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An open letter from Barack Obama

By Michael J. Smith on Sunday August 3, 2008 04:26 PM

Forwarded by a helpful comrade. Excerpts:

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 "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."

... 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, 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, in so doing 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.

... 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

Comments (10)

Absolutely perfect, as usual, Michael

Peter Ward:

I was recently solicited for a donation to the BHO campaign by a Democratic mercenary pestering pedestrians on the west side of Lexington Avenue. As much as possible I affected a look of disgust and continued walking. As a prime demographic target for the Democratic Party I like to fantasize this action will precipitate the slow and torturous destruction well-intentioned liberalism apropos the young white middle class...Well, one can dream, right...?

out of the loop:

I beieve the origin of the phrase about consistency being the hobgoblin of small minds was not Locke, but Emerson.

op:

"it is quite unlikely that I will need to exercise these powers for any purposes beyond my own personal amusement"

seems
that sums it up ...
'us as threat to them' wise
at least

MJS:

Emerson, yes. And Barack seems to have gotten the Clint Eastwood quote wrong too, unless I'm misremembering.

Nicholas Hart:

To Peter Ward: when I'm confronted by the Democrats' foot-soldiers on the street, I like to challenge them with questions I know they don't have answers for (why does your "antiwar" candidate want to increase the size of the military by 92000 troops and escalate the war in Afghanistan?). I think that approach is more likely to cause them to stop and think critically about their chosen avenue for "change" (although many do it for a paycheck: there are posters on nearly every utility pole in my neighborhood promising $400+ a week to elect Obama via "Grassroots Campaigns Inc.")

Nullifidian:

Grassroots Campaigns Inc.?

That is just too perfect.

Loveandlight:

I'm probably not as far to the left as most of the commentors here. I was willing to overlook Obama's rejection of single-payer national health-care for a while. Shameful as it is, I was reluctant to hang my hat on the issue because the US political establishment has been so successful in shutting down that possibility.

But then there was the "spy bill" for which Barck Obama voted as Senator. Not only did it retroactively pardon the big telecoms for breaking the law in helping BushCo spy on US citizens, the bill itself essentially establishes the infrastructure of a police-state. It was at that point that I realized that you have to be basically, well, evil to have shot of winning the presidency of the USA. And I remembered past Democratic presidential candidates for whom I had voted but who didn't really represent me. Michael Dukakis whose campaign pledged to normalize relations with Nicaragua but would continue the economic embargo as long as the Sandinistas were in power. How pray tell is "normalizing"? And John Kerry who ran on nothing more than not being George W. Bush. Not anymore. I've had it.

I suppose I would be accused of most Left Blogitanians of being an ideological purist. Not really. I think pretty much the same way most of them do. The difference is that I have a point where I realize I'm being played like the doormat co-dependent high-school boyfriend whose girlfriend cheats on him and disses on him regularly behind his back. It's actually even worse, because the doormat boyfriend usually has the good sense to be at least a little bit ashamed of how pathetic he has become. Left Blogistan wears its craven submission and its refusal to have a point at which "enough is enough" as a badge of honor!

And to be honest, even though I really doubt there are any "answers" or "solutions" or ideological palliatives to soothe my disillusionment, I have to tell you that I honestly feel better for simply acknowledging the truth of matters.

Mark:

"Grassroots Campaigns Inc."

My first post-collegiate employer, in '04. Well-intentioned white middle-class liberal was I, working for Kerry because I hated the war. Somehow it never registered that John cum Heinz promised to increase troop levels.

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