have meant in his original post, something along the lines of "if you read the article and have come to the logical conclusion that Obama is a fraud you are sheep (and racist at that) because you only beleive the right wing media blah blah blah..."

Say it ain't so, kleanie! Who are really the sheep, and why do you think so?!???

[Chizzang]

Like anybody, any citizen who wanders into an election year with anticipation and eagerness we are all being marketed something - AZ for you to say you weren't marketed anything I say Phooey

You were all up inside the McSame Palin machine like a cheerleader at football camp.. with a dildo in every hole you could ram one in... so get down off your high horse ya poser

The article points out many things but one obviously clear point is: Liberals were sold just the right mixture

But what we got was George Bush part 2 - Political Business as usual - Another corporate puppet enacting the will of big business and global politics over Hope and Change

[Chizzang]

the closing point:

The junk politics practiced by Obama is a consumer fraud. It is about performance. It is about lies. It is about keeping us in a perpetual state of childishness. But the longer we live in illusion, the worse reality will be when it finally shatters our fantasies. Those who do not understand what is happening around them and who are overwhelmed by a brutal reality they did not expect or foresee search desperately for saviors. They beg demagogues to come to their rescue. This is the ultimate danger of the Obama Brand. It effectively masks the wanton internal destruction and theft being carried out by our corporate state. These corporations, once they have stolen trillions in taxpayer wealth, will leave tens of millions of Americans bereft, bewildered and yearning for even more potent and deadly illusions, ones that could swiftly snuff out what is left of our diminished open society.

[JohnStOnge]

You know, I see things like that article and see that the author went to Harvard and I am perplexed. On the one hand, I know that Harvard only accepts people who are among the most intelligent in the country. On the other hand, if I didn't know the person who wrote that went to Harvard I'd think the article was written by a complete idiot.

A smart person had to write it because Harvard only accepts smart people. But it's idiotic. What am I to think?

[mrklean]

Original post:

Some of you are nothing but SHEEP!!

Retort:

I agree...

I really hope that kleanie did not mean what I think he might have meant in his original post, something along the lines of "if you read the article and have come to the logical conclusion that Obama is a fraud you are sheep (and racist at that) because you only beleive the right wing media blah blah blah..."

Say it ain't so, kleanie! Who are really the sheep, and why do you think so?!???

Now I know how Hitler got his people to condone killing 6 million Jews. SHEEP! ....SHEEP!!! Some of you really surprise me. You really believe in this Republican /Democrat song and dance crap. They all are a bunch of crooks. This BP oil spill should have open your eyes.

[JohnStOnge]

Corporations, which control our politics,

If corporations controled our politics Obama wouldn't be President and the Democrats wouldn't hold majorities in both houses of Congrress.

One of the most asinine "popular" beliefs of our time is the corporations "control" politics. I mean, seriously. Just use your own head and think about it.

[native]

Original post:


Retort:


I really hope that kleanie did not mean what I think he might have meant in his original post, something along the lines of "if you read the article and have come to the logical conclusion that Obama is a fraud you are sheep (and racist at that) because you only beleive the right wing media blah blah blah..."

Say it ain't so, kleanie! Who are really the sheep, and why do you think so?!???

Now I know how Hitler got his people to condone killing 6 million Jews. SHEEP! ....SHEEP!!! Some of you really surprise me. You really believe in this Republican /Democrat song and dance crap. They all are a bunch of crooks. This BP oil spill should have open your eyes.

Yeah, I know how... his fortune teller channelled Obama...

C'mon, speak straight. Are you saying anything other than you don't like corporations?

BP got us into this mess in the Gulf, possibly by taking safety shortcuts. But all the BP crisis has taught me is the incredible incompetence and corruption of Barack Obama and his administration, and of the ineffectiveness of the MMS under both administrations.

The sheep are anyone who believes in socialists or socialist solutions. Corporatism can suck, but socialism and communism both suck worse.

The fundamental problem is the abandonment of the Constitution that socialism necessarily requires. Anyone who supports this path to destruction deserves the resulting bloodbath.

[Chizzang]

Corporations, which control our politics,

If corporations controled our politics Obama wouldn't be President and the Democrats wouldn't hold majorities in both houses of Congrress.

One of the most asinine "popular" beliefs of our time is the corporations "control" politics. I mean, seriously. Just use your own head and think about it.

You're the one at the poker table who can't figure out who's the dupe...
(I can't believe you just put in print what you just put in print)

Have you sat on a major corporate board..?
Have you spoken to corporate lobby groups..?
Do you understand that corporations have more rights and less (far less accountability) than citizens in this country

Do you realize that Liberals have their organizations and conservatives have theirs...
ever hear of Global Warming - do you think any companies lobby for that and make money
I can't even figure out where to begin on how confused you are.. I could go on for about 6 hours
Do you understand our Federal Reserve system..?

too hysterical... thank you again St.John

[kalm]

The abandonment of the radical economic foundations of the women's and civil-rights movements by the conflation of causes that came to be called political correctness successfully trained a generation of activists in the politics of image, not action," Naomi Klein wrote in "No Logo."

People recycling and driving fuel efficient cars to feel better about themselves...

An image-based culture, one dominated by junk politics, communicates through narratives, pictures and carefully orchestrated spectacle and manufactured pseudo-drama. Scandalous affairs, hurricanes, earthquakes, untimely deaths, lethal new viruses, train wrecks-these events play well on computer screens and television. International diplomacy, labor union negotiations and convoluted bailout packages do not yield exciting personal narratives or stimulating images. A governor who patronizes call girls becomes a huge news story. A politician who proposes serious regulatory reform, universal health care or advocates curbing wasteful spending is boring. Kings, queens and emperors once used their court conspiracies to divert their subjects. Today cinematic, political and journalistic celebrities distract us with their personal foibles and scandals. They create our public mythology. Acting, politics and sports have become, as they were during the reign of Nero, interchangeable.

My brother and I talked about this a decade or so ago. We came up with an analogy to the Matrix where if you're even semi-aware you realize something is off, but then the next shiny gadget is dangled in front of your eyes and you say OK.

The options are to jump down the rabbit hole and completely divest becoming a dirty hippy where you live as happy a life as the materialists due to your guilt free conscience. But that's really, really hard with all the shiny gadgets.

Or, you can dive full in and not sweat the outcomes of your overconsumption for one second, living the american consumerist's dream while ignorantly contributing to a lower standard of living for your kids and grand kids.

Or you can be semi-aware, do what you can, and not sweat it all too much.

I'm gathering that Chizzang is a big proponent of the latter as am I. And if truth be told, all of you hard ass, free market, environment hating conks really feel the same way.

Phenominal article.

[Baldy]

If you read the article - which I strongly recommend - Hedges mirrors many of the things we argue about on this forum and frankly he's always been a fascinating guy to me - and I happen to agree with him mostly across the board...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/04" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Barack Obama is a brand.
And the Obama brand is designed to make us feel good about our government while corporate overlords loot the Treasury, our elected officials continue to have their palms greased by armies of corporate lobbyists, our corporate media diverts us with gossip and trivia and our imperial wars expand in the Middle East. Brand Obama is about being happy consumers. We are entertained. We feel hopeful. We like our president. We believe he is like us. But like all branded products spun out from the manipulative world of corporate advertising, we are being duped into doing and supporting a lot of things that are not in our interest.

What, for all our faith and hope, has the Obama brand given us? His administration has spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion in taxpayer dollars to Wall Street and insolvent banks in a doomed effort to reinflate the bubble economy, a tactic that at best forestalls catastrophe and will leave us broke in a time of profound crisis. Brand Obama has allocated nearly $1 trillion in defense-related spending and the continuation of our doomed imperial projects in Iraq, where military planners now estimate that 70,000 troops will remain for the next 15 to 20 years. Brand Obama has expanded the war in Afghanistan, including the use of drones sent on cross-border bombing runs into Pakistan that have doubled the number of civilians killed over the past three months. Brand Obama has refused to ease restrictions so workers can organize and will not consider single-payer, not-for-profit health care for all Americans. And Brand Obama will not prosecute the Bush administration for war crimes, including the use of torture, and has refused to dismantle Bush's secrecy laws or restore habeas corpus.

Hitchens is a rather quirky fellow.
However, I find this article rather amusing. He, like many others, see the play acted out before him but he can't distinguish the characters and who is playing them. Since he is such a strident anti-Capitalist, of course he lays the blame at the feet of those "evil" corporations. Too bad the guy is so blinded by his emotions and misplaced rage. If he wasn't, maybe he could actually see who is playing which characters and have the clarity to actually follow the plot.

[Grizalltheway]

Like anybody, any citizen who wanders into an election year with anticipation and eagerness we are all being marketed something - AZ for you to say you weren't marketed anything I say Phooey

You were all up inside the McSame Palin machine like a cheerleader at football camp.. with a dildo in every hole you could ram one in... so get down off your high horse ya poser

The article points out many things but one obviously clear point is: Liberals were sold just the right mixture

But what we got was George Bush part 2 - Political Business as usual - Another corporate puppet enacting the will of big business and global politics over Hope and Change

That is high-quality, Grade A smack right there.

[AZGrizFan]

Like anybody, any citizen who wanders into an election year with anticipation and eagerness we are all being marketed something - AZ for you to say you weren't marketed anything I say Phooey

You were all up inside the McSame Palin machine like a cheerleader at football camp.. with a dildo in every hole you could ram one in... so get down off your high horse ya poser

The article points out many things but one obviously clear point is: Liberals were sold just the right mixture

But what we got was George Bush part 2 - Political Business as usual - Another corporate puppet enacting the will of big business and global politics over Hope and Change

The difference is (Mr. Gridlock) that had McCain won, we'd have much less government in our future because there wouldn't have been such huge stimulus packages, no government healthcare, etc. In fact, we might not have gotten any meaningful legislation passed at all which is JUST the way I like it.

[Chizzang]

Like anybody, any citizen who wanders into an election year with anticipation and eagerness we are all being marketed something - AZ for you to say you weren't marketed anything I say Phooey

You were all up inside the McSame Palin machine like a cheerleader at football camp.. with a dildo in every hole you could ram one in... so get down off your high horse ya poser

The article points out many things but one obviously clear point is: Liberals were sold just the right mixture

But what we got was George Bush part 2 - Political Business as usual - Another corporate puppet enacting the will of big business and global politics over Hope and Change

The difference is (Mr. Gridlock) that had McCain won, we'd have much less government in our future because there wouldn't have been such huge stimulus packages, no government healthcare, etc. In fact, we might not have gotten any meaningful legislation passed at all which is JUST the way I like it.

That's actually a really good point... but you're still a douche

[AZGrizFan]

The difference is (Mr. Gridlock) that had McCain won, we'd have much less government in our future because there wouldn't have been such huge stimulus packages, no government healthcare, etc. In fact, we might not have gotten any meaningful legislation passed at all which is JUST the way I like it.

That's actually a really good point... but you're still a douche

Thank you. Now carry on with your weak-ass smack attempts.

[Chizzang]

Hitchens is a rather quirky fellow.
However, I find this article rather amusing. He, like many others, see the play acted out before him but he can't distinguish the characters and who is playing them. Since he is such a strident anti-Capitalist, of course he lays the blame at the feet of those "evil" corporations. Too bad the guy is so blinded by his emotions and misplaced rage. If he wasn't, maybe he could actually see who is playing which characters and have the clarity to actually follow the plot.

His name is Hedges..

and

He's studied America and American politics for his entire life...
Spent almost 20 years in Central America and another 10 in the middle east and Eastern Europe - he is considered by many (many) global political experts to be one of the most neutral and knowledgeable students of the American system today...

You couldn't hold this guys note pad...

[citdog]

Hitchens is a rather quirky fellow.
However, I find this article rather amusing. He, like many others, see the play acted out before him but he can't distinguish the characters and who is playing them. Since he is such a strident anti-Capitalist, of course he lays the blame at the feet of those "evil" corporations. Too bad the guy is so blinded by his emotions and misplaced rage. If he wasn't, maybe he could actually see who is playing which characters and have the clarity to actually follow the plot.

He's studied America and American politics for his entire life...
Spent almost 20 years in Central America and another 10 in the middle east and Eastern Europe - he is considered by many (many) global political experts to be one of the most neutral and knowledgeable students the American system today...

You couldn't hold this guys note pad...

his take on mother theresa was VERY instructive

[AZGrizFan]

Hitchens is a rather quirky fellow.
However, I find this article rather amusing. He, like many others, see the play acted out before him but he can't distinguish the characters and who is playing them. Since he is such a strident anti-Capitalist, of course he lays the blame at the feet of those "evil" corporations. Too bad the guy is so blinded by his emotions and misplaced rage. If he wasn't, maybe he could actually see who is playing which characters and have the clarity to actually follow the plot.

His name is Hedges..

and

He's studied America and American politics for his entire life...
Spent almost 20 years in Central America and another 10 in the middle east and Eastern Europe - he is considered by many (many) global political experts to be one of the most neutral and knowledgeable students the American system today...

You couldn't hold this guys note pad...

He doesn't come across as "neutral".