[Marxism] A letter from Barack Obama

[Louis Proyect]

John Halle, who teaches music at Bard College and has been active 
with the Green Party, forwarded me a letter he received recently from 
the Democratic Party hopeful:

Dear friends on the left,

Hobgoblins, small minds and stupid consistency go together, as Locke 
reminded us, so I suppose it shouldn't have come as a surprise that a 
cast of 
<http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080818/open_letter>"progressive 
leaders" has again assembled locust-like at the waning stages of the 
electoral cycle to "urge me to listen to the voice of the people" and 
not "to retreat from the stands that have been the signature of (my) campaign."

You then proceed to itemize some of "the core commitments shared by 
many who have supported your campaign " and which you seem to 
believe-despite virtually all evidence to the contrary- are shared by me.

The left has never been much for realism-though here the rose colored 
perceptions have a strikingly hallucinogenic character.

For example, I am claimed to have professed a commitment to 
"universal health care."  May I remind you that even in the primary 
debates, where one might have expected some attention to the 
grassroots base of the party, I explicitly and boldly rejected 
universal health care.  The latter was associated with my opponent 
Mrs. Clinton and while neither of us has any intention of addressing 
the root of the health care crisis, namely the for-profit health care 
insurance industry which has funded both of our campaigns lavishly, 
my "solution" as Paul Krugman noted at the time was well to the right 
of that of the DLC's initial choice of candidate.

It does not escape my notice, incidentally, that your communiqué 
fails to even mention the health care delivery system which you, and 
most americans for that matter, support, namely single payer. I take 
this as a validation of what is perhaps the primary function of my 
campaign: to extract from the realm of the possible and consign to 
the realm of the unthinkable and the unutterable what is for most of 
the civilized world economic common sense and common moral 
decency.  I am happy to report that your letter is a strong 
indication of my success in having achieved this transformation, one 
which, 
<http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=697&Itemid=34>as 
Adolph Reed has written, amounts to nothing less than the functional 
eradication of the left.

Thus, to take another indication, while you have yet to notice it, so 
too into the Orwellian memory hole has gone the hope that our nation 
will "shed its warlike stance around the globe and focus on 
diplomacy" as a means of resolving conflicts.  Allow me to direct you 
to my website where I call for 92,000 new troops, the redeployment of 
those soldiers removed from Iraq to an intensified conflict in 
Afghanistan-and possibly Pakistan.  Also included in most of my 
recent foreign policy addresses are calls for unilateral action 
against governments suspected of support for terrorism not to mention 
my repeated threats against Iran and Venezuela.

Also consigned to the realm of far-left fantasy is "an environmental 
policy that transforms the economy by shifting billions of dollars 
from the consumption of fossil fuels to alternative energy 
sources".  In his previous capacity as chief lobbyist for energy 
giant Exelon, my campaign manager David Axelrod has spoken eloquently 
of the need to ramp up the construction of nuclear power 
plants.  That's what I mean by "alternative" and please rest assured 
that Mr. Axelrod will serve as a strong voice for this "alternative" 
in my administration. i will also invest in "alternative energy" 
through continuing subsidies to corn based ethanol insodoing securing 
payback to the farm behemoth Archer Daniels Midland for having 
bankrolled my campaign at the crucial initial stages.   Another 
"alternative energy source" embraced by me is "clean coal" and the 
industry which helped me ascend to the first rungs of the political 
ladder in Illinois.

I suggest that you keep the just mentioned facts in mind in 
considering the likelihood of my  "reform(ing) of the political 
process that reduces the influence of money and corporate lobbyists 
and amplifies the voices of ordinary people" as well as the 
likelihood of "an ongoing and constructive dialogue with (me) when (I 
am) elected President."

And then you wake up, as my wife likes to say.

And when you do wake up, you will realize that you are left with one 
option: "challenging" me.  But please bear in mind that with the new 
surveillance capacities which I authorized as Senator and which will 
be available to me as President, challenging the executive branch is 
no longer the fun and games it was in the past.  I have, of course, 
no intention of revealing sources and methods, but for the moment 
let's just say that I know what you had for breakfast this morning.

That said, you may rest assured it is quite unlikely that I will need 
to exercise these powers for any purposes beyond my own personal amusement.

For indeed I, and the corporate executives, white shoe law firms, big 
money lobbyists and their numerous apologists are in your debt for 
having led so many leftists into the abattoir which is my campaign. 
The movement which only a few years ago assembled millions in the 
streets of Manhattan, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and other 
cities is in shambles-unable to organize a gathering beyond a few old 
timers at a street corner, let alone the kind of action which might 
actually cause me and my base to take notice.

There is no need for a howitzer when the tiniest fly swatter will do 
quite nicely against the political force which you now represent.

And so in conclusion allow me to cite the deathless interrogatory of 
Clint Eastwood which applies not just to my campaign but which is 
routinely appealed to, consciously or not, by all politicians of any stripe:

"What are you going to do about it, Punk?"

Given that, for the past generation, you have repeatedly hoisted the 
white flag before the battle even began, the smart money is on your 
doing absolutely nothing.

Warmest Regards,

Barack