I have noticed that all these "Progressives for Obama" are now stating they are for a new party but it seems to be that they intend to end up saying, "There is no alternative so we are going to vote for Obama."
If people like Cornell West really wanted a third party all they would have to do is convene a national conference to organize it.
The "Progressives for Obama" claim to influence "millions." The "Progressive Democrats of America" boast a membership of 70,000. The Campaign for America's Future" operates national conferences drawing in thousands. We know the reason the leaderships of the NAACP and the AFL-CIO put the screws to the "One Nation Working Together" movement was that the majority of the 150,000 who turned up in Washington on October 2 came fed-up with Obama and the Democratic Party and want an alternative labor-based people's party.
I would point out that it was Cornell West and his "Progressives for Obama" and these other outfits who told us they were going to "hold Obama's feet to the fire." Well, apparently, according to Harry Belafonte, Obama lectured these people about playing with matches and no one struck the match to light the fire.
Harry Belafonte let the cat out of the bag with great reservation, after carefully considering what he was about to say to Amy Goodman during an interview, that Barack Obama asked him--- and Cornell West--- to "cut me a little slack." In other words; "please don't strike the match and light the fire."
A conscious and intentional decision was in fact made by all of these people not to strike the match to light the fire under Obama's feet.
If there is going to be a third party initiative and any kind of mass movements in this this country these will have to be built from the ground up because those with the organizational resources are going to continue backing Obama and the Democrats.
We are now hearing a plethora of excuses for refusing to initiate a new political party and for the lack of mass action.
Barbara Ehrenreich, in In These Times, has gone so far to say that we should stop talking about Obama completely and concentrate on the corporations. All the while her name appears right at the top of the "Progressives for Obama" web site just below a photo of Obama speaking at a huge peace demonstration. On the list is the name: Cornell West along with Jim Hightower. Here is the link:
http://progressivesforobam
On the list is Frances Fox Piven and not a day goes by that I don't receive a call or e-mail from someone telling me their posts to the "Left Forum" calling for a discussion on Barack Obama has been removed.
These well-heeled middle class intellectuals are playing us for fools. They face no crisis of everyday living that most working people are experiencing. Their lives are comfortable. For them politics is a comfortable game they play because touch football is too tough for them. For working people, politics is a matter of attaining a better life. These same people played a dirty game in the exact same way when it came time to stand up for health care reform--- again, they all "reluctantly" supported Obama.
I find it interesting that these "Progressives for Obama" cry like a bunch of babies when Glenn Beck attacks them like he is attacking Frances Fox Piven but we are told we should keep our mouths shut when Obama and the Democrats attack our standard of living and our right to full employment and health care.
Let's be clear here: Support for Barack Obama is support for wars and an attack on our standard of living. We have a right--- we have a responsibility--- to defend ourselves, to defend our living standards, to defend the right of peoples to live in peace by vigorously attacking and opposing Barack Obama and this means holding the feet of the "progressives for Obama" to the fire, too.
If people like Cornell West really wanted a third party all they would have to do is convene a national conference to organize it.
The "Progressives for Obama" claim to influence "millions." The "Progressive Democrats of America" boast a membership of 70,000. The Campaign for America's Future" operates national conferences drawing in thousands. We know the reason the leaderships of the NAACP and the AFL-CIO put the screws to the "One Nation Working Together" movement was that the majority of the 150,000 who turned up in Washington on October 2 came fed-up with Obama and the Democratic Party and want an alternative labor-based people's party.
I would point out that it was Cornell West and his "Progressives for Obama" and these other outfits who told us they were going to "hold Obama's feet to the fire." Well, apparently, according to Harry Belafonte, Obama lectured these people about playing with matches and no one struck the match to light the fire.
Harry Belafonte let the cat out of the bag with great reservation, after carefully considering what he was about to say to Amy Goodman during an interview, that Barack Obama asked him--- and Cornell West--- to "cut me a little slack." In other words; "please don't strike the match and light the fire."
A conscious and intentional decision was in fact made by all of these people not to strike the match to light the fire under Obama's feet.
If there is going to be a third party initiative and any kind of mass movements in this this country these will have to be built from the ground up because those with the organizational resources are going to continue backing Obama and the Democrats.
We are now hearing a plethora of excuses for refusing to initiate a new political party and for the lack of mass action.
Barbara Ehrenreich, in In These Times, has gone so far to say that we should stop talking about Obama completely and concentrate on the corporations. All the while her name appears right at the top of the "Progressives for Obama" web site just below a photo of Obama speaking at a huge peace demonstration. On the list is the name: Cornell West along with Jim Hightower. Here is the link:
http://progressivesforobam
On the list is Frances Fox Piven and not a day goes by that I don't receive a call or e-mail from someone telling me their posts to the "Left Forum" calling for a discussion on Barack Obama has been removed.
These well-heeled middle class intellectuals are playing us for fools. They face no crisis of everyday living that most working people are experiencing. Their lives are comfortable. For them politics is a comfortable game they play because touch football is too tough for them. For working people, politics is a matter of attaining a better life. These same people played a dirty game in the exact same way when it came time to stand up for health care reform--- again, they all "reluctantly" supported Obama.
I find it interesting that these "Progressives for Obama" cry like a bunch of babies when Glenn Beck attacks them like he is attacking Frances Fox Piven but we are told we should keep our mouths shut when Obama and the Democrats attack our standard of living and our right to full employment and health care.
Let's be clear here: Support for Barack Obama is support for wars and an attack on our standard of living. We have a right--- we have a responsibility--- to defend ourselves, to defend our living standards, to defend the right of peoples to live in peace by vigorously attacking and opposing Barack Obama and this means holding the feet of the "progressives for Obama" to the fire, too.
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