[Marxism] Obama, racism

[abu hartal <abuhartal@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"With all due respect to this position, which we recognize as legitimate, and 
to those who believe this, we feel it is a pipe dream to expect that Obama will 
ever change after being elected on a platform of unquestioning support for 
Israel and its oppression of Palestinians. He will have huge debts of gratitude 
to the Jewish community, and particularly to his very pro-Israeli political 
endorsers as well as huge monetary debts to pro-Israeli contributors, that will 
keep him from ever looking honestly at what Israel is doing to the Palestinians 
and particularly from ever speaking out forthrightly against this oppression."

So write the CIA analysts. 

First, note that they have dropped Gonzalez's outrageous claim that Obama plans 
on retaining 60,000 troops on Iraqi soil. They can only insinuate such a much 
reduced charge now. 

If one reads Obama's comments to Jewish voters in Ohio, it's clear that his 
strategy is to turn Jewish voters against AIPAC's security strategy of 
occupying Iraq and attacking Iran while calling for a Palestine which is 
contiguous (an improvement over the other electable candidates, I believe). It 
does follow from Obama seeking Jewish community support that he will be 
committed to Israel's security, but he believes that such policies are in 
Israel's secuity interests. 

So he is challenging to some very limited extent what is being done in the name 
of Israel's security. So we should not make the rather dubious assumption that 
the Jewish community gives its support for Israel's expansionist and colonial 
policies. It should be possible to enjoy substantial Jewish community support 
while challenging a whole host of Israeli policies.  Obama has made it clear 
that his courting the Jewish vote does not mean that he is proclaiming a 
refusal to criticize what the state of Israel has done wrong. He said exactly 
that in his most substantial comments to date, but the CIA analysts do not say 
anything about his Ohio comments. 

The much hated Samantha Power has spoken of human rights violations in Jenin (I 
don't know whether any camp has made such a statement) while also saying that 
Israel's tactics in response Hizbollah were counterproductive. One of Obama's 
advisors (Malley?) also puts some blame on Israel for the limits and failures 
of the Oslo peace process. 

But Obama however has already put some distance between himself and Brzeznski 
due to how reviled the latter is by AIPAC. 

So there is really no good grounds for confidence that Obama will challenge 
Israel on behalf of Palestinian self-determination and with substantial Jewish 
community support. 

I don't see the point however of casting a protest vote on behalf of Nader and 
jeopardizing the possible victory of Obama who may prove a bit more sensititive 
outside political pressure on which the Palestinian fate depends. 

But there is no good reason to believe that Obama will not silence himself in 
regards to Palestinian rights even if does withdraw from Iraq and end the saber 
rattling against Iran. 

AH




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